Yesterday afternoon after a pre-work nap , I checked my phone and found an eye-opening voicemail from Dave Dister, telling of a significant Red-tailed Hawk migration witnessed by Matt McConnell. Matt had been working outside in a residential area of Ludington and noticed small groups of hawks flying over, starting in the late morning. His informal running tally through the afternoon ended up being around 200. Two hundred Redtails? How long was I asleep?
The hawk migration count that I'm most familiar with, is the one at Lake Erie Metropark conducted from September 1 to November 30. On average (according to data from the years 1991-2008) at that premier migration location, their cumulative season total of Red-tails doesn't hit 200 until the last week in September. So to have 200 in one day before the middle of August was absolutely unexpected, at least to me.
Having woken up too late to catch any of the migration yesterday I was hoping it would continue along with the northerly winds forecast for today. A few minutes after I got up today at 12:30pm I went out on the deck and immediately saw 4 Redtails passing over. So I grabbed my camera headed to my place of employment, where I have access to an elevated roadway that is 150 feet above the surrounding terrain and 360 feet above nearby Lake Michigan. In the past, from that site I have noticed small groups of raptors migrating with a few of the birds passing at eye-level.
You want eye-level?
I ended up seeing 49 Red-tailed Hawks between 1 and 2 PM before a light rain halted the flight.
Great shots Mark!
ReplyDeleteOutstanding pics, Mark. And all juveniles, as I suspected. This may be a natal dispersal phenomenon that my research is suggesting.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I went back up there today the lighting was better but the birds were flying much higher. Saw 40 birds in just over an hour.
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