[wisb] SWAINSON'S HAWK at Eagle Valley, Grant County (and belated reports)

From: Alex Stark <thearctictern@xxxxxxxxx>
To: wisbirdn <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2010 20:08:43 -0500

Hello all,
Like the title says there was a SWAINSON'S HAWK at Eagle Valley Nature
Preserve today! A second observer, Carole, and I saw the bird coming from
the Northeast and was flying Southwest toward the Mississippi River valley.
The dihedral wing shape was very obvious, making me think it was a Northern
Harrier at first, but as it flew closer I noticed that it had all of the
classic forms for a Swainson's Hawk such as long/pointed wings, long tail
and buteo form. The bird was flying in front of an adult Red-tailed Hawk,
making a comparison easy. Unfortunately the lighting was very poor so we
weren't able to get any other information other than the silhouette of the
bird. Definitely a Swainson's though...
Today's count was much slower than yesterdays. It rained for a couple hours
of the day making migration slow. Here are our totals for today:

Turkey Vulture: 8
Osprey: 1
Bald Eagle: 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk: 50
Coopers Hawk: 6
Unidentified Accipiter: 1
Red-tailed Hawk:1
Broad-winged Hawk: 171
SWAINSON'S HAWK: 1
American Kestrel: 1
Merlin: 1
Peregrine Falcon: 1
Unidentified Raptor: 1
TOTAL....245 birds.


The count for Friday was the BEST DAY EVER! We had our peak day for
Broad-winged Hawks as well as high counts for Cooper's Hawks and Peregrine
Falcons. Here are our totals for Friday, September 24th, 2010.

Turkey Vulture: 24
Osprey: 15
Bald Eagle: 31
Northern Harrier: 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk: 264
Cooper's Hawk: 52
Unidentified Accipiter: 3
Red-tailed Hawk: 30
Broad-winged Hawk: 2129!!!
Red-shouldered Hawk: 1
Unidentified Buteo: 2
American Kestrel: 9
Merlin: 1
Peregrine Falcon: 17
Unidentified Raptor: 5
TOTAL....2582 birds!

I just learned today that you can follow our hawk watches and explore data
from previous years at www.hawkcount.org
Or go to this link for Eagle Valley Nature Preserve data:
http://www.hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=516

Bird On,
Alex Stark, Grant County


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[wisb] SWAINSON'S HAWK at Eagle Valley, Grant County (and belated reports)

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