Welcome to Week 6 of the fall raptor migration!
Calvin counted 1948 raptors crossing the Straits this week. Sharp-shinned hawks continued to dominate, with 1057 observations making up 54% of total sightings. Sharp-shinned hawks have been dominating the morning movements, with the afternoons making way for more diversity in birds.
9/28 saw a season high of 304 sharp-shinned hawks. On the same day, a season high of 225 turkey vultures was recorded. A modest 18 red-tailed hawks made their first real push of the season as well on 9/28.
This week wrapped up the month of September. September saw a total of 6361 raptors crossing the Straits. Of those birds, 2475 were sharp-shinned hawks, 1480 were broad-winged hawks, and 1226 were turkey vultures. A variety of other species made up the remaining 1180 observations. It will be exciting to see how these numbers change in the month of October.
