Monday, April 27, 2009

Some more broadwings

A few more Broad-winged Hawks today - nine in total - after the first one last Friday. The winds were good, but overall conditions weren't exactly great for hawk migration: another gray day with almost no sun and some light afternoon rain that eventually turned into an actual shower. The Broad-winged Hawk pictured above was high in a gray sky, so not exactly a photo contest winner there.

Again a good sharpie day, in fact twice as good as yesterday, with 813 counted. Other notable sightings included 42 Northern Harriers (still going strong), 1 Northern Goshawk, and 2 Golden Eagles. The total raptor count reached 948, the second best day so far.

This Red Fox walked past the platform a couple of times today. Also seen today were 1 Solitary Sandpiper and 1 Glaucous Gull flyover, possibly the same individual that was seen earlier on the beach between the harbor and the point.

It'll be interesting to see how the rest of the week is going to play out in terms of hawk migration. We're in peak period for many species now, and each day with reasonably good conditions should put at least a few hundred hawks on the tally. Broadwings are fickle creatures, and could show up on any warm front that we get... Weather-wise, Wednesday and Thursday look promising.

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