The 2009 season at the Franklin Mt. Hawkwatch in Oneonta came to its traditional New Years Day close on Friday. Persistent snow made for poor visibility, but the sky cleared enough after noon for two Red-tails to rise out of the valley and cut south at 12:35--the only birds of the day, and the last birds of the season.
2009 showed a fine rebound from '08's off year. The 6334 total raptors represented only the third time the watch has topped 6000 in its 21 year history, and not far behind 2003's high of 6546. Most of the increase came from a record flight of Broad-winged Hawks. Although Franklin Mt. is not noted as a big Broad-wing site, there were 6 triple-digit days in September, providing a good head start to the season. Turkey Vultures also set a record, taking a big jump over the 9-year average since full-time counting began. Of the other 13 regularly-sighted species, four were significantly above the 9-year average, seven below, and two were flat. A bright spot was a relatively good year for American Kestrels, following three years of well below average counts. The season's high point undoubtedly came on Nov. 6, when Steve Hall tallied 46 Golden Eagles. Half of the eagles came in the two hours after noon. This was the third largest daily count of the species at Franklin Mt. Coverage was excellent, with counters putting in 865 hours over 128 days, only one day off the record. Once again, Steve Hall gets a Sarah Palin-style shout out for covering 3 days a week. Larry Dake, Fred Fries, Marilyn Leahy, Randy Lynch, Andy Mason, Ron Milliken, Fred Reckner, and Tom Salo carried the rest of the load, with help from regular spotters Becky Gretton, Richard Hendrick, Andrea Lodovice, Ralph Niederlander, Leslie Preston, Bob Shultis, and numerous others. Thanks to all for a great season! 2009 totals are below. Complete Franklin Mt. Hawkwatch statistics are available at www.hawkcount.org. Franklin Mt. Hawkwatch Species 2009 Season Total Black Vulture 0 Turkey Vulture 708 Osprey 143 Bald Eagle 182 Northern Harrier 71 Sharp-shinned Hawk 567 Cooper's Hawk 93 Northern Goshawk 22 Red-shouldered Hawk 70 Broad-winged Hawk 2097 Red-tailed Hawk 1989 Rough-legged Hawk 5 Golden Eagle 161 American Kestrel 135 Merlin 21 Peregrine Falcon 20 Unknown Accipiter 4 Unknown Buteo 7 Unknown Falcon 2 Unknown Eagle 2 Unknown Raptor 35 Total: 6334 Andrew Mason 1039 Peck St. Jefferson, NY 12093 (607) 652-2162 andyma...@earthling.net -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES Archives: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
