Lighthouse Point HW, 10-5-12 A day that shouldn't have happened.
When I headed for New Haven this AM I didn't expect much, maybe 30 or 40
birds if I was lucky. Everyone knows that strong northwest winds are the
best for our hawkwatch, and today the forecast, which turned out to be
correct, was for light to moderate southwest winds. When I got in the park,
before 7 AM it was just getting light, but as I drove up the road toward our
tables I spotted 4 birds, circling and diving on each other. I was pretty sure
I knew what, but I stopped in the middle of the road, grabbed my bins and
jumped out to look. Sure enough, 4 Peregrine Falcons! And the first hour I
had a total of 17, more than I ever remember hearing of in an hour and
usually more than on a good day. The day's, total was 64, a number that I'm not
sure we have ever been reached before.
The overall total for the day was 358 raptors, including 107 Am. Kestrels,
27 Merlins, and 121 Sharp-shinned Hawks. Interestingly, not a single buteo.
A good though not exceptional total overall, but great given the
expectations. Perhaps a week of generally lousy weather had them bottled up and they
just had to fly!
Don Morgan
Coventry, Ct
'Yet another day that shouldn't have happened. Greg had that excellent moderate SW wind day back on Monday October 1. I think today was the first day I left the hawk watch (albeit at 4 pm) when a front came through and winds shifted to strong West, ie, to "favorable".
Sir Richard Dawkins once called ol' Didymus, the Patron Saint of the Scientist. I have to admit when Don mentioned 17 Peregrines the first hour, there were dropped mouths and raised eyebrows amongst the gang. But all afternoon, we watched a steady stream of PGs - adults, immatures, males, females, tundrius-colored, anatum-colored, mongrel-colored - all streaming NE to SW, or E to W.
Virtually all the hawks were less than 30 meters off the deck. A wonderful day. I can't believe I'm saying this: tomorrow on a light NW wind day, I'm hoping for a few crumbs from the previous SW wind day...
Steve Mayo
Bethany
From: "Mntncougar@aol.com" Mntncougar@aol.com
To: ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org
Sent: Saturday, October 6, 2012 6:24 PM
Subject: [CT Birds] Lighthouse Point HW, 10-5-12 A day that shouldn't have happened.
When I headed for New Haven this AM I didn't expect much, maybe 30 or 40
birds if I was lucky. Everyone knows that strong northwest winds are the
best for our hawkwatch, and today the forecast, which turned out to be
correct, was for light to moderate southwest winds. When I got in the park,
before 7 AM it was just getting light, but as I drove up the road toward our
tables I spotted 4 birds, circling and diving on each other. I was pretty sure
I knew what, but I stopped in the middle of the road, grabbed my bins and
jumped out to look. Sure enough, 4 Peregrine Falcons! And the first hour I
had a total of 17, more than I ever remember hearing of in an hour and
usually more than on a good day. The day's, total was 64, a number that I'm not
sure we have ever been reached before.
The overall total for the day was 358 raptors, including 107 Am. Kestrels,
27 Merlins, and 121 Sharp-shinned Hawks. Interestingly, not a single buteo.
A good though not exceptional total overall, but great given the
expectations. Perhaps a week of generally lousy weather had them bottled up and they
just had to fly!
Don Morgan
Coventry, Ct
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