Where Do Canadian Ferruginous Hawks Winter?
Blog by Jesse Watson In early October we blogged about the Ferruginous Hawk project one of our biologists has been involved with in southern Canada. At that time, we posted a map showing where Ferruginous Hawks tracked from their breeding ranges in Alberta and Saskatchewan were located along their fall migration…
Raptor Road Trip: Tracking Birds of Prey Across the American West
Three friends hit the road to follow hawks and golden eagles on their fall migration, and to collect valuable data that will help scientists understand the birds' ancient journeys. ...read the full National Geographic article Here By Charles Post PUBLISHED February 9, 2017 With outstretched talons, a lone golden eagle…
Combined Count Data Reveals Shifts in Hawks’ Migratory Behavior
Bird species’ distributions and migratory behavior are shifting in response to changes in climate and land-use, but surveys that focus on a particular season can cause scientists to miss trends in the bigger picture. A new study from The Condor: Ornithological Applications tackles this problem by combining Red-tailed Hawk counts…
Winter's for the birds!
Our friends at Outdoor Project recently launched their 52 Week Adventure Challenge. They have put together a list of 52 geological features and adventure themes to keep you inspired all year. Week 5 is for the birds, and we wrote this blog post to inspire you to get outside this week…
GPS Tracking of Rough-legged Hawks
Rough-legged Hawks spend the winter throughout southern Canada and the United States, and yet scientists still know surprisingly little about the basic movement patterns of this relatively common arctic-breeding raptor. One reason we know so little is that Rough-legged Hawks are thought to be “broad front” migrants, meaning they are…
Do you know about our new Forest Owl study?
by Dave Oleyar, HawkWatch International Senior Scientist As cold temperatures finally begin to arrive, I’m entering data and thinking back to this summer and the inaugural season of our Forest Owl Study in partnership with the Earthwatch Institute, and long-time collaborator and friend, Markus Mika, of the University of Wisconsin…
Red-tailed Hawk Patagial Marks
Do all Red-tailed Hawks show dark patagials? Well, yes, but… Dark patagials (or "patagial bars") is a well-known ID trait for light-morph Red-tailed Hawks, but some show very faint patagials, appearing as if they lack dark "bars" altogether. This is more common with juvenile Red-tails than adults, and with Eastern…
Austwell-Tivoli ISD Students Experience Hawk Watch
Text and photos by Brigid Berger, Texas Master Naturalist, Mid-Coast Chapter “Cooper’s Hawk!” “Kingfisher!” “Double-breasted Hummingbird!” As the kids got back on the bus to head home, I asked them to name a bird they had seen today. While not all of them were completely accurate in their identification skills,…
Grand Canyon: Punching Through another Falcon Record
Text by Ben West It’s a bit hard to believe, but we have less than a week of raptor counting left at the Grand Canyon HawkWatch! As the season winds down, we are not seeing as many hawks as we did a few weeks ago. Our two biggest days this…
Farewell from Chelan Ridge
Text and photos by Jessica Buskirk After a week of thick fog, snow, and blustery wind with the threat of more to come, we sat on the rock for the last time this season. Migration definitely slowed to a trickle up at Chelan Ridge HawkWatch, but we were blessed with…