FIRE News |
Hawkwatch:
FIRE (Fire Island Raptor Enumerators)
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Summary: It's
been a GREAT year!
♦ AKs are coming through in numbers not seen for
15 years (since 1994)!
♦ OS, NH, & PG are all 80% and more above
average.
♦ The Sharpies
and Kestrels are both less than 10% below average. We have
not seen this many SS in 9 years and this number of AKs in
16 years.
♦
We have set new yearly records for OS, NH, & ML!
♦ We need only 5 more PG to tie its record.
♦ The large increases in the SSs and AKs this year over recent
years, plus a RL, and 2 Short-eared Owls, amount to an incredible year - and it is not over yet! | |
Notable
days to date(10/1/10-11/2/10)
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Dev. from 27 Yr Ave |
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Oct 3 |
Oct 9 |
Oct 12 |
Oct 16 |
Oct 22 |
Oct 29 |
TD |
OS |
86 |
20 |
27 |
5 |
4 |
3 |
554 |
82% |
BE |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
avg is 2.7 |
NH |
53 |
23 |
28 |
9 |
4 |
28 |
486 |
+103% |
SS |
8 |
22 |
14 |
16 |
34 |
56 |
519 |
-6.3% |
CH |
1 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
4 |
41 |
+59% |
NG |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
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RS |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
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BW |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
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RT |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
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RL |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
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AK |
43 |
52 |
4 |
4 |
29 |
87 |
1664 |
-1.6% |
ML |
60 |
121 |
50 |
63 |
64 |
59 |
2090 |
+55% |
PG |
4 |
23 |
55 |
25 |
6 |
6 |
315 |
+88% |
U |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
17 |
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TOT |
257 |
263 |
178 |
126 |
141 |
243 |
5663 |
+29% |
(numbers are tentative until final reports are
submitted)
The last column is the deviation from our 27-year average.
TD is the total, To Date, for all days covered.
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This year continues to
go like gang busters!
Led by AKs and MLs, we are well
above our
27 year average. The early AKs
should be all hatching year birds, suggesting a good breeding year. The numbers will have to be
looked at
carefully but the strong showing of AKs late in the year suggests good
numbers
of adults, and therefore better than average over- wintering survival
last year.
They will wind up less than 10% below average - compared to 60% - 70%
below
in the last few years.
The ML numbers are also extraordinary! Their numbers have been good
but dropping over the last 4 years, but this year reverses that trend
in a big way! |
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Adult
Merlin, "BlueJack"
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The OS climbed to a new yearly high - they are now at 554, old record
508 - with
steady day to day numbers.
The NH also have set a new record with 486 so far and still going
strong (old record
434).
SSs are over 500 for the first time since 2001, and less than 10%
below average.
CHs are a little low compared to their average over the last 5 years,
but still very high
compared to our 27 year average.
The single RL seen so far is the first in 8 years.
The PG flight has been late but strong. We are currently 5 PGs shy of
the record
of 320 set in 2008. Will we break it? We have a week to go and good
winds coming
for the weekend.
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We are 1200 total hawks above the average. The high
numbers of total hawks (TH) reflects the great flights of AKs & MLs.
I can't close without noting the extraordinary flights of 10/29 -
11/2. 22 (of 40) daily
records were broken. Every day the all time daily high of AKs was
broken and
on 4 of the 5 days the record highs of THs were broken.
Truly an
exceptional 5 days. |
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Drew |
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Panko Press,
9/30/10 edition
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Summary: It's
been a GREAT
September!
AKs are coming through in numbers
not seen for 15 years (since 1994)!
OS, ML, & NH are all 90% and more
above average.
The Sharpies are lagging 23% below
average,
but that is still well above
the last several years.
CH are doing well - but it is
not significant yet -
the main flight has yet to arrive.
And the PGs are slightly below
average - but again not significantly so
because it is too early in the season for the main flight.
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Notable
days to date(9/30/10)
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Dev. from 27 Yr Ave |
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9-Sep |
10-Sep |
15-Sep |
17-Sep |
20-Sep |
26-Sep |
TD |
OS |
31 |
76 |
24 |
9 |
108 |
24 |
388 |
+108% |
BE |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
avg is .71 |
NH |
3 |
8 |
12 |
10 |
38 |
17 |
142 |
+90% |
SS |
0 |
3 |
4 |
8 |
66 |
2 |
106 |
-23% |
CH |
1 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
10 |
+178% |
NG |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
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RS |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
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BW |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
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RT |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
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RL |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
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AK |
73 |
37 |
262 |
26 |
722 |
37 |
1211 |
+40% |
ML |
38 |
84 |
264 |
161 |
226 |
37 |
1154 |
+87% |
PG |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
16 |
25 |
-22% |
U |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
7 |
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TOT |
21 |
73 |
94 |
161 |
442 |
92 |
3005 |
+56% |
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(numbers are
tentative until final reports are submitted)
The last column is the deviation from our
27-year average, for the most common species.
The next to last column - labeled TD - is the
total, To Date, for all days covered. |
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This year is going like gang busters!
Led by AKs, and MLs we are well above our 27 year
average. The early AKs
should be all hatching year birds, which is great. They
must have had a good breeding year. We should expect a drop off
in AKs as the adults start coming through - however, if we
don't, that will indicate that it wasn't such a good breeding
year, but that a extraordinary number of last year's hatch birds
survived the winter and both the north and south migration to
breed this past spring.
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American
Kestrel at FIRE |
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The ML numbers are even
more extraordinary! Almost 90% above average and about 50%
through their migration window. As with the AKs these have been
hatching year birds and we'll see how the adults do as the
season progresses.
The SS numbers are a little
low - but it is still too early to tell, barely 20% of their
season is past and their numbers are improved over what they've
been the last 15 years. The OS
numbers are very high, but this may be a weather effect - we
only get a small percentage of all the OS that pass inland and
if the wind/weather are such that a slightly higher percentage
of OS come out to the barrier beach then we'll have a good year,
while the total regional count is still just average. |
Merlin at
FIRE |
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It is really too early to evaluate how the
PGs (-22%),
NHs (+90%) and
CHs (+178%)
are doing because, as with the SSs, we are too early in the
season - less than 20%
of the season has passed for these birds.
The high numbers of total hawks (TH) reflects the great
flights of AKs & MLs.
Be on the lookout for the next cold front.
We're in Peregrine season!
Let's hope that 2010 is the year of the return of the
American Kestrel!
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Drew |
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2009
Data |
Panko Press, 2009 Season Summary
Click for 2009 PG videos |
Summary:
After a
very slow September,
the PGs show up and steal the
show!
CH are above average and ML at their 20
year average.
OS and NH numbers are below average, but
nowhere as low as the SS & AK numbers.
Both SS & AK numbers are so low as to be
very worrisome and worthy of further study
on their breeding grounds.
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2009
Compared to the 20-yr Average
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2009 Total |
20 YR AVG |
Deviation fr 20-yr ave |
OS |
264 |
305 |
-16% |
BE |
1 |
3 |
**** |
NH |
181 |
230 |
-21% |
SS |
291 |
455 |
-36% |
CH |
47 |
28 |
+70% |
NG |
1 |
2 |
**** |
RS |
0 |
0 |
**** |
BW |
0 |
0 |
**** |
RT |
1 |
1 |
**** |
RL |
0 |
0 |
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Location:
On a barrier beach, off the south shore of Long Island, NY. We're about
midway along Long Island, slightly west of due south from New Haven CT.
Driving directions: Proceed south on Robert Moses Parkway, over the bridge to
Robert Moses State Park. From the water tower circle (check for PG), proceed
East to parking lot #5. From the NE corner of the lot, walk east toward the
lighthouse. We watch from the highest point near the road barriers.
Link up to one of the following:
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Hawks
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Birds and Butts
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Other Weather
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Videos!
Check out our 4 new videos showing the
Fire Island Hawk Watch, and Trends for Peregrines, Merlins,
and Kestrels!
Look for photos of you, photos of the hawks, and videos of the hawks. Also, check out the trends. Are you correct to think that the PGs
are increasing? What about the Merlins? Are the Kestrels
really declining? If so, why? Here we discuss the trends relative to
ecology!
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