Compiler: Judy Cinquina Location
2008 Report
11_Year_Summary 10_Year_Average 2008 Dailies 2007 Report
(To print this page, change Page Setup to Landscape)Near record Broad-winged Hawks and Bald Eagles brightened Mount Peter’s 51st annual fall Hawk Watch between September 1 and November 16. Otherwise, 2008 brought in below average numbers for all but Golden Eagle (5) and Peregrine Falcon (14). Although our final tally of 12,302 raptors was our second best in 51 years, producing a hefty 32.70 hawks per hour, most were counted between September 10 and 20, leaving the remainder of our 63-day watch to garner only one 100+ day on October 30.
Inexplicably, Mount Peter was rewarded with the best Broad-wing count in our region, with the majority moving through on westerly winds between September 16 and 18. On September 16, leader Ajit Antony wrote: The count picked up in the afternoon, with a high of 2,074 between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. (EST). “The largest kettle contained 450 hawks. Many of the kettles were extremely distant and looked like finely ground pepper specks.” 4,222 were counted that day. The 10,548 recorded this season was very close to our record 10,944 Broad-wings tallied in 1971. After showing well last fall, the Red-shoulders missed us this season with a very under par 34 recorded: 17 adult, 6 immature, and 11 unknown. And Red-tailed Hawks failed to get going before our watch closed down, November 16. Our best day, October 30, netted only 78 Red-tails.
Accipiters ignored our lookout this season. Sharp-shins barely managed to top 50 twice in October. Their final tally of 785 was 29% below our 10-year average. And Cooper’s Hawks showed no better. The 58 counted was 41% below our 10-year average. Donald Leak recorded the only N. Goshawk, September 19.
American Kestrels brought in our lowest tally in 47 years!
And those lower tallies, recorded between 1958 and 1962, were a result of very limited cover at the lookout, not a lack of Kestrels. A mere 69 were noted this season: 10 male, 17 female, and 43 unknown. This season’s 14 Merlins was unremarkable, but the 14 Peregrines recorded was above our 10-year average.
A below-average 116 Osprey passed Mount Peter this fall, the majority recorded between September 15 and 18 with the Broad-wings. After an encouraging season in 2007, N. Harrier dropped below average once again with 42 noted: 8 male, 5 female, 19 immature, and 10 unknown. Most of the males moved through October 20 through November 1.
A near-record 41 Bald Eagles migrated past our platform this fall: 19 adults, 21 immature, and 1 unknown. Congratulations to Tom Millard for recording nine Bald Eagles on September 15 and breaking our daily Bald Eagle record. One of two adults he spotted that day was carrying a fish. Tom’s new record is even more remarkable when you consider that just 22 years ago, we celebrated the first nine Bald Eagles ever spotted over our lookout in one season. We also observed five other Bald Eagles that turned up to taunt us and then went north and weren’t counted: 3 adults and 2 immature. An average five Golden Eagles made our roster: 1 adult, 3 immature, and 1 unknown.
The most interesting non-raptor event this fall was the constant movement of Pine Siskins over the watch site, beginning October 14 (See data below). Three unprecedented events also marked our 51st watch: 1) October 20 brought our first Great Cormorant past the lookout; 2) October 22 delivered 450-500 Double-crested Cormorants; and 3) October 29 rewarded Linda Peskac with 23 Common Loons. Leaders counted 24 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds between September 1 and 21. The best Canada Goose count was the 847 scored by Carol Linguanti, October 17. The only Snow Geese passed over November 2 and 3 in two long skeins, respectively, but once again, Brant failed to show. Not a Monarch year, out best day was September 20 with a mere 57 counted. Local Common Ravens were almost a daily occurrence. Other interesting sightings included:
September 2 Prairie Warbler
September 5 first Scarlet Tanager (others, 9/13, 9/16), Barn Swallow, Chimney Swift, and D.C. Cormorant
September 7 first Tree Swallows (44)
September 8 first Least Flycatcher (another 9/18), first Black-throated Green & Black & White Warblers
September 10 first Great-crested Flycatcher (another 10/15), 2 Great Egrets, first Belted Kingfisher
September 13 Yellow Warbler, first Yellow-rumped Warbler
September 18 first Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (other sightings: 10/7, 10/20, and 11/2)
September 19 Eastern Wood Pewee
September 21 Black-throated Blue Warbler, first Blue-headed Vireo (another 10/20)
September 22 Lincoln Sparrow spotted by Ken Witkowski
September 30 Red-breasted Nuthatch
October 5 first Ruby-crowned Kinglet, first Palm Warbler, House Wren, E. Phoebe
October 11 first Purple Finch (others 10/21, 11/1, 11/2 and 11/3)
October 14 first Pine Siskins (6 large flocks of from 20-50 Siskins)
October 15 50 Pine Siskins, 80 D.C. Cormorants, first 2 C. Loons, 1 Blackpoll Warbler
October 17 80 Pine Siskins, 7 D.C. Cormorants, C. Loon
October 19 7 Pine Siskins
October 20 Chipping Sparrow, first Junco, first sighting of Winter Wren that stayed through 11/3
October 21 75 Pine Siskins
October 27 80 Pine Siskins, C. Loon
October 29 10 D.C. Cormorants
November 2 60 Pine Siskins
November 4 first White-throated Sparrow, Pine Siskins in 3 flocks of 15, 30 & 150
November 10 38 Pine Siskins, C. Loon
November 12 120 Pine Siskins, C. Loon
In its 51-year history, Mount Peter has been rewarded with volunteers who magically appear when needed. This year we welcome Denise Farrell and Beverly Robertson who helped fill some gaping holes in our schedule. And we are delighted to welcome back Don Leak, one of our veteran volunteers. We were very appreciative of the volunteers who showed up for our clean up, September 1. A very big thank you to: Carole Baligh, Denise Farrell, Don Leak, Tom Millard, Beverly Robertson, Herb Stein, Gene Tappan, and Ken Witkowski. A very special thanks goes to Tom Millard for not only overseeing the installation of new chicken wire around our viewing platform but also for putting up and taking down our platform box and to Ajit Antony for keeping us in the public eye by maintaining our hourly data at www.hawkcount.org. We are indebted to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation for overseeing regular clean-up crews at the site, and to the Fyke Nature Association of Bergen County NJ for sponsoring the watch. Mount Peter is the oldest, continually run, all-volunteer fall watch in the country.
11 YEAR SUMMARY OF AUTUMN HAWK COUNTS AT MOUNT PETER, N.Y.
SPECIES
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
Black Vulture
68
23
4
42
6
58
44
83
20
26
51
Turkey Vulture
269
103
103
130
53
139
199
156
123
238
142
Osprey
132
232
98
106
187
180
121
130
164
208
116
Bald Eagle
13
18
24
10
24
19
24
32
25
42
41
N. Harrier
50
83
42
56
45
66
23
64
53
89
42
Sharp-shinned Hawk
1,076
1,304
1,050
1,232
682
1,181
754
1,222
1,205
1,303
785
Cooper's Hawk
130
103
95
98
63
90
86
153
67
109
58
N. Goshawk
7
1
4
5
2
4
1
4
1
3
1
Red-shouldered Hawk
53
67
31
33
37
43
24
30
65
88
34
Broad-winged Hawk
8,903
6,793
5,646
2,467
3,946
2,110
1,913
3,826
3,784
5,722
10,548
Red-tailed Hawk
358
545
199
421
249
905
339
716
249
396
345
Rough-legged Hawk
1
0
1
1
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
Golden Eagle
4
9
3
5
2
5
1
6
7
3
5
American Kestrel
184
344
187
209
201
167
78
152
184
186
69
Merlin
14
13
12
14
10
22
4
39
12
9
14
Peregrine Falcon
6
7
3
12
7
9
8
18
7
20
14
Unidentified Eagle
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
0
Unidentified Raptor
91
60
93
93
57
65
45
65
44
57
35
GRAND TOTAL
11,359
9,705
7,595
4,934
5,572
5,064
3,665
6,696
6,010
8,500
12,302
TOTAL HOURS
400
385
435
439
383
410
366
393
365
391
376
RAPTOR/HOUR
28.4
25.21
17.46
11.24
14.54
12.36
10.01
17.04
16.47
21.74
32.70
MOUNT PETER FALL HAWKS: 1999-2008 10-YEAR AVERAGE
BV
TV
OS
BE
NH
SS
CH
NG
RS
BW
RT
RL
GE
AK
ML
PG
TOTAL
HRS
HWKS/HR
10-Year Avg.
37
151
156
23
57
1,101
99
3
47
4,511
438
0
5
189
13
8
6,910
397
17.45
Total 2008
51
142
116
41
42
785
58
1
34
10,548
345
0
5
69
14
14
12,302
376
32.7
