These past two weeks have been very hectic, with the move off island causing some disruptions with the regular count updates. So, this week is a 2-for-1 special!
I cannot believe that we have already hit the end of April and it is a week into May! There has been a lot going on over here on the island, and it has been a blast. Week 8 brought both good flights and bad weather. We started off with another awesome Broad-wing day, with 777 of them moving north. The next two days had some pretty light wind and just a handful of birds. The wind picked back up later in the week, which brought some more good flight days. The count on the 28th was covered by Ed Pike and Evan Buck while I made the very sad move off the island to the mainland (thanks again for covering!), and no count was conducted on the 29th. Week 8 brought 2,004 new raptors, and a season total of 7,649.
Week 9 saw a significant decrease in flight. The week started off with some good days. More Broad-winged Hawks and Sharp-shinned Hawks moving through, which made up the bulk of the flight. Some very strange localized fog completely socked in the island on the 4th, and after that the flight slowed down greatly. The end of the week also brought more Red-tailed Hawks than Broad-winged hawks, which hasn’t happened in a few weeks, which makes it seem like peak migration for adult Broad-wings is behind us, and the juvenile Red-tails are showing up. Week 9 brought 1,440 new raptors, and brought the season total up to 9,089.
While raptor migration may be slowing down just a bit, non-raptor migration is starting to ramp up! Spring warblers have been showing up, causing the mornings to be much louder than I am used to. Some exciting arrivals from a few days ago were a Horned Lark, Eastern Towhee, and a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, which were all new birds for me at this site! I am still waiting for the famous Indigo Bunting, that every single year, takes up the spot at the very top of the dead tree by the lookout.
I am looking forward to this upcoming week and excited to see what is in store.
