Monday February 29, 2016-First Large Kettles of the Season

Leader:
Herb
Assistents:
Judy, Dick, Mel, Steve, Hal

Migrants:igration:
Swainson's Hawks-76
Turkey Vultures-

Discussion:
Calls this morning and yesterday evening indicated that several hawks were in town. This morning around 30 Swainson's Hawks were in fields to the north of the Date Farm. By 9A they were ringing up over the solar field. They eventually streamed northwest. They were visible from the count site but not as easy to observe as the old site. This could change as the season progresses. Scouts are definitely needed to get an accurate count. Check the youtube at https://youtu.be/WmGsqnYESK8

Evening Watch:
We had a few waves of Swainson's that came into the Date Farm and Roadrunner Club. About 40 plus hawks probably.

Prediction:
Tomorrow wind should be calm so lift-off should be around 9A. To be on the safe side come out by 8:30A. Borrego Valley Rd about 2 miles north of Palm Canyon Drive should be a good place to view the hawks when they take off.

Rufous Morph Swainson's Hawk-Courtesy of Matthew Binns

Our First Week of Hawkwatching is Almost Complete-February 22-27, 2016

Leaders:
Monday February 22-Herb and Judy
Tuesday February 23-Steve
Wednesday February 24-Laura
Thursday February 25-Hal
Friday February 26-Herb
Saturday February 27-Rose

Migration:
Monday February 22-1 Red-tailed Hawk
Tuesday February 23-1 Turkey Vulture
Wednesday February 24-O
Thursday February 25-3 Swainson's Hawks; 3 Turkey Vultures
Friday February 26-0
Saturday February 27-12 Swainson's Hawks

Discussion:
We are off to a slow start with hope that things will pick up soon. We did have a few raptors migrate on Feb. 25. Our first nice kettle was observed on Saturday Feb. 27 as a kettle of Swainson's Hawks developed just before 9A. It was encouraging to watch as the hawks kettled and streamed to a point west of the watch. We are still getting used to the new watch site. So far we have not lost hawks but are a bit further from the flight path. If hawks move east of our on the way out of the valley we will have an observation advantage over the old site.

Question of the day: What is a kettle and what is a stream. When enough raptors begin to circle upward in a spiral motion the form of the group is similar to a kettle. It's a far stretch but the term is used often when a group of hawks gain altitude. When the circling hawks reach a point where the bubble of heated air  (thermal) begins to thin out, they begin to fly in a straight line toward their migration direction. The hawks fan out and can easily be counted. On occasion a mass of hawks will take the shape of an undulating tornado. Usually the number of hawks that make up a tornado is more than 300. We have had tornados with more than 500 hawks!

TV Getting Ready-HC

First Swainson's Hawk Kettle of the Season-HC

Desert Lily Near the Hawkwatch-HC

Sunset from the Night Site-Laura Webb

2016 is Here-So Are Some Hawks-February 20, 2016

Migration of raptors has begun in Borrego Valley. Last weekend 11 Swainson's Hawks showed up. Reports of small groups of Turkey Vultures continue to roll in. Today I found 3 SW's and 8 Turkey Vultures. One Swainson's Hawk was very approachable for photos.

The watch will officially begin on Monday February 22. We have moved the day count site to another location in the park. Continue north past the old watch on DiGiorgio Rd until the pavement ends. We are located on a large mound to the right of the road. We will have our first evening watch on Borrego Valley Rd on Sunday evening February 21. We'll be there around 5P. From Palm Canyon drive east of town to a 4 way stop sign. Turn left on Borrego Valley Rd. Drive about 1.25 miles to the evening watch.

Our New Hawkwatch Mound-HC

Swainson's Hawk next to DiGiorgio Rd. 

The End of The Season-Last Blog-April 11-15, 20

Leaders:
April 11-Laura
April 12-Herb
April 13-Herb
April 14-Hal
April 15-No Count-End of the Season

Migration:
April-11-1 Swainson's Hawk; 14 Turkey Vultures
April 12-3 SW's
April 13-1 SW; 1 TV
April 14-O
April 15-No Count

Discussion:
The season is now officially over. Swainson's Hawks and Turkey Vulture will continue to trickle through the valley until late May. This season was marked by remarkable feeding behavior due to the huge number of caterpillars available. Daily for over 3 weeks we encountered huge numbers of SW's that foraged on the caterpillars. Unfortunately the location of most of the feeding took place in a rather remote area east of the airport. This season is ranked 3rd of 13 years of data gathering. As the end of this season approached we thought we would end up in second place. However we fell short by just over 100 hawks.

Totals For The Season:
Swainson's Hawks-5269-Third highest count in 13 years
Turkey Vultures-248-lowest count in 13 years
Osprey-1
Northern Harrier-1
Red-tailed Hawk-5
Merlin-1
Peregrine Falcon-1
Prairie Falcon-1
Unknown Buteo-1
Unknown Raptors-4

Those Folks that volunteered to help at the watch-A special thanks: 
Herb Stone
Judy Davis
Steve Bier
Laura Webb
Joe Hopkins
Hal Cohen
Wes Hetrick
Rose Leong
Pam Albers
Tommy Antel
Richard Yates
Gary Hilton
Bob Theriault
Ashley Kvitek
Also, our thanks to Anza Borrego Foundation for support and all the folks that came out to appreciate the hawks.

A few photo's from this year as well as previous years.

Dark Morph-HC

3 Swainson's Hawks-Morphs-HC

Rufous with Twig-Iris Kilpatrick

Intermediate Morph-
Don Endicott

Evening Watch-HC

Captured Swainson's Hawk-HC

Handsome Dude-HC

Rufous SW-HC

White-Lined Sphinx Moth in Motion-Robin Roberts-Idyllwild

The End of the Season-HC

Season Slowdown With Some Surprise Feeding Hawks-April 4-10, 2015

Leaders:
April 4-Hal
April 5-Herb
April 6-Herb
April 7-Steve
April 8-Laura
April 9-Hal
April 10-Hal

Migration:
April 4-3 SW's
April 5-6 SW's
April 6-0
April 7-11 SW's
April 8-1 SW; 12 TV's
April 9-1 SW
April 10-3 SW's

Discussion:
Looks like the season is winding down quickly. Although very few Swainson's Hawks are migrating, it is apparent that feeding behavior continues. Daily now we see hawks on the ground east of the hawkwatch near Peg Leg (S-22). This evening-Friday April 10 perhaps more than 20 hawks were observed in the same area above. Evidently hawks are still moving through the valley and some are stopping for the night. Around 9A in the morning hawks begin to kettle up to aerial feed. Flying ants and dragonflies are in the valley. Unfortunately the food supply is located far to the east of the hawk count site. Below are some shots through the season. Next week I will compile the season totals and add some of Iris Kilpatrick's great Shots.

Our Landmarks-Wes Hetrick

Great Kettle-HC

Coming in to Roost-HC

Evening Touchdown-HC

Sphinx Moth Caterpillars-HC

Falcon in a Tree-?

A Marvelous Finish of the Feeding Season-March 28-April 3, 2015

Leaders:
March 28-Pam
March 29-Pam
March 30-Herb
March 31-Steve
April 1-Laura
April 2-Bob
April 3-Hal

Migration:
March 28-526 Swainson's Hawks; 4 TV's (Turkey Vultures)
March 29-162 Swainson's Hawks; 1 Red-tailed Hawk
March 30-36 Swainson's Hawks; 1 TV
March 31-26 Swainson's Hawks
April 1-3 Swainson's Hawks ; 1 TV
April 2-48 Swainson's Hawks; 1 Unknown Buteo
April 3-21 Swainson's Hawks

Discussion:
This period is marked by the end of caterpillar feeding and the return of the typical pattern of migration. On Saturday March 28, hundreds of Swainson's Hawks rose from the feeding grounds to migrate very close to the count site. The following day saw the final chapter of the feeding hawks. They once again ringed up and migrated near the count site. On Sunday March 29th a group of hawks dropped into the Date Farm in the evening. In most years this is the migration pattern. That is, we wait patiently for hawks to arrive in the evening-dropping from the sky. A small number of hawks continue to enter the valley on a daily basis now. We anticipate a few more big days, with hawks that have migrated from as far as Argentina. On Friday April 3rd we had lots of aerial feeding, probably on flying ants. As of today this years count is the third highest in 13 years.
   

The Evening Watch-Tommy Antel

Set Wings for Streaming Migration-HC

Hawks Beginning to Kettle-Indian Head in the background

Female Light Morph-Johnathan

Jonathan

Large March Kettle-HC

Intermediate SW-Peter Thomas

Dark or probably Intermediate-HC

Good Looking Turkey Vulture-Gary Hilton

Intermediate-Terry Hunefeld

Two Weeks of Solid Hawks!!! March 21-28, 2015

Leaders:
March 21-Rose
March 22-Wes
March 23-Herb
March 24-Steve
March 25-Laura
March 26-Pam
March 27-Hal

Migration:
March 21-176 Swainson's Hawks; 2 Turkey Vultures
March 22-224 SW's
March 23-19 SW's
March 24-502 SW's; 1 Red-tailed Hawk; 1 Osprey
March 25-292 SW's; 4 TV's
March 26-121 SW's
March 27-471 SW's; 4 TV's; 4 Unidentified Raptors

Discussion:
Another remarkable week with daily reports of large kettles of Swainson's Hawks both in the flower fields (feeding on caterpillars) and migrating. Finally today we might have cleared out some of the hawks that were lingering in the area feeding. We will see if new hawks enter the valley today and this evening. The weather continues to be very hot with temperatures in the 90's and total blue skies. Tomorrow the temperature may crack 100. There has been very little morning wind and it appears that thermal production was minimal. The hawks appear to struggle upwards before using updrafts along the Santa Rosa Mountains. Most of the migration has been along the mountains. Below are some youtubes of a typical caterpillar digging in and an evening kettle.

We cannot predict the outcome of the next few weeks. This evening will tell the tale. I might update this blog if new information surfaces this evening. Oh oh, it's almost 6P and I just got word that over 200 hawks came in!!!

 http://youtu.be/S3J6jxb1Xks      http://youtu.be/dxIzfe0YDew

Juvenile Light Intermediate-HC

Evening at the Watch-HC

Beautiful Turkey Vulture-Gary Hilton