[MDOsprey] Record Day at Turkey Point - 9/26/99
Marcia Watson-Whitmyre (mww@UDel.Edu)
Mon, 27 Sep 1999 17:45:50 -0400
As Leslie Fisher's earlier post said, we had an over-the-top
day at the Turkey Point Hawk Watch on Sunday 9/26/99. I
have heard about days at Hawk Mountain when the Broadwings
rise like fog from the forest all around the watch, and by
golly, that's what happened at TP on Sunday. Well, to be
more accurate, that's what happened all over Elk Neck on
Sunday - TP is just the very tip of the Elk Neck peninsula.
My first indication that this had the possibility to be an
interesting day came on the drive down in the morning. At
about 8:30 am I was stopped at a red light at the very top
of the Elk Neck peninsula, still in a sleepy, not very alert
mood, and idly saying to myself: Oh, there's four
broadwings coming up out of the trees ahead. Nice. Oh,
there's a few more. And more... About this time, my brain
finally woke up, and I pulled over and jumped out of the car
and started counting. There were 26 birds in that first
group. I raced down the peninsula, keeping an eye on the
sky. By the time I got to Turkey Point, I had counted over
300 birds (estimate, because it's hard to count and drive);
most were in groups of 20 to 30 birds, rising silently from
the trees. (it's eerie - they don't seem to flap much coming
up out of the trees - they just cup their wings and
levitate). All of the groups I saw from the road kettled up
to a medium height and then, while still in view to the
naked eye, coursed over the peninsula to the west. These
birds appeared to be on a more westerly than southerly
course, and I was driving roughly southwest; I don't think
I was seeing the same kettle over and over, since I could
see each new kettle rising from the woods as they came off
roost, and then would disappear to the west. There may have
been other groups that were already higher that I missed
seeing, since I wasn't using binos while in the car.
At the parking lot at TP, there were two more kettles, one
with 26 and one with 18 BW's; they spiraled up and went out
to the west over the Northeast River. They disappeared from
view over Harford County on the other side of the river. I
made it up to the first meadow without seeing any other
hawks, but then I had to stop in awe, because I had a clear
view of the meadow and surrounding woods, and hundreds of
birds were rising from the trees. At this point I met up
with Joel Martin from Baltimore, who had come to do some
warblering. Shortly, Gary Griffith, Parke John, and Dennis
Quinn also arrived. In the first hour (8 to 9), we counted
980 birds, including 887 broadwings. That was the largest
number of BW's in any one hour of the morning: there were
495 from 10 to 11; 43 from 11 to 12; and then 20 from 12
to 1. I had to leave shortly after 1, with the BW total for
the day at 1495.
Although the BW's were the big story, there were other birds
too, including a total of 188 Sharpies. Seems like
Red-tails are starting to move, with 26 seen, most in the 12
to 1 time slot. Here's the rundown for the day:
TV - 23
BV - 1
Bald Eagle - 12
Osprey - 8
Red-tailed - 26
Broadwinged - 1495
Sharp-shinned - 188
Cooper's - 12
Kestrel - 11
Merlin - 2
Peregrine - 3
Unidentified Buteos - 3
Total = 1784
These totals do NOT include the approx. 300 BW's that I saw
on the way to the watch. They are also a conservative count
that does not include birds that may have circled back
around the point instead of going out over the water.
To put this in perspective, let's look at previous years at
TP. I don't have all the data from previous years, but
according to what I have, our best previous daily total (all
species) was in 1997, when we had 688 hawks on 9/18.
Considering BW's only, here are the season totals for
previous years: 1994 - 218; 1995 - 90; 1996 - 413; 1997 -
1130; 1998 - ??. On Sunday, our one-day total of 1495 BW's
broke our previous season total for the species. We have
always thought that the BW's take a more inland route,
crossing to the west before they hit the Elk Neck
peninsula. For whatever reason, this time, they made it
down onto the peninsula and put on a great show. Most of
the birds were close enough to be easily id'd and counted
with the naked eye. They were kettling just above treetop
height.
Out previous season total for all species was about 5596
birds in 1996; with this head start for this year, we hope
we will be able to better that total. I haven't seen all
the data yet from last week, but we had 633 up to 9/20.
With Sunday's total, Leslie and I think we must have about
2500 birds so far this season. And we still have all of
October and November to go.
We hope that Ospreyers will be able to join us at the
watch. We try to have a counter there every day, but
currently have no regular counter for Thursdays, Fridays,
and Sundays. (That's the best part of this past Sunday's
count - I wasn't even scheduled to be there - I went on a
whim!) It would be great if someone could drop in on one of
those days and keep a count. We can't promise that there
will be a couple thousand birds, but the looks are usually
close and good, even if the bird numbers are low. For
directions and other information, drop me or Leslie
(gonbrdn@dol.net) a line, or check out our hawk watch
website at http://www.udel.edu/cecilbirds/hawkwatch.html
Marcia Watson-Whitmyre
Cecil County