Saturday, April 5, 2014

Very Windy Today-April 5, 2014

Leader:
Joe

Migration Today:
Swainson's Hawks-2

Discussion-NW wind steady above 12 mph and gusty to 17. Partly cloudy and temps ranging from 50-low 70's. Lift-0ff from the Roadrunner at 8:30A.

Question:
Where do the hawks go after leaving Borrego? That's a very difficult question. First, we don't get much feedback when our hawks leave the valley. We are the only hawkwatch in California in spring. Occasionally we see a post of a few Swainson's Hawks in southern CA. What happens to hundreds of SW's leaving here? A survey in 2006 indicated that California had a little over 2000 breeding pairs of Swainson's Hawks. We have had almost 9,000 SW's migrate through Borrego Valley (2011). So many of our hawks are on their way to other states. Some of our hawks probably are on their way to Nevada, Washington, Oregon and Canada.

Evening Watch:
Only one Swainson's Hawk was observed this evening. It came out of the Date Farm low and then returned to the Farm. I believe it is a hawk that is lingering in Borrego and is not migrating yet.

Prediction:
Light wind tomorrow so any hawks that might have come in very late this evening will take off between 8 and 9A.

Nice close view of a light morph-Iris Kilpatrick-4/4/14
Another nice shot by Iris Kilpatrick-4/4/14


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