Final Wrap-up: Record year

Hi all,

Here are the final tallies for the spring at Brockway Mountain. Most species were seen in record numbers; exceptions were the totals for Northern Harrier, Cooper’s Hawk and Swainson’s Hawk which were all in about typical numbers. Some totals were impressively above the previous highs, especially Osprey, Golden Eagle and Rough-legged Hawk. The Black Vulture was the second one seen on the count; the other was two seasons ago in 2011. So despite the lateness of the spring, there were some large movements of hawks when we did get the right wind and weather conditions. It was unfortunate that the road up the mountain did not open a bit sooner so a few more folks could see some of the bigger flights.

A great big thank you to everyone associated with the count and who helped out in some capacity, particularly Bill & Bonnie Degowski for all their help and generosity during the season, Vicki & Ken Stigers for being great hosts at the Pines, Karen Karl for all her friendly help and facilitation, and to my enthusiastic sub-counters Louie Dombroski, Joe Youngman and Debra Mues.

Calvin

Turkey Vulture 2,163

Black Vulture 1

Osprey 175

Bald Eagle 1,441

Northern Harrier 134

Sharp-shinned Hawk 2,987

Cooper’s Hawk 21

Northern Goshawk 40

Red-shouldered Hawk 21

Broad-winged Hawk 15,653

Swainson’s Hawk 5

Red-tailed Hawk 2,182

Rough-legged Hawk 385

Golden Eagle 81

American Kestrel 259

Merlin 52

Peregrine Falcon 70

unid. 95

Total 25,765