This week turned out to be a great week of migration! Started out slow, with a light migration day on the 16th then no count on the 17th due to rain and strong winds. The rest of the week was sunny skies and strong western wind (that I am particularly sick of at this point), but with it brought some fantastic migration days. Red-tails and Turkey Vultures are on the tail end of their peak, their daily numbers dropping as the week went on, but more and more juvenile Red-tails have been showing up. On the other hand, Broad-wings and Sharp-shinned Hawks have been having a fantastic week, with the biggest day of the season for both of these species happening this week, Sharpies on the 19th with 107, and Broad-wings on the 22nd with 520! The first Ospreys of the season made an appearance on the 16th, and continued through the rest of the week.
Golden Eagles are still pushing through, with 19 more showing up this week, with one adult in the mix! I am seeing way more Goldens than I could have expected, with the count currently at 149! Goshawks are also doing fantastic, with an incredible total of 11 seen so far. Before this year, the most Goshawks seen in a season was 4, so to have this many is awesome. Numbers for other species are starting to become more on par with average, as the peak seasons of Red-tails, Red-shoulders, and Rough-legs are coming to a close. It seems like the season was just shifted a bit earlier this year, rather than larger numbers coming through, but only time will tell if that is true or not. Broad-wings are starting much earlier in the season as well, the numbers I am currently having are more like the May totals I’ve had in previous years.
This upcoming week looks like a lot of strong southern-type wind and a bit of rain this weekend, so we will see how the shift in wind changes how the birds fly.
