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…

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…

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,…

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…

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…

Text by Casey Weissburg We are now just two weeks away from count’s end here at Yaki Point HawkWatch, and our daily counts reflect the late season.  Our week started out surprisingly big, though, with a late push of straggling migrants; three days over 80, and one even above 150,…

Text by Dan Green Well, there are only a couple of weeks left in the season and the Commissary Ridge HawkWatch crew still hasn't submitted a blog post.  Fortunately, this is easy enough to fix.  We've had a pretty good count so far.  We have had above-average counts on most…

Text by Ceeanna Zulla What a whirlwind of three weeks it’s been at the Bonney Butte HawkWatch!  Since we last blogged, Jerry Ligouri along with fellow HawkWatch International staff and veterans visited the site on one of busiest weekends yet.  With all the extra eyes in the sky, we spotted a…

Text by Keelan Dann   Another week of migration has passed here at the Manzano Mountains HawkWatch and this one has been filled with the unexpected and beautiful: warm weather, bobcats, bears, falcons, eagles, and more.   During and surrounding peak the crew anticipates many days busy with birds and…

Text and photos by Casey Weissburg and Kumara MacLeod This strange and blustery season does not cease to surprise us! As winds intensify, the hawks keep coming. Thursday put to rest our fear of falling short of the historic average with a late season push of over 300 raptors and the…