A Hawk Watch is in Effect for Litchfield County

With the shorter days and cooler temperatures arriving, the plants and animals are beginning to prepare themselves for this coming winter through building up fat stores or by migrating south. 

This migration is easily seen in our hawks, eagles, and other large birds of prey.  Throughout September and into October, we at the Conservation Center will have our eyes fixed on the sky as these birds begin to move to warmer climes.  Already we have seen some movements; from our observation post on Sawmill Hill, we have seen Turkey Vultures, Red-tailed, Red-shouldered, and Broad-winged Hawks, Kestrels, Peregrine Falcons, Bald Eagles, Northern Harriers, and all three North American Accipiter species. 

Bald Eagle juvenile

This observation of hawk migration is part of our annual Hawk Watch, done in conjunction with the Hawk Migration Association of North America.  Please join us, whether as a volunteer hawk-watcher at the Conservation Center or simply as someone who enjoys gazing at these magnificent birds in the sky.

Hawk Watch is Underway at White Memorial

Every fall raptors, such as hawks, falcons, and eagles, leave their breeding grounds and migrate south to their wintering homes. During the month of September, White Memorial participates in a program called Hawk Watch, where volunteers observe and count the numbers of raptors that pass a defined location near the Museum. At the end of the month, the data is sent to the Hawk Migration Association of North America (HMANA), which uses the information to calculate population trends and migration schedules.  

White Memorial's most popular Red-tailed Hawk, Veronica.

 

During the fall, large numbers and a wide diversity of hawks can be seen migrating. Cooper’s Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Bald Eagle, Osprey, and the Sharp-shinned Hawk are among some of the species that were seen last season flying over White Memorial. Since hawks are usually spotted gliding in the sky, knowing each specie's silhouette is important. Falcons have long, pointed wings with a tapered tail. Accipiters have short, rounded wings with a long tail. Finally, buteos have broad wings with a broad, rounded tail. Within each of these categories you can identify the hawk based on overall size, shape, and markings. For instance, the Broad-winged Hawk is the smallest of the buteos; crow size, with a short, black and white banded tail, and whitish underwings with a dark trailing edge. During an ideal clear day, a group of bird enthusiasts can see hundreds of hawks flying overhead from just one location.

So for the next couple of weeks, keep your eyes on the sky and happy fall migration!

Peregrine Falcons over WMF Hawk Watch, 9/30/11

Peregrine Falcon adult in flight

by Jim Burns from www.azgfd.gov

The weather finally improved enough on Friday, 9/30/11, to conduct a hawk watch around the Museum Area between 11:00 a.m. and 3 p.m. Since the winds were out of the southeast, south, and southwest at a sustained 20 m.p.h., conditions were not really good for hawk migration, but 30 members of this group flew over our site, anyway. I wouldn't have bothered to engage in hawk watching/counting this day if it hadn't started with a gorgeous adult Peregrine Falcon flying low over us. It went from north to south without showing any difficulty in dealing with the headwind. Soon after that the first of 8 high-flying migrant Red-tailed Hawks went over. This species doesn't usually migrate until later in October or November, but these birds had to be migrants because of their altitude and their direct flight from northeast to southwest. The rest of this day's migrant raptors consisted of 4 immature Bald Eagles, 6 Ospreys, 5 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 4 Cooper's Hawks, 1 late Broad-winged Hawk, and an immature Peregrine Falcon. We, and the hawks, quit when the sky became overcast. So far this fall's hawk watching hasn't been particularly good at White Memorial because the weather has been unfavorable, and quite often downright awful, for most of the month of September. We've only been able to put in 4 days of effort, which has yielded a grand total of 412 hawks. This breaks down to 354 Broad-winged Hawks, 14 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 9 Bald Eagles, 8 Ospreys, 8 Cooper's Hawks, 8 Red-tailed Hawks, 4 Red-shouldered Hawks, 4 Black Vultures, 2 Peregrine Falcons, and 1 N. Harrier. It is amazing that we haven't seen any American Kestrels, yet. We hope to have at least one more day of good hawk watching conditions before their migration season ends. Last year, we counted a total of 905 hawks passing over our site on 15 favorable days, so we don't expect to come anywhere close to that figure, but it would be nice to end this year with a total around 450. If the weather forecasts are correct, we might be in for more movement later this week.

Some Notable Wildlife Seen During White Memorial's Nature Day, 9/24/11

Olive-sided Flycatcher by Tom Munson

from www.fishandgame.idaho.gov

Nashville Warbler photo by

Jacob Spendelow from http://www.tringa.org/

Northern Parula photo by Alan Murphy

from http://www.houstonaudubon.org/
Blackpoll Warbler photo from the

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Northern Leopard Frog photo by Dave Rosgen

Blue-spotted Salamander photo by Ashley Hayes

White Memorial's 30th annual Family Nature Day was held this past Saturday, 9/24/11, under mostly cloudy, warm, and humid conditions. Fortunately for all of us, the forecasted rain showers never materialized and the event was a big success. Approximately 784 people attended and were given a chance to learn about a wide range of environmental subjects. The people who went on the general nature walk that Samantha Foster and I led saw lots of plants, berries, nuts, and mosquitoes, plus several Green Frogs and a few birds. Right after that, Sam and I led a walk around Ongley Field and Pond in search of reptiles and amphibians. We found many Green Frogs and a cooperative N. Leopard Frog in Ongley Field. The north side of the Ongley Pond Trail produced an E. Garter Snake, while the pond yielded about 15 Painted Turtles. We found 4 Blue-spotted Salamanders behind the Sawmill Yard buildings. Next came the hawk watch, which I knew wouldn't produce any migrant hawks because of the weather conditions, which included a breeze from the south. Hawks want winds from the north and sunny conditions for their fall migration. However, Veronica, our semi-tame/semi-wild resident Red-tailed Hawk put on a show for the walk's attendees by swooping down and grabbing an unsuspecting young cottontail rabbit from the side of the driveway leading into the Sawmill Yard. We hadn't seen the bunny until Veronica caught it because we were focused on a nice group of warblers that included a Blackpoll, a Palm, a Nashville, 4 Pines, and 5 Yellow-rumps. After Veronica dispatched the bunny she flew into the row of conifers along the west ridge of the Mill Field to eat it. As I was positioning my spotting scope on her, I saw an Olive-sided Flycatcher in the top of the first Tamarack tree in this row. Being a rare bird, I wanted everybody to see the flycatcher, which they did as it put on a good show of its own, catching numerous dragonflies and other flying insects. Veronica took her time eating the rabbit, so they got to see that action too. Back in the Museum Area, we, along with some of our guests, saw another fair-sized wave of warblers that included a Northern Parula. In all, we saw or at least heard 46 species of birds, as well as numerous other forms of wildlife this day.

Two More Visits to Little Pond

Green Heron photo from

www.barhorst.org

Great Egret photo from

http://www.commons.wikimedia.org/

Pied-billed Grebe photo by Bob Stanowski

Immature male Red-winged Blackbird

photo by Bob Stanowski

Juvenile Cedar Waxwing

photo by Bob Stanowski

What a difference a week makes! Actually, my visit to Little Pond on the evening of Thursday, 7/28, was only 5 days after our field trip out there on the evening of the 23rd. In that short time span the water levels in the pond and adjacent marsh have dropped a few inches, the Deer Fly population has decreased to a tolerable amount, and the mosquito population has decreased to a million or so. Much of the bird life is the same, with Red-winged Blackbirds, Swamp Sparrows, Cedar Waxwings, and American Goldfinches remaining abundant, but a few more species have arrived on the scene or become more numerous. My main reason for going out to this pond was to look for the Great Egrets that John Marshall and Jeff Greenwood had reported earlier in the day. They were the first ones seen this year on White Memorial property. They also become my first ones for this year when I spotted them right where John and Jeff said they saw them. Whether these birds are early fall southbound migrants from the small nesting population on Lake Champlain or post-breeding wanderers from some Atlantic coastal location we have no way of knowing. They (assuming they were the same ones) were seen again on Friday and Saturday. I couldn't find them on my next visit on Sunday afternoon, 7/31. On my visit on 7/28 I found an early fall migrant Pied-billed Grebe, 2 Green Herons, and a Solitary Sandpiper, none which were found on the 7/23 visit. My visit on the hot afternoon of Sunday, 7/31, turned up a newly-fledged Red-tailed Hawk, but nothing else that we hadn't had on the previous visits. Actually, each of these subsequent visits produced fewer species than the 7/23 visit, which yielded 51 species. On 7/28 I had 43 species and on 7/31 I had 32 species. This is mostly due to my covering much less ground than we did on the 23rd. On that day we went all the way around the entire boardwalk and trail, while my other 2 visits only took me along the north side of the boardwalk. On all 3 days we went in from the S. Lake St. entrance. It is also obvious from the number and variety of birds found that evening is a far better time to go out than afternoon. We've always known that, but these observations reinforce that belief.

The Migration Continues!

Sharp-shinned Hawk photo

by Darlene Knox

Red-shouldered Hawk photo

by Darlene Knox

Adult Bald Eagle photo by Paul Fusco

My posting yesterday promised an update of the bird migration activity that I expected to encounter in the afternoon after I sent out the post. At the time I figured that we would mainly find more migrant waterfowl. While we did find birds in this group, it was the raptors that proved more interesting. They were obviously staging a migration yesterday. The first one that I encountered was a Sharp-shinned Hawk that came in from the south, buzzed all of the birds at the Museum's Bird Observatory Feeders, and then spiraled upward after failing to catch anything. It continued northeastward out of sight. Within minutes of this sighting, I heard a Red-shouldered Hawk calling. I saw it come in from the southwest, soar and circle overhead, and headed due north. About 5 minutes after this bird disappeared, a second Red-shoulder appeared on the southwest horizon, soared overhead while calling constantly, and headed off to the northeast. After another 5 minutes had elapsed, a third Red-shoulder appeared appeared in the southern sky. It was also calling, and followed the same flight path as the second one. Two hours later, while working along N. Shore Rd., Jim Kandefer, John Eykelhoff, and I saw a total of 5 Red-tailed Hawks. Four of them (2 pairs) were likely residents by their locations and behavior. The fifth was an immature bird that flew and soared over us from southwest to northeast without stopping. It was likely a migrant. A little while later, we saw an adult male Cooper's Hawk fly past us, hit the ground, and come up with a small mammal that looked like a vole. It carried the critter deeper into the woods of Wheeler Hill, where we lost sight of it. On our way back to Pt. Folly we saw the Canada Geese and Ring-necked Ducks rise up in a panic. Swooping over them was an adult male Bald Eagle. It failed to catch anything, and landed in a tree on the Point. It perched there for several minutes before taking off and disappearing around the Point. We re-located it about 20 minutes later sitting on the ice off Deer Island. It was still there as of the time we left. As for the waterfowl, the Northern Pintails and most of the other birds mentioned in the previous post were still off Pt. Folly, but Canada Goose numbers had dropped sharply to 260. Since we stayed along the road watching for them until dark, and they failed to materialize, it is highly likely that they have migrated farther north. By contrast, Wood Duck numbers had increased to 29. Most of them were found feeding under the shrubs in the Bantam Lake Outlet area. We also saw a Great Blue Heron opposite the Pt. Folly observation platform, and heard and saw 4 American Woodcock displaying in the Bantam R. Field. In the non-bird category, we heard our first Northern Spring Peepers of the year calling from 3 spots along N. Shore Rd., and we saw a total of 5 Muskrats in various spots.