Hitchcock Nature Center Honey Creek, Iowa, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 17, 2012 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 44 513 553 Osprey 26 54 55 Bald Eagle 3 45 45 Northern Harrier 11 28 28 Sharp-shinned Hawk 45 127 127 Cooper's Hawk 42 82 85 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 1 6 6 Broad-winged Hawk 215 349 361 Red-tailed Hawk 26 62 64 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Swainson's Hawk 4 7 7 Ferruginous Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 16 40 40 Merlin 2 6 6 Peregrine Falcon 5 9 9 Prairie Falcon 0 0 0 Gyrfalcon 0 0 0 Mississippi Kite 0 2 2 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 1 1 1 Total: 441 1331 1389 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 17:00:00 Total observation time: 9 hours Official Counter: Ryan Evans Observers: Ryan Evans Weather: Raptor Observations: Non-raptor Observations: Great Blue Heron: 6 Double-crested Cormorant: 300 Franklin's Gull: 300 Blue Jay: 60 ======================================================================== Report submitted by Mark Orsag ([email protected]) Hitchcock Nature Center Hawkwatch information may be found at: http://www.pottcoconservation.com/html/hitchcock.html Site Description: Hitchcock Nature Center is located in the Loess Hills of western Iowa. The small town of Crescent is immediately southeast of Hitchcock. The watch overlooks the Missouri River Valley, and the skyline of downtown Omaha, Nebraska is easily visible (on clear days) to the southwest. The hawkwatch at Hitchcock Nature Center is now a full-time operation that logs approximately 600-800 hours of coverage and counts an average of 13,000 migrating raptors every fall. Besides recording a diverse raptor/vulture flight of 20 annual or semi-annual species dominated by Turkey Vultures, Bald Eagles, Sharp-shinned Hawks, Swainson's Hawks, and Red-tailed Hawks, Hitchcock's observers track large numbers of other abundant avian migrants ranging from Blue Jays and Red-headed Woodpeckers to Snow Geese and American White Pelicans. Our fall season runs from 15 August to 20 December with the peak period for raptor migration running from approximately 20 September to 20 October. Counts are now conducted daily from the 56-foot hawktower attached to the HNC Lodge between 1 September and 20 December. Counting in August is part-time. Directions to site: >From Omaha NE, take I-680 north to the Crescent Exit. Take Iowa 988 into Crescent. At the "T" junction with Old Lincoln Hwy. (formerly Iowa 183), take a left north and drive for approximately five minutes until you see the Hitchcock Nature Center sign. Take a left at the sign, and drive up the hill. At the top of the hill, take a right. Enter the nature center and follow the signs to the Lodge. >From Council Bluffs IA, take I-29 north and take the Crescent exit. The rest of the directions are as above... BIRDHAWK is sponsored by HMANA. Info, list guidelines: http://www.hmana.org/ List archives,subscription options: http://listserv.arizona.edu/archives/birdhawk.html To contact a list owner, email to: [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/PayDues.aspx. ----- You are currently subscribed to ia-bird as: [email protected]
