KEEP EYES PEELED FOR HAWKS

Red -Tailed Hawk - photo courtesy Sharon Milligan
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October, especially when it is bright blue and breezy, is optimum for watching birds of prey - everything from ospreys to eagles to harriers to Buteos to Accipiters to falcons. In the loosest of terms, we often refer to them, one and all, as "hawks."

Many of them are passing through; others will have reached their winter destinations right here on the Coast. We have about two weeks remaining, give or take, to catch our share through the objective lenses of binoculars.

Because of our geographical "lay of the land," so to speak, we get a very watered-down version of what amounts to one of the greatest of migration phenomena - that of thousands of birds-of-prey moving north in spring and south in fall.

In the eastern United States, incredible sights like that are more apt to be found at famed "hawk watch sites" such as Hawk Mountain in Pennsylvania; Point Pelee in Ontario; Cape May, New Jersey; Duluth, Minnesota; and Charleston, South Carolina; and at certain locations along the Mississippi River, to name a few of thousands of similar locations.

Birders near to those places plan their birding time around hawk migrations, making pilgrimages in hopes of catching what could be a once-in-a-lifetime event. Some years ago, I just happened to be in Ontario in mid September, and was taken to the local hawk watch there - a place known as Hawk Cliffs - where I was overwhelmed by the numbers of hawks in the air. They were skirting the shores of Lake Erie with a natural reluctance to fly long distances over large bodies of water. By all accounts, the show was only moderately good, but I enjoyed one of the most indelible memories of my birding lifetime.

We here take the leftovers. That's because these diurnal raptors (that's another term for day-flying hawks and their relatives) ride the thermals and updrafts, often at great heights, using north/south coastlines, mountain ranges, and river courses as compasses. This area is just not on the itineraries of most of them.

However, there have been days when the leftovers are quite tasty. In my opinion, October's northerly winds and clear skies afford the most favorable fall conditions. One wants to be out in the open, with a viewing area unobstructed by tall buildings or dense stands of trees; places such as the edge of a marsh, along the beachfront, in rural areas, etc. come to mind.

Since most of these birds are to be seen aloft, it is advisable to look skyward more often, and with bigger expectations than during any other month of the year.

What might be seen? Reinforcements of our locally-breeding ospreys. eagles. Bald Eagles which breed in summer to our north join our winter-breeding southern Bald Eagles. The Northern Harrier (once known as the Marsh Hawk) - like the foregoing, it is a one-of-a-kind species which breeds to our north and plies our marshes throughout winter.

Then there are the Accipiters; in that they have short rounded wings and long tails, they are often easiest to identify at a distance, when our reliance on a bird's shape comes to the fore. The Sharp-shinned Hawk is, hands-down, the most likely Accipiter to be seen during migration (bear in mind that although the Sharpie is known for its rapid wing-flapping, it often soars with the best of the Buteos). The Sharpie is the hawk most likely to raid a feeding station. Although it breeds sparingly in the state, the Cooper's Hawk is uncommon as a permanent resident, and is only moderately more numerous in winter. The third member of the genus Accipiter is the Northern Goshawk, which is unlikely to be seen this far south.

It is the Buteos that account for the biggest show in fall; the southward bound (by way of the land-bridge to Mexico) flights of Broad-winged Hawks, followed by Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks is to be watched for. Throw an occasional Swainson's Hawk into the mix and we have the potential for great excitement.

The fastest fliers, the falcons, are unmatched for the thrills they provide. (By the way, they are not closely related to hawks and eagles.) To see a warrior Peregrine Falcon making passes over a beach full of gulls, terns, and shorebirds, is worth spending some time at beach-bird gathering places. The smaller, and slightly more conservative Merlin is another of the rarer falcons. The American Kestrel, which is a benign fellow in contrast to its congeners, should be re-occupying wires and fence posts in numbers. All three falcons may be seen throughout winter, but it is the American Kestrel that we see most frequently.

There could be days when several of the foregoing species are to be seen in the sky at the same time; when wind directions are right, they are on the move, so keep a keen eye peeled for them.

This article was published in October 2001