 The opposite of a hawk watch | this count is one where the hawk watchers are on the move and hawks -- more or less -- aren't. These "winter counts" are now conducted around Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Groundhog Day in two locations with similar open, flat terrain and of approx. the same square miles. While populations are in flux -- certainly at this time -- there were clearly birds who had reserved their accomodations for more than one night.
Inclement weather couldn't dampen the fun, but did cut into covering the full census route. Conservatively, each count might have been ten birds higher if we'd completed the usual territory. In fact, Gerry Smith had a half dozen immie RTs in a section of the normal count area not covered due to the tough driving/observing conditions. Just over 100 raptors for the two days isn't bad, especially with a nice variety of Roughlegs and Redtails. [Above right: a Northern NY image out the windshield of the hawkmobile... flat enough... as far as you can see?!]
Northern NY [11/22/00] Count area -- Jefferson County, west of Watertown on Pt. Peninsula and nearby. Heavy lake effect snow squalls in the area with temps in the twenties. Visibility dropped to zero a couple of times.
Plus: Short-eared Owl [5], Northern Shrike [2] Champlain Valley VT [11/26/00] Count area -- Towns of Bridport and Addison, primarily. Rain all day, moderate to heavy, with temps right around freezing. We used the car as a luge on a couple of icy back roads. There were Roughlegs drying out wings, looking like vultures. In addition all kinds of raptors were darker, when wet. While we're not comfortably able to electronically mark birds on a computerized map, we are using GPSy and StreetAtlasUSA to navigate. GPSy is amazing: as we slide from one side of the road to the other, our icy progress was detailed on the Apple Powerbook screen! NH 2 [1 adult male, 1 immature] Plus: Northern Shrike [1] [Hawks: Roughleg over Redtail; below: a section of our field map showing location of birds] * Redtail field notes also include info on eastern RT plumage variations. ** Roughleg field notes also include info on age classes. Unindicted Coconspirators: Gerry Smith [NY]; Rod Olsen and Tom Tyning [VT] |
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4 Northern Harriers [2 adult males, 2 immatures]
