Hello Everybody! I am excited to be back on the island, counting for a third spring season with MSRW! And also excited to bring an update on how the first three weeks of the count went!
The count officially started on March 5th, and oh boy did it start out strong! Beautiful weather that felt like April, almost 60 raptors in just the first three days, and hitting the 100 raptor mark much earlier than previous springs. On the 12th, I had the first 100+ raptor day. The last March triple digit count day was in 2021! This day also set the new record for day count of golden eagles at 34 (previously set on March 17th, 2022 at 15 goldens)! This also happened to be the highest count of golden eagles on that particular day at any hawk watch in the country! The streak of good migration continued for the next few days, quickly hitting the 200 and 300 raptor mark.
The weather turned sour, and so did the migration. Snow and strong north wind led to delayed start times, single digit count days, and a frozen nose for about a week. Buring this week of poor weather, the count hit 400 raptors on the 21st. On March 20th of last year, I had just hit the 100 raptor mark. On the 23rd, I finally had a double digit count day, followed by two more days of decent flight. It looks like migration is picking up again, and hopefully we will be back on the ball next week.
Even with the week of bad weather, the number of raptors this spring is up immensely compared to previous springs! The count currently sits at 470 raptors, while at this point last year, I had just 205. Numbers are up for every species as well, except for turkey vultures and peregrine falcons. I am happy that migration seems to be picking up again, and excited to see how this season turns out!
