Thanks to everyone who came out to the raptor watch at the Mines of Spain! We counted 53 Broad-winged Hawks. When they seemed to drop down on us from above, we speculated that there may have been many more that we couldn’t see due to the cloud coverage.
We also saw Sharp-shinned, Cooper’s, and Red-tailed Hawks, along with a few Bald Eagles. Take a look at our eBird checklist for the full report, which included around 350 American White Pelicans!
If you want to try on your own over the next few weeks, we suggest aiming for around 10 AM, when the day is warming up such that the temperatures might be right for the Broad-winged Hawks to be kettling (circling and swirling in the air). They ride thermals of warm ascending air in order to be lifted, conserving energy as they migrate.
Bird Photos © Mary Leigh
Fall 2024 Raptor Watch
