HI all, I was looking at the NOAA Aviation windstreams website this morning. There is a deep low pressure above the Great Lakes that generated our west winds yesterday. It is generating strong north winds from northern Central Canada, from above the Great Lakes to the front of the Rockies. As it hits the Dakotas the winds become more westerly then become west further south which we saw yesterday and will see again today. As the low moves to the east tonight, our winds will become northwest tomorrow but lighter still 15-20. This pattern is bringing a lot of those northern birds down with it from a broad area and the west winds are concentrating them on the loess hills ridgeline. I think we have two more days of very good hawkwatching ahead of us before high pressure from the SW builds back in for the weekend.
The banding station yesterday was exciting.and frustrating. We caught 4 but Janis and I estimated we had at least 25 near misses! The redtails would barrel down or over for a look but would pull off at the last minute (Window shoppers). We caught 2 sharpies before the wind got too strong but the nets were so full of leaves we had to shut them or spend all day emptying them. That will probably be the case today but I suspect the redtails will be hungrier and we should catch more. I think Thursday will be our best day of the season. Saw-whet netting has been suspended also because of unsafe conditions for the birds with the strong winds. We hope to resume Friday if conditions are safe. Ryan, the counter, and I have a bet. He predicted Tuesday (when only 5 were counted that day) that we will reach 10,000 by November 1. We were around 1,011 from the goal at the time. That was halved yesterday! He may well be right and I will happily lose the bet! Jer Toll Hitchcock Hawkwatch 5 miles north of Crescent Iowa Pottawattomie County Iowa [email protected] --- Please contribute your sightings to our list; it is only as good as members make it! --- Birding channel recommendation for FRS/GMRS radio use: Primary selection; channel 5/0 , alternate selection; channel 6/0 --- This mailing list is sponsored by the Iowa Ornithologists' Union. Membership available on-line at http://www.iowabirds.org/iou/membership.asp. ----- You are currently subscribed to ia-bird as: [email protected]
