2007 Pilot Mountain Hawk Watch Wrap-up
Many thanks all the volunteers who took a shift compiling or who signed
up and helped observe. There are too many to name, but special thanks to Forsyth Audubon President Phil Dickinson, previous
season count coordinators Toby Gordon and Dan Chambers, data coordinator Shelley Rutkin, and day count coordinators and observers
Phil Crisp, Linda Davis, Scott Depue, Jim Martin, Julien McCarthy, Gregg Morris, Ron Morris, Tara O'Leary, Ann Robertson and
Sue Rupp.
More than 100 birders signed in for a shift during the Hawk Watch, many more than once, and hundreds more
casual walk-up visitors expressed interest in birds and in the watch. Groups from the Reedy Creek Nature Center in Charlotte,
the Sandhills Nature Preserve in Moore County, and the Piedmont Bird Club and Pearson Audubon Society in Greensboro made field
trips to the site.
If this year's hawk counting could be summarized in a phrase, it might be “quality over quantity”.
Our count of Broad-winged Hawks, the most numerous migrants during our count period, was down significantly from prior years
(1,200 this year vs. 3,800 on average). This reduction could be due to a couple of factors: one, the birds simply may
not have flown over the site in the same numbers this year; two, the weather, although generally nice for being outdoors,
was difficult for hawk-watching. The ideal conditions of a fairly clear horizon and significant high cloud cover did
not exist for more than a few hours over the 16-day count period. Instead, there were generally clear, blue skies overhead,
often with haze on the horizon, and the few times there was significant cloud cover, the clouds were so low that visibility
was limited.
Results were much better for the 12 other species of raptors. We had below average results for Turkey
Vulture (1 counted this year vs. 19 on average); average results for Osprey (27 vs. 26), Northern Harrier (8, 8), Red-Tailed
Hawk (21, 22) and Merlin (3, 2); and above-average results for Black Vulture (20, 10), Sharp-Shinned Hawk (64, 44) and Cooper's
Hawk (38, 23). We tied our previous best year for Peregrine Falcon (11 vs. 6 avg.), and had our best year ever for Bald
Eagle (25, 7) and Red-shouldered Hawk (12, 6). While we tried to count only migrating raptors, it's possible that some of
these birds are now local residents, which in itself could be significant (esp. for Bald Eagle and Peregrine Falcon).
The
final results (and results from other counts across North America) are posted at www.hawkcount.org .
Non-raptor observations included a possible Snowy Egret, flocks of Cormorants,
several Red-breasted Nuthatches, Red-headed Woodpeckers, Wild Turkeys and Great Horned Owl, among others. Sixteen species
of warblers, often in good numbers, came right to the count site or to the trail from the parking lot (Tennessee, N. Parula,
Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Cape May, Black-throated Blue, Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Green, Blackburnian, Pine, Palm, Bay-breasted,
Am. Redstart, Worm-eating, Ovenbird and Hooded). Other migrant passerines included Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
and Scarlet Tanagers. Little Pinnacle seems to be an overlooked fall warbler hotspot, especially in afternoon, when
the north side of the mountain gets cold, and the sun is still shining on the south side of the mountain.
Thanks again
to all the volunteers and observers who participated this year. I hope everyone enjoyed their time at Little Pinnacle and
that all will come back to hawk-watch again next year.
Good birding ---
John Haire
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