Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Very Windy Today With Blowing Sand-Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Leader:
Laura, assisted by Rose, Wes and Joe

Migration Today:
Swainson's Hawks-1

Discussion:
Windy conditions from the W/NW, 65 degrees early with a high of 72. At 9:40A a light morph Swainson's Hawk headed NW against the wind. This hawk might have been one spotted in the sink area to the south earlier today.

Question:
How far do Swainson's Hawks fly in a day? A journey of around 100 miles per day is typical.   A lot depends on weather conditions including wind speed and direction. Transmitters placed on Swainson's Hawks a few years ago indicated that some days a SW could fly as much as 150 miles. The journey from Argentina to here takes 50-60 days.

Evening Watch:
The sand storm that has been in Borrego Springs all day drove the evening hawk watchers away. The photo below is just a sample of the weather. It's actually 10 times worse. Four SW's were observed above the Springs RV park at 2:30P today. A few hardy watchers braved the sand storm to no avail.

Prediction:
There are hawks in town and the wind will continue through tomorrow morning. Winds of 58Mph have been observed in Borrego Springs. Most of the hawks, if any, will depart at first light. Let's hope for an evening filled with hawks.
A Raven playing in the sand storm 3/25/14

Masked People watching for hawks on a windy day-3/25/14


Ready to Go




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