Rough-legged Hawk by Skye Haas

Since my last post things have begun really heating up at the point! In the past week three new raptors have been added to our season totals. March 29th brought a pair of Rough-legged Hawks, and the first Turkey Vulture finally appeared on the 30th. Surprisingly, after their first arrival for the count being a touch late, we’ve tallied a total of 28 Rough-leggeds in under a week now, with a count of 17 on April 2nd! Our third new addition for the week was an early Peregrine Falcon, which bombed just over my head in a quick flash late in the morning of the 31st.

Though our first Broad-winged Hawks are still several weeks away, I’ve lately gotten some slight glimpses of the big buteo kettles in my future. Red-taileds first started exhibiting the behavior on the 29th, soaring effortlessly for hours on thermals, so high and far away that they continuously blinked in and out of view, even through my strongest optics. A total of 40 Red-taileds on this date has been our high count so far, with a total of 172 accumulated throughout the season.

Northern Goshawk by Skye Haas

In other buteo news, Red-shouldered Hawks have had a robust showing compared to last year’s numbers — this season’s total currently stands at 19, whereas in 2016 only seven had been spotted by this point. As for Accipiters, Northern Goshawks continue their steady trickle, being spotted more days than not on the count so far, and reaching a high count of 8 birds on March 30th, for a total of 29 as of this writing. Curiously, all but two of them have been immature.

The passerine push of the previous week has made me feel most like spring is finally getting underway. American Robins, the quintessential sign of returning avifauna, have absolutely exploded lately, with 250 individuals passing through over the first three days of April! Other new songbirds over the past week include a Northern Shrike, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Bohemian Waxwing, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Dark-eyed Junco, Song Sparrow, Rusty Blackbird, and Common Grackle. Winter birds still maintain a foothold though — despite my prior predictions, Pine Grosbeaks showed another spectacular migratory event on April 1st, and Common Redpoll accounted for just over 40% of all birds counted within the past week.

American Robin by Skye Haas

Follow the data in real-time here on Dunkadoo! All of the hawk data over the years can be found here at Hawk Count, and daily checklists of all our sightings are being added continuously to our WPBO eBird account. See you at the point!