By Dan Casey
The 17th fall monitoring season at Jewel Basin Hawk Watch kicked off August 25th, and as of September 14th we had conducted 17 surveys. It has been an interesting and rewarding early season, with high species diversity and higher than average counts.
We had tallied 847 raptors of 15 species as of September 14th. These included record numbers of Turkey Vultures (8), good numbers of Broad-winged Hawks (18), and six Swainson’s Hawks, a rare species at this site. Accipiters (especially Sharp-shinned and Cooper’s Hawks) comprised the bulk of the early flight, with 605 counted. This is typical, as Golden Eagle numbers generally do not pick up until early October, when they can dominate the counts. A Red-tailed Hawk on 9/14 was the 44,000th raptor we have counted during the history of our count!
Here are our totals as of September 14th:
Turkey Vulture (8); Osprey (8); Bald Eagle (12); Northern Harrier (27); Sharp-shinned Hawk (397); Cooper’s Hawk (179); American Goshawk (6); Accipiter sp (23); Broad-winged Hawk (18); Swainson’s Hawk (6); Red-tailed Hawk (70); Buteo sp (2); Golden Eagle (15); AJmerican Kestrel (55); Merlin(10); Peregrine Falcon(3); Prairie Falcon (1); Eagle sp (1); Raptor sp (6). Total: 847
As we hit mid-September, the peak migration season is upon us! All interested birders are invited to come up to see the birds and help with the count. There will always be an experienced primary observer on site, but extra sets of eyes are needed on the busiest days! The Jewel Basin site sits on the ridge crest about ½ mile north of Mt. Aeneas. The scenery is as spectacular as the birding
We will be including monthly updates of this year’s effort in the Pileated Post. But if you would like more information, contact Dan Casey at (406)270-5941. Or visit the Jewel Basin page on the Flathead Audubon website for more information and survey calendar: https://flatheadaudubon.org/protect/jewel-basin-hawk-watch/ .
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