Compiler: Judy Cinquina Location
2011 Report
11 Year Summary 10 Year Average 2011 Dailies
2010: Report, Dailies 2009: Report, Dailies 2008: Report, Dailies 2007: Report
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Mount Peter’s 54th annual fall Hawk Watch scored a rewarding 10,065 raptors for 2011, our seventh best result ever. Volunteers put in 411 hours during the 70-day watch between September 1 and November 15th and averaged 24.49 migrants per hour. Although no records were broken, Cooper’s, Red-shoulders, Broadwings, Merlins and Peregrines trounced their 10-year averages.
After a slow start, including two days of heavy rain that caused severe flooding in the Warwick, NY area, Broadwings began to move on September 9 when 105 came through. The biggest push began on the 16th with 678, followed by three days of quadruple digits on light, variable winds. Ken Witkowski grabbed our best day with 2,170 on the 18th. Rain on the 23rd brought things to a halt, but by then, the bulk of our 7,417 Broadwings were south of us. Red-shouldered Hawks are traditionally late October migrants, but this season, 17 were already recorded by the end of September. Our two best days, October 7 and 30 produced 11 Shoulders apiece on strong, westerly winds. The 94 counted this season tied last year’s tally, our third best since 1958: 38 were adults, 20 were immature and 36 were undetermined. Red-tailed Hawks never did find a wind that inspired them this season. The 248 that did go through was well below our 10-year average of 467. And our last buteo, the Rough-legged, never showed up at all.
Accipiters put on a better show. Sharp-shinned Hawks beat their 10-year average with 1,334 recorded. Carol Linguanti had the only three-digit day with 141 noted on moderate west winds. Overall, however, their 10-year average has fallen 51% from a similar 10-year period between 1981 and 1990. Our other major accipiter, the Cooper’s Hawk had its second best fall ever, with 152 counted. It’s average has increased by 58% using the same criteria. We were rewarded with two N. Goshawks this fall, October 3 and 7. Both were immature. The second barely cleared our platform and dropped below eyelevel behind the lookout as it headed south.
After an encouraging increase last season, American Kestrel numbers fell once again, coming in under our 10-year average with 153 noted: 31 male, 37 female, and 85 unknown. And comparing their present average to their 10-year average between 1981 and 1990 reveals an abysmal 79% decline. Its more muscular relative, the Merlin has increased by 55%, using the same criteria. This fall’s tally of 25 was well above average. We do not record many falcons over our lookout, so scoring five Merlins twice, October 21st on brisk west winds and 24th on a moderate south wind, was rewarding. Peregrines also did better than average with 18 tallied.
Although a bit down from last year’s numbers, the 187 Osprey counted was above our average. Our best day brought 19 over on light, SE winds. Carol Linguanti even bagged one on the late date of November 11. N. Harrier numbers were below average, with 41 noted: 5 male, 11 female, 9 immature, and 16 unknown. The Harrier is another species whose 10-year average has declined 52%.
The 70 Bald Eagles scored this fall was our second best tally: 42 adult, 27 immature and 1 undetermined. We also observed 25 more that headed north or east and weren’t counted: 15 were adult and 27, immature. Tom Millard and B.A. McGrath tied our daily record with 10 recorded on September 16. The four Golden Eagles counted: 2 adult and 2 immature, was a bit under our average. Our local vultures gave us the usual headache, leaving us guessing when they were really moving on. Nevertheless, Tom Millard did manage to count 85 Turkey Vultures, October 30 that were probably inspired to leave after the freak snowstorm on the 29th.
Monarchs put on a nice show this season. Leaders managed to count 979 of them, with Tom Millard bagging the best count of 245 between 4:00 and 5:30 p.m. DST, September 17. He counted 207 more the next day. Twenty-two Ruby-throated Hummingbirds were detected. Carol Linguanti had the best day with seven on September 9. Most of the Blue Jays moved through in early October. Rob Stone garnered the high of 500 Jays, October 5. He also had an “impressive” flight of primarily Yellow-rumps and Black-throated Blue Warblers that same day from 10:30 until 11:00 a.m. DST. Tom Millard came in with the best Canada Goose count of 2,000+ on October 16. Denise Farrell had the best Brant count of 60, October 20, and Beverly Robertson scored our only Snow Goose, October 1. Local Ravens entertained us almost daily, including one that perched on our tower aerials and tried to pull off their caps. Non-feathered visitors included four Black Bears on October 24. A lone bear was the first to crash through the understory, about 25 feet from our lookout. Shortly after, a sow walked out of the woods with two cubs glued to her tail. Thankfully she walked towards the Appalachian Trail and not our platform. The first bear may have been a male, stalking the mom. The other significant unfeathered intrusion occurred November 10 when Denise encountered a screaming stranger who had taken possession of our watch sight. Police were called, but Denise was forced to conduct our watch from the Creamery below because the police only managed to coax the stranger down to our parking lot where she fell asleep in the weeds. Other interesting sightings included:
September 1 115 Chimney Swifts, 24 C. Nighthawks (another 10/25), 6 D.C. Cormorants, 1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and a Great-crested Flycatcher
September 3 first Pine Warbler, 1 D.C. Cormorant
September 4 first Redstarts, first Black-throated Greens
September 5 first Black-throated Blue, first Blackburnian, first Magnolia, a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and an E. Wood Pewee
September 8 Great Blue Heron (another 10/24), a Least Flycatcher
September 10 an Orchard Oriole
September 11 first Red-eyed Vireos, a Belted Kingfisher, first Black & White Warbler, first Scarlet Tanager
September 13 Yellow-throated Vireo
September 15 first Blackpoll
September 17 first N. Parula, first Yellow-rumped, first E. Phoebe
September 19 2 C. Loons (2 more 10/11)
September 25 2 House Wrens, first White-throated Sparrow, 13 D.C. Cormorants
September 26 first C. Yellowthroat, first E. Towhee, Veery
September 30 Red-headed Woodpecker
October 3 first Ruby-crowned Kinglet,
October 6 first Palm Warbler, 1 Red-winged Blackbird, 1 Chipping Sparrow, 1 Field Sparrow, 32 D.C. Cormorants
October 7 first Golden-crowned Kinglet, 2 N. Flickers, 66 Am. Robins, Philadelphia Vireo
October 9 Tennessee Warbler
October 20 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, first Dark-eyed Junco
October 21 Prairie Warbler
November 9 5 C. Mergansers
The volunteer crew who made this report possible seems undeterred by any obstacle, whether bears, threatening strangers, floods, snow, or detours around downed trees and wires. Special thanks goes to Matt Zeitler, a visitor who kept the first two hours of the count on October 30, to Tom Millard who took over in spite of 12 inches of snow that day, and to Bill O’Keefe who manned the watch the next day when 17A was blocked by downed trees. Denise Farrell deserves commendation for conducting a watch November 10 in spite of a threatening stranger. We owe a very big thanks to Denise, Gene Tappan and Ken Witkowski for helping with the clean up, and especially to Tom who rebuilt the stairs to the platform and installed our box. Thanks to Denise’s efforts, we now have 21 years of historical data in Hawkcount, which qualified our data for inclusion in the Raptor Population Index project. Our daily data can be accessed at ww.hawkcount.org, thanks to Ajit Antony. We are deeply grateful for donations from Ajit and his wife Liza and from the Fyke Nature Association for sponsoring our site on Hawkcount. Check it out. Finally we are grateful to the NY Department of Environmental Conservation for their regular clean-ups and to our founders, the Fyke Nature Association of Bergen Count, NJ. We are very proud of all our volunteers who keep Mount Peter alive and enable us to brag that we’re the oldest continually run, all-volunteer fall watch in the country.
11 YEAR SUMMARY OF AUTUMN HAWK COUNTS AT MOUNT PETER, N.Y.
SPECIES
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Black Vulture
42
6
58
44
83
20
26
51
42
77
38
Turkey Vulture
130
53
139
199
156
123
238
142
177
189
221
Osprey
106
187
180
121
130
164
208
116
176
203
187
Bald Eagle
10
24
19
24
32
25
42
41
45
89
70
N. Harrier
56
45
66
23
64
53
89
42
36
64
41
Sharp-shinned Hawk
1,232
682
1,181
754
1,222
1,205
1,303
785
1,106
1,803
1,334
Cooper's Hawk
98
63
90
86
153
67
109
58
89
119
152
N. Goshawk
5
2
4
1
4
1
3
1
1
0
2
Red-shouldered Hawk
33
37
43
24
30
65
88
34
38
94
94
Broad-winged Hawk
2,467
3,946
2,110
1,913
3,826
3,784
5,722
10,548
4,505
8,531
7,417
Red-tailed Hawk
421
249
905
339
716
249
396
345
471
574
248
Rough-legged Hawk
1
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
Golden Eagle
5
2
5
1
6
7
3
5
4
8
4
American Kestrel
209
201
167
78
152
184
186
69
183
207
153
Merlin
14
10
22
4
39
12
9
14
22
22
25
Peregrine Falcon
12
7
9
8
18
7
20
14
14
10
18
Unidentified Eagle
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
0
Unidentified Raptor
93
57
65
45
65
44
57
35
14
68
61
GRAND TOTAL
4,934
5,572
5,064
3,665
6,696
6,010
8,500
12,302
6,948
12,061
10,065
TOTAL HOURS
439
383
410
366
393
365
391
376
399
469
411
RAPTOR/HOUR
11.24
14.54
12.36
10.01
17.04
16.47
21.74
32.70
17.41
25.72
24.49
MOUNT PETER FALL HAWKS: 2001-2010 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.
45
155
159
35
54
1,127
93
2
49
4,735
467
1
5
164
17
12
7,175
399
17.92
Total 2011
38
221
187
70
41
1,334
152
2
94
7,417
248
0
4
153
25
18
10,065
411
24.49
10-Year Avg. 1981-1990
82
1,705
59
294
11
Increase: Decrease (-)
-52%
-51%
58%
-79%
55%
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(Updated
12/06/2011)