Raptor Observations: BE- 22 ( 13I, 9A ) A fun and exciting early September day of hawk watching on Coon today ! A sweat filled hike into the ridge in moist, humid air gave way to clearing skies and cool northwest winds once we topped out on the ridge. Steady movement of raptors throughout the day kept things interesting. At one point we had 5 different species of raptors in one field of view. ( PG, NH, RT, BE, BW ) Nice raptor diversity today with 9 species tallied. Our Bird(s) of the Day selection goes to the immature Peregrine and a Gray Ghost that were dogfighting off ridge on the river side. The peregrine was relentless in it's attack forcing the harrier to do at least 4 barrel rolls with talons exposed as the peregrine zipped by contemplating it's next move. The harrier finally got out of harms way and quickly moved down ridge but the peregrine apparently still had a lot of fight left in it and immediately attacked a local redtail, and than a Broadwing, and than a Bald Eagle before it finally moved up ridge. This bird was not counted as migrating today. We also had many Bald Eagles and Redtails that were not counted today. Lot's of great action today !!!
Non-raptor Observations: Red Headed Woodpecker - 1 ( adult) RT HUMMER- 26 !!!!! Monarch - 17 TV's & BV's Ravens- 9 Cedar Waxwing- Many Chimney Swift- Many Tiger Swallowtail & Black Swallowtail ======================================================================== Report submitted by Jim Thomson (<hawkinflight...>)
Raptor Observations: Another fine weather day on the ridge with comfortable temps, and favorable winds. Was hoping for a bit more of a flight today but the birds had a different idea. That's how August hawk watching goes ! We did have nice looks at the raptors we did see today. All of the Osprey came thru on the same line which was out over the river. Kestrel, Merlin, and Sharpie all were close to the watch site either directly overhead or just off on the river side. Our Bird of the Day selection goes to the first Osprey of the day which came thru tight to the ridge on the river side in some sweet light !
Non-raptor Observations: RT Hummers- 3 Monarch - 1 Cedar Waxwings Tree Swallows Chimney Swifts TV's Ravens- 7 ======================================================================== Report submitted by Jim Thomson (<hawkinflight...>)
Observation start time: 09:15:00 Observation end time: 16:15:00 Total observation time: 7 hours
Official Counter: Jim Thomson
Observers: Al Ambler, Brian Butler, Craig Stockert, Ted Lurker
Visitors: Additional Observer- Phil Rodriguez joined us for the afternoon. Good seeing you Phil !!
SOBO- "Slowdown"- Nice meeting you and best of luck the rest of the way!
Hikers- 9
Weather: Temps- 64-75 Deg.F Wind W/SW @ 4-10mph Mostly clear/hazy in AM to partly cloudy in PM
Raptor Observations: PG- 1:08(A)
2026 OPENER !!! A beautiful weather day to start the season! Comfortable temps helped pass an overall slowish day on the ridge. 10 raptors counted today as migrating with another 6 seen but not counted. 2-BE, 2-RT, 1-AK, and 1-CH seen but not counted as migrating. Our Bird of the Day selection was a tough one. We had a beautiful adult Peregrine pass by the watch site below eye level on the river side. This bird was pumping hard down ridge and cruised past quickly. But.. our Bird of the Day was a big, beautiful immature Cooper's Hawk that popped up close to the ridge on the river side.It than flew out over the river and gave us an eyeful as it banked slowly giving us a great dorsal view before heading slowly back to the north.
Non-raptor Observations: TV's Ravens-2 RT Hummer- 3 Tree Swallows- Many Chimney Swifts- Many Tiger Swallowtail- 2 Wood Nymph- 1 Blackbear ( seen by JT on the hike out ) ======================================================================== Report submitted by Jim Thomson (<hawkinflight...>)
