Hawk Watch
The name “Hawk Watch” seems pretty self-explanatory. You watch Hawks, right?
While that is true, it is not quite that simple. Every year, huge numbers of raptors migrate great distances, following very consistent routes through the North Carolina High Country. This predictability makes it possible for us to make fairly accurate counts of the raptors that migrate through our area. Read on to get an understanding of what volunteering at a Hawk Watch is like.
Please scroll to the bottom for information on how to volunteer.
A Day at the Hawk Watch
by Paul Laurent – Owner of Epic Nature Tours (www.EpicNatureTours.com)
It’s a clear afternoon on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Lawn chairs and a cooler are loosely lined up along the edge of the overlook. A white board is leaned against the cooler, and a couple of spotting scopes are perched on tripods. There are around a dozen people sitting and standing around. A few chat and tell stories, most have binoculars up to their eyes as they scan the horizon. One person calls out and points to the distant ridge line. Binoculars and scopes turn in unison to focus on the mountain in question. Several dark spots are leisurely spiraling upward into the clouds above the horizon. A minute later there are more than a dozen specs circling. “Looks like Broad-wings” someone calls out. Most kettles like this are made up of Broad-wings, so it’s a pretty safe bet. The key is to look for the one or two different species that might be hanging out with them. “I count 23” another person calls, with several murmurs of agreement. Twenty-three tick marks are made on the board propped against the cooler. It brings the total count for the day to 76 Broad-winged Hawks, 1 Peregrine Falcon, 6 Red-shouldered Hawks, 2 Merlins, 4 Cooper’s Hawks, and 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk. Most of the hawks seen today were distant birds, identified by shape and silhouette by watchers with experience in such matters. This new kettle is further west than the others, and as the hawks stream out from the top they fly straight overhead, giving everyone fantastic looks at the dark outline of their wings, bold white and black stripes on the tail, and rufous speckling across the neck and upper chest. The sun-warmed parking lot of the overlook has created its own small thermal of warmer air, and soon there are a dozen hawks circling overhead in a whirling kaleidoscope of motion. They rise higher and higher until they once more stream southward.
Every fall, millions of birds make an incredible migration from breeding grounds in the boreal forests and tundra to wintering grounds in the jungles of Central and South America. Most of the migrating birds make their long flights at night, following the changing stars and the earth’s magnetic field to a distant continent that many have never seen before. We will see big mixed flocks of warblers bouncing through the trees, and sandpipers appear each morning in places they weren’t the day before, but we can’t see the actual journey these birds are making. Just their presence when they stop for the day.
There is one group of birds that does migrate by day, and we are fortunate to be in one of the best places on earth to witness this incredible migration. Tens of thousands of Broad-winged Hawks and other raptors will fly down the Appalachian Mountains on their way south. They come here for a few reasons.
The Appalachian Mountains run north to south along the eastern edge of North America, making them a perfect highway for migrating hawks. As wind coming from the lowlands hits the escarpment of these massive mountains, the air is forced upward, creating ideal soaring conditions for birds of prey. In addition, the large granite rock faces (and now parking lots as well) are warmed by the morning sun, and the heated rocks warm the air above them, creating thermals – columns of warm, rising air. Hawks will use these thermals to soar tens of thousands of feet into the air, and from these staggering heights they can soar for miles and miles, until they find another thermal and the process repeats itself. A hawk can travel for hundreds of miles with very little physical effort this way.
When large numbers of hawks congregate in a thermal, it is called “kettling”. The idea is that if you were to imagine a giant, invisible kettle of boiling water in the sky, the bubbles rising to the top are the hawks.
A Kettle can be just a few hawks, or hundreds of individual birds could converge in a truly remarkable display. These hawks are not traveling together in a flock. Once one bird finds a thermal and begins to rise, other hawks in the area spot the rising bird and come to take advantage of the thermal. Think of it more like traffic on a busy highway. You’re going in the same direction as all the other drivers, but only because the highway is the most convenient route for all of you. You don’t know who’s in the other cars, and you are all going to different final destinations, you’re just doing your own thing together for a while.
While the High Country Audubon Society is having our Hawk Watch at Elk Mountain Overlook (and hopefully also Osborne Mountain Overlook), there are lots of other great places to look for migrating hawks. Just find a high spot with a clear, long range view, ideally to the north. Grandfather Mountain is another good spot, but often gets crowded. My personal favorite Hawk Watching spot is Beech Mountain. There is a bar with good food and craft beer at the very top, with a deck and comfortable chairs facing due north!
The next trick to Hawk Watching is identifying all of the hawks that fly by! The vast majority of them will be Broad-winged Hawks. When you see a large kettle, you can presume most or even all of the birds are Broad-wings. We also get Red-tailed, Red-shouldered, Cooper’s, and Sharp-shinned Hawks, as well as Northern Harriers, Peregrines, Merlins, Kestrels, Bald Eagles, and Vultures, though vultures tend to migrate later in the season. We even have the chance for a rare Golden Eagle to turn up! The next section will describe the main ID features of each species. Remember that juvenile birds often look very different from adults – and very similar to juvenile birds of all the other species!
Raptors You Could See on a High Country Hawk Watch
Vultures
- Turkey Vulture
- Vultures tend to migrate later in the season, so most birds seen are residents.
- Look for light gray feathers across the back edge of the underwing
- They generally soar with their wings in a shallow ‘V’
- Tiny head, long tail, and broad wings – A Bald Eagle is similar in size, but the head is dramatically larger
- Black Vulture
- Look for solid black bird with silver patches on the end of each wing
- Holds wings flat when soaring
Accipiters – Short, wide rounded wings and long tails
- Cooper’s Hawk
- Smaller than Broad-winged Hawk, larger than Sharp-shinned Hawk
- An Accipiter, look for longer tail and shorter, stubbier wings
- Tail is slightly rounded at the end (compare to Sharp-shinned Hawk)
- Head is larger, and extends in front of the leading edge of the wing.
- Wings generally held straight out
- The above two features combine to give Cooper’s Hawks a ‘cross shaped silhouette
- Sharp-shinned Hawk
- Generally smaller than Cooper’s Hawk, though large, female Sharp-shinned can be close to the size of a small, male Cooper’s
- An Accipiter, look for longer tail and shorter, stubbier wings
- Tail is straight at the end, with close to a right angle at each corner
- Head is small, and they often fly with their wings hunched forward – this is the best field mark!
- This means that the head does not extend in front of the leading edge of the wings
Buteos – Broad wings and broad rounded tails; often seen soaring in wide circles high in the air
- Red-tailed Hawk
- These are migrants, and also residents, so some might just be cruising around and not moving south
- Larger than Broad-winged Hawks
- Red tail is distinctive (it’s the only hawk without distinct barring on the tail)
- Look for dark chest band and generally white underwings.
- Red-shouldered Hawk
- Generally longer-winged than a Broad-winged Hawk
- More widespread orange on underside of body and wings
- Light ‘crescent’ near the tip of wings – this is one of the best field marks!
- Thin black and white stripes on tail
- Broad-winged Hawk
- The most common migrant
- Thick white & black bars on the tail
- White wings with dark outline around the edge
- Darker throat on adults, heavy streaking on juveniles (sometimes)
- Juvenile birds have much thinner barring on the tail, with little to no white visible
- Look for broad wings and wide tail in silhouette
- As the most abundant migrant, get used to the look and vibe of the Broad-winged Hawk, and then you can keep an eye out for any hawk that doesn’t look like a Broad-winged!
Eagles
- Bald Eagle
- Adult unmistakable
- Juvenile birds vary by year, but are always much larger than other hawks
- Juvenile birds varying amounts of white on the chest, wings, tail, and back – the white marking are much streakier and messier looking than the white marking on a juvenile Golden Eagle
- Golden Eagle
- Very rare migrant
- Juvenile birds have distinct white patches in the center of each wing and bold white on the tail
- Adults are generally dark, and the gold is often not visible based on angle and lighting
Falcons – Falcons are not related to hawks at all. They are actually much closer cousins to parrots and doves! For our purposes, this means that Falcons have a very different shape in flight compared to hawks, and some studying of the images should help you pick falcons out from hawks pretty easily.
- Peregrine Falcon
- Look for a larger, stocky bird with long, straight tail and pointy wings
- The head can have the traditional ‘mustache’ look, but local birds have more of a dark ‘helmet’ instead
- Tends to fly very straight and fast
- Merlin
- Like Peregrine, but MUCH smaller
- American Kestrel
- Like Merlin, but a little smaller
- Much more orange colored, and males have blue on their back
Other Raptors
- Northern Harrier
- A rare migrant in our area
- Females and Juveniles are most common, look for warm brown colors on the underside.
- Males are gray above and pale below with black wing tips.
- Look for wings held in a shallow ‘V’ – similar to much larger and darker Turkey Vulture
- Long narrow wings and tail, with obvious white patch at the base (which is only visible if the bird banks to show you it’s back)
- Harriers can change their wing and tail shape into a ridiculous variety of possibilities. If you see a hawk with a long tail and funny shape, check the book to see if it could be a Harrier!
- Osprey
- Flies with a kink in wings
- Nearly Eagle sized
- Clean white body (with possible dark “necklace”
- Black Wrist marks
While this might seem like a lot of information, there will be fliers available with all of the common hawks drawn, showing key field marks. At least a few Hawk Watchers will have field guides with them, and I encourage you to bring your own book to reference as well. Hawks are some of the harder birds to identify, and it takes some time and practice to get the hang of it. The good news is that there will be experienced Hawk Watchers to help, and hopefully lots of hawks flying by to practice on. You’ll be an expert Hawk Watcher in no time at all!
Click to Watch “Why You Should Experience a Hawk Watch”
Hawk Watch 2024
If you are interested in helping out with the 2024 Hawk Watch, here are the details.
When: September 15th through September 29th. 9am – 5pm
Where:
- Elk Mountain Overlook will be the primary location. Click for Directions
- Osborne Overlook will be a second location, if we can get enough Hawk Watch Leaders to cover it. Click for Directions
What do I do now:
If interested in being a Hawk Watch Leader, please send email to Anita Clemmer at [email protected] so she can work out details with you. Leaders must commit to full 9-5 shifts.
For other volunteers (no experience necessary), simply show up any time during one of the scheduled days. The more eyes, the better. Your skills will improve rapidly, and you could eventually be a Hawk Watch Leader.
Is there training available: Yes!