Our calendar read Hawk Mt, PA with John Collins and QCBC and also Lighthouse Pt., Conn. with North Fork Audubon. Unexpected home repairs and inclement weather changed all that. On Friday, October 20, Rick and I found ourselves on the Cross Sound Ferry to New London, heading up to Vermont.
Although the foliage was mostly green on Long Island, except for the flaming red of Tupelo and Red Maples, we landed on the Connecticut side of Long Island Sound in peak foliage. Riotous orange and gold greeted us. As we traveled north the foliage became sparser and drabber until we arrived in southern Vermont in a very November-like landscape. The weather agreed with the vegetation.
Saturday morning dawned bright, crisp and very windy. But the winds were from the northwest. Hawkwatch weather! We headed to Putney Mt., a 1500 foot high knob on a ridgeline on the Vermont side of the Connecticut River. Putney is home to a local hawkwatch manned by an amiable and dedicated group of birders whom we have joined on several occasions over the last eight years. Although the accents are New England, the jocularity and comments are the universal language of hawkwatchers everywhere.
Arriving at the summit, we found six of the regulars, binoculars pointing northward. Brief greetings, a quick scan, and then down to business. Snow sparkled on the peaks of the Green Mountains to our west. It highlighted the ski trails of Mt. Snow, Stratton and Bromley. Temperatures were forecast in the 40’s, but the wind-chill was in the 20’s.
The gusty northwest winds, following Thursday and Friday’s inclement weather, were bringing the birds down out of the North Country. They follow the Connecticut River Valley and foothills until reaching a gap just north of Putney Mt. There they glide westward through the gap or pop over the top of the knob just above our heads. These raptors are accompanied by the exuberant cry of “Eye bird” from the watchers below them.
Our day began with three Harriers, then two Osprey (a surprise to us since we had considered ourselves lucky to find two on Eastern Long Island the previous Saturday), then three Red Shouldered Hawks and several Turkey Vultures. As the winds increased in intensity, only the strong and intrepid carried on. Red tails, their bodies bunched together, wings held tight to their bodies, dove through the gap like speeding boxcars. Sharp-shinned Hawks almost skidded on through, tails bent upward to drive themselves down into the calmer valley. Merlin’s sliced through scimitar-like; Kestrels were less successful at dignified passage. A Goshawk and several Cooper’s Hawks made it through. A local flock of Ravens threw themselves into the wind and careened around like rowdy teenagers, exuberant in the maelstrom.
The migrants streamed southwestward toward the Berkshire Hills. Do some turn south at the Hudson River, while others continue southwest to the Shawangunks, Kittatinnies and beyond? We have had a good day on Putney Mt: 140 raptors pouring out of northern New England. Hawk Mt. will count many more from a broader area. Will someone braving the winds up on Hawk Mt. tomorrow or Monday count some of the birds that we have just seen? On Putney we like to think so.
The following Wednesday we joined Mary Normandia and Sam Crosby on an equally cold and windy day at the Fire Island Hawkwatch. Harriers and one Osprey also passed by the observation platform, but Merlins and Sharpies predominated as the winds increased. Many were actually thrown backward, to circle and try again. Kestrels tried their luck gliding low through the dunes. A peregrine pushed on through. Many paused to hunt and regain their strength. Some just clung to a perch in exhaustion. Over 200 raptors passed the platform that day. We caught up to some of the birds we had observed with Sam and Mary later at West End on the Jones Beach bar. Six harriers patrolled the dunes and Merlins and Kestrels perched in the junipers and pines. Their day of battling the elements had ended. Tomorrow they would begin again.
As a postscript, we examined the Fire Island records for the previous Saturday. They had posted a high count for the year at 283 birds. As at most coastal locations, these were mainly falcons and accipiters. Unlike Hawk and Putney Mts., only one Red-tailed Hawk was spotted. However, when the winds are right and the raptors are on the move, hawkwatching at any of the locations is an exhilarating experience.
By Linda Kedenburg
For more information on Hawk Mountain, Pennsylvania, Rick and Linda's original destination mentioned above please visit their web site at http://www.hawkmountain.org/default.shtml.
If you would like to view the records for Fire Island please go here http://www.battaly.com/fire.