Here’s a summary of yesterday’s excellent peak Broad-winged Hawk migration day at Mount Pleasant (including some poor quality photos, using an old camera). I know hundreds of BWHAs were missed—that’s just inevitable with so much open blue sky to cover, and with the migrants all scraping the top of the sky.
<https://ebird.org/checklist/S134507289> [1200.jpeg] eBird Checklist - 21 Apr 2023 - Mount Pleasant - 24 species<https://ebird.org/checklist/S134507289> ebird.org<https://ebird.org/checklist/S134507289> Mount Pleasant Apr 21, 2023 09:45 Traveling 7.44 miles 396 Minutes All birds reported? Yes Comments: Superb Hawk migration day, likely the peak day for Broad-winged Hawks. Migration started out relatively low, with several sizable boils of BWHAs, peaking at about 85 in one boil. As the day progressed, the birds quickly gained significant altitude and became tiny specks against the clouds and clear skies. This continued until around 4 PM when I stopped counting, and the birds were still extremely high up against the clouds as tiny specks only visible with binoculars. Had to stop counting a few times, once for a quick run home and a few times to talk with visitors. Submitted from eBird for iOS, version 2.17.1 Build 2.17.3 1 Killdeer 6 Common Loon 21 Turkey Vulture 2 Osprey 2 Northern Harrier 6 Sharp-shinned Hawk 316 Broad-winged Hawk -- Excellent inland Broad-winged Hawk migration today, likely the peak day throughout upstate NY. See general checklist comments. 3 Red-tailed Hawk 1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker -- Drumming 1 Pileated Woodpecker -- Drumming 2 Northern Flicker 1 American Kestrel 9 Blue Jay -- Migrating flocks 3 American Crow 3 Common Raven 4 Horned Lark -- Flight displays 2 Barn Swallow 2 Brown Thrasher 2 Eastern Bluebird 4 American Goldfinch 2 Savannah Sparrow 1 Song Sparrow 1 Eastern Meadowlark 1 Common Grackle Number of Taxa: 24 Sincerely, Chris T-H Sent from my iPhone On Apr 21, 2023, at 11:47, Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes <c...@cornell.edu> wrote: We’ve had an excellent migration of Broad-winged Hawks at Mount Pleasant today (at the Hartung-Boothroyd Observatory). Sizable kettles have come over, with peak of 85 birds in one kettle already. More on the way!! Sincerely, Chris T-H Sent from my iPhone -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --