Borrego Valley Hawkwatch: The Week of February 21-February 28-Some Migration to Finish the Month

Leaders:
Feb. 21-Steve
Feb. 22-Laura
Feb. 23-Hal
Feb. 24-Rose
Feb. 25-Laura
Feb. 26-Hal
Feb. 27-Herb
Feb. 28-Steve
March 1-Laura

Migration:
Feb. 21-11 SW's
Feb. 22-10 SW's; 1 TV
Feb. 23-0
Feb. 24-0
Feb. 25-21 SW's
Feb. 26-1 SW's
Feb. 27-0
Feb. 28-29
March 1-14 SW's; 1 Red-shouldered Hawk

Discussion:
The month of February came to an end with 29 Swainson's. The total month included 570 Swainson's Hawks, a record. The previous high was 384 in 2005. Does this mean that we will have a banner season? Perhaps. The valley is covered with green. Flowers are abundant. Now we wait for the voracious caterpillars. It's those pesky fat critters that might bring in a bumper crop of Swainson's. If previous seasons are indicators, this one could be the best ever. The recent rain has provided enough moisture to prime even more flowers. The rainy front probably backed up the SW's and this evening we expect more hawks. We'll see.

Evening Watch March 1:
Eleven Swainson's Hawks spent some time above the Date Farm before putting down for the night.

Prediction:
Very light wind predicted for March 2. The hawks probably will take off late-8:30-9:30AM. We are still waiting for another big hawk migration. Last year we had a large group arrive on March 5. From March 8-26 we had hundreds of hawks in the valley daily. Wildflowers are in abundance but not peaking yet. Very few caterpillars have been observed. Next week we expect caterpillars to begin to show up in abundance and of course the hawks as well.