Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch: Week 9

Our last week up at the Brad was on the slow side, with primarily NW winds (albeit mostly pleasantly warm conditions). Things finished up nicely on the 15th, however, with a great total of 64 hawks, including a nice showing of immature Broad-winged Hawks. A little push of immature Bald Eagles and Red-tailed Hawks was nice too. To cap things off, a flock of 58 White-winged Scoters passed by the summit during the final minutes of the count – not something we expect to see!

This year’s total of 4817 raptors was above average. New season record highs were set for Turkey Vulture, Bald Eagle, Cooper’s Hawk, and Peregrine Falcon. We want to thank this year’s counter, Andrew Sharp, for his hard work this season. Several volunteers also lent helpful eyes. And, of course, we are grateful that Bradbury Mountain State Park continues to allow us to conduct this important research project.

We’ll see you in March, 2022!

Week 9 Totals (current week - total to date - 2020 total)

BLACK VULTURE 0-2-1

TURKEY VULTURE 0-603-557

OSPREY 24-390-401

SWALLOW-TAILED KITE 0-0-0

MISSISSIPPI KITE 0-0-0

BALD EAGLE 13-127-89

NORTHERN HARRIER 4-91-58

SHARP-SHINNED HAWK 18-736-776

COOPER’S HAWK 8-100-56

NORTHERN GOSHAWK 0-4-6

RED-SHOULDERED HAWK 2-129-65

BROAD-WINGED HAWK 59-1962-2531

SWAINSON’S HAWK 0-0-0

RED-TAILED HAWK 9-180-136

ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK 0-0-0

GOLDEN EAGLE 0-0-0

AMERICAN KESTREL 8-334-249

MERLIN 8-71-79

PEREGRINE FALCON 1-13-8

UNIDENTIFIED RAPTOR 4-75-45

TOTAL 158-4817-5057