Having given up on my hopes to sit atop Hawk Mountain today due to a lack of planning, I ventured to Sugarloaf Mountain to take in the Fall foliage and hopefully see some late migrants. The beauty of the season was breathtaking as always, and I was pleasantly surprised that I had not totally missed migration. Perched on a rock outcropping on the top of the Western view looking northward, a pleasant yet persistent NNW wind in my face, the clear blue sky was dappled with black dots that turned into birds as they rode the air stream down the valley. Without bins, most of those dots would have remained unseen and even with my 8.5x42s, many still were too distant to do anything more than guess based on GISS. I suppose it is the unknowns that keep us going back for more in our quest for birds. But I was blessed to have the winds blowing in my direction, which brought some of those specs into good view.

As I stated, I was pleasantly surprised at what I did see and count in a little over 2 hours. The summary follows:

Bald Eagle - 9 (1 imm.)
Cooper's - 1
Sharpies - 4
Peregrine - 1
Red Tailed - 9
Raven - 4
Buteos (Unidentified) - 7
Turkey and Black Vultures - Gobzillions (well, I stopped counting around 100 and they still kept coming)

So it wasn't a Hawk Mountain experience in terms of numbers, but being away from the office and catching a brief glimpse of real life at such a beautiful time of year, it turned into a wonderful moment and memory. Now if I'd only remembered a thermos of coffee, and a warmer jacket, and maybe a sandwich or two....

tom.

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