The third week of the hawk count saw highs and lows but culminated with 181 birds on April 1! The weather was unstable, with some cold and windy days when no raptors were seen and milder days when the kinder winds from the southwest brought the first Red-tailed Hawks!
Four species made their first appearance at the observation deck this week: Northern Harrier on March 26, Red-tailed Hawk on March 27, and Turkey Vulture and Cooper’s Hawk on April 1.
Red-tailed Hawks appeared in numbers on April 1, forming the first kettles seen at the Point in 2024. Photo by Michael Patrikeev
Nearly 120 Red-tailed Hawks flew over between noon and 2 p.m. on April 1, sometimes overwhelming my ability to age the passing birds! Bald Eagles, mainly immature, also appeared in good numbers, with 24 birds counted.
The migrating raptors still largely stay too high and “out of good shooting range” of my 400mm lens, but I hope to contribute better photos to future blogs as the migration gets underway!
~ Michael Patrikeev
2024 Raptor Counter
You can see updates for the 2024 Raptor Count on hawkcount.org, read Michael’s weekly blog post, and follow WPBO’s social media (Facebook, Instagram, and X) for raptor count highlights this season. The raptor count runs March 15 through May 31.
Michael Patrikeev, M.S., is a graduate of St. Petersburg State University (Russia) and studied diurnal birds of prey for his M.S. In later years, he worked at the Lower-Svir Nature Reserve in Russia, and then headed the wildlife inventory section at the Ecological Centre of Azerbaijan. He conducted avifaunal surveys and inventories in the latter country and published “The Birds of Azerbaijan” in 2004. Michael arrived in Canada in 1992 and has since worked for the Canadian Wildlife Service, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Parks Canada, The Nature Conservancy, and Texas Parks and Wildlife. Michael is semi-retired and works in Canada and the United States for wildlife-related contracts. His private interests include the conservation of tropical birds and amphibians.
