Last week got off to a very slow start with Nick and I having to open late and close early a few days due to inclement weather. We spent the first few days banding only one or two birds per day with the unfavorable weather conditions. We had a moment of excitement on Monday, April 24th, when we banded the second Northern Goshawk of the season! On Friday, April 28th, the sun finally broke through the clouds, encouraging the raptors to get up and start moving. We had several hundreds of birds passing over us, most notably the large numbers of Broad-winged Hawks. This ended up being our best banding day to date with 14 raptors total. The rest of the weekend brought better numbers than we had been having previously, allowing us to come to the hawk watch and show visitors some of the raptors that we banded. Thanks to everyone that was able to come out!
Top 2: Juvenile Northern Goshawk and adult male Northern Harrier aka “Gray Ghost”
Bottom left 2: Adult Red-tailed Hawk and its tail with notable barring
Bottom right 2: Comparison of eye color between a juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk and an adult Sharp-shinned Hawk; the eye color gets darker as the hawks age
Our season totals thus far are as follows:
Red-tailed Hawks: 65
Red-shouldered Hawks: 2
Northern Harriers: 5
Cooper’s Hawks: 6
Sharp-shinned Hawks: 31
American Kestrels: 1
Northern Goshawks: 2
Merlins: 3
Total: 115
