Tuesday, May 2 was rained out. The forecast for Wednesday looked really promising, one of the nicest days in a while. I figured it could be a pretty big movement, as we’ve only had one fairly large Broad-winged Hawk day so far this spring.
The actual movement was a bit disappointing… but we still had a decent number of Broad-winged Hawks and a nice variety of species. Birds were flying very high and far to the east, so it’s possible that we missed some birds that never came our way. With westerly winds, it’s also possible that many of the raptors island-hopped to Bois Blanc and Mackinac Island rather than crossing near the bridge. Tomorrow looks it will be fairly nice, though with variable winds I’m unsure what to expect. One of these days there will be a big push of Broad-wingeds….
Highlights: 2nd Peregrine Falcon of the season and Northern Waterthrush singing at the hawk watch in the morning.
Turkey Vulture – 44
Osprey – 4
Bald Eagle – 1
Northern Harrier – 3
Sharp-shinned Hawk – 50
Broad-winged Hawk – 288
Red-tailed Hawk 78
Golden Eagle – 1
Peregrine Falcon – 1
Sandhill Crane – 13
Common Loon – 9
