October 06, 1988 - Hawks Aloft on a Wind From the WestOctober 6, 1988/The Suffolk Times /Page I I A
Hawks Aloft on a Wind From the West
By Paul Stoutenburqh
It seems hard to believe that man once
indiscriminately shot hawks, not only
because he thought they did harm to his
chicken flock but he shot them for
sport. Hawk Mountain in Kempton,
Pa., is probably one of the most famous
hawk migration spots. Gunners used to
line up along the ridges of the mountain
and lie in wait for the hawks. On
particularly good days, when the wind
and weather were just right, thousands
of hawks would take advantage of these
conditions to pass through. It was then
they were devastated.
I've been to Hawk Mountain and I can
see how and why the hawks took such a
beating; the hawks fly right by you.
Today the scene is completely different.
Instead of gunners with shotguns, there
are now hawkers with binoculars,
scopes and cameras. You get some idea
how popular hawking has become when
you pull into the parking lot and try to
find a spot to park. But even this does
not prepare you for what's ahead.
The walk up the mountain is refresh-
ing and to some a bit exhausting. Trail
markers show the way but are really not
needed. A worn path with polished rocks
and roots where people have walked for
years shows the way all too clearly to
the top. Once there you become aware
of people quietly watching, dressed in
bright - colored wind breakers with a
glittering array of paraphernalia. Some
groups include young children while
others seem to be part of a bird club or
more often individuals who have just
come to see the annual spectacle.
Focus on
Nature
Spot and Identify
As in olden days when death and de-
struction lay in wait, directions are
called out. "Two o'clock." "Eleven
o'clock." All eyes swing to the area the
hawks are moving up from. Your eyes
squint for they are just a dot. The
glasses go up and you search again with
magnified eyes. You look for trade
marks, big or small, rounded wings or
long thin wings. How does it fly? Does
it glide or continually beat? What are its
colors and markings? All this informa-
tion goes into your computer brain and
soon someone calls out, "Broad- winged
hawk."
We, here on the East End, have our
own funneling points where hawks can
be seen in the spring and fall. The bar-
rier beaches of our south shore are
notorious for their hawk flights. Station
anywhere along the beaches of Shin -
necock on a good day when the wind is
out of the northwest and you'll be guar-
anteed good hawking in the month of
September.
Good friends, Paul Bernath and his
companion, have been hawking there
since Sept. 6, when their count started
in earnest. From that time until the end
of the month, they counted 2150 hawks
passing through. On Sept. 15th, their
big day, with a 30- mile -per -hour NW
wind blowing, they had 37 merlins, 413
Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
YOUNG KESTREL —On Sept. 15, along the barrier beach at Shin -
necock, 413 of these small hawks passed by on their migration south.
Here we see a young bird in a characteristic hunting pose.
kestrels, 20 harriers, three sharpies, 26
ospreys and 17 unidentified hawks on
their way south. Besides hawks they had
a large number of swallows continually
passing through: tree, bank, rough -
winged, martin and even a few cliff
swallows. They also had a few red bats
and brown bats migrating during day-
light hours rather than at night when
most do their flying.
From Killing to Counting
It is this kind of serious dedication by
Paul and his friend that gives us some
indication of how our hawk population
is doing. It's nice to see man has shifted
his focus from killing hawks to count-
ing them. I'm sure man and hawk alike
are better for it.
One of my sons has a plane and flew
out to Fishers Island a week ago. Being
a birder himself he took time to do
some hawking there. It's an ideal spot.
Elizabeth Airport lies on the westerly
side of the island where the hawks fun-
nel before taking off on another leg of
their migration south. Off one side of
the airstrip is an old Army bunker built
during World War II to protect the en-
trance to Long Island sound. Atop this
bunker one can survey the immediate
area. +
Peter brought back glowing reports of
having merlins and kestrels fly by
within 30 feet of him. It all sounded so
good that when he suggested I try it, it
took no time at all to get a good friend,
Dennis Puleston, and his daughter lined
up for a Wednesday flight out, the only
day they could make it.
As we took off we could see a haze
engulfing us which meant we would not
have our clear northwest wind that day.
We'd have to settle for a westerly wind.
As we flew eastward we were reminded
of the good fortune we inherited below,
bays and Sound, lakes and creeks, farm-
lands and woods. As we stepped out of
the plane someone's sharp eyes caught a
flight of a harrier working across the
runway. Perhaps we'd have a good day
after all.
A Day of Hawking
Soon Peter's plane was back on the
runway and off again. We were left with
our knapsacks and binoculars, headed for
the lookout atop the bunker. It wasn't
long before we saw our first merlin and
then the count started. It was a beautiful
day. Sitting with friends, chatting about
this and that, the time went fast. Every
once in a while a hawk would be picked
up and we'd all follow it with our
glasses until it headed west towards
Race Rock and disappeared across the
water.
We had one good view of a merlin
right over our heads. The best sightings
of the day were four peregrine falcons.
One rested on the runway where we were
able to observe it for a good 10 min-
utes. Another one landed on a rock on
the beach. It was a young bird, which is
a good sign that these peregrines are
continuing to reproduce and have shaken
the deadly curse of DDT that almost
wiped them out.
When we tallied up we had 12 mer-
lins, 15 kestrels, 10 harriers, four pere-
grines, two sharpies and two ospreys.
Not a bad day for a westerly wind.
The easiest holiday shopping
for handsome gifts of
function and quality.
B U S H f l E LL Feeders and our famous
OIV1810N OF tAUi{N 6lOMY AVIARIUM
Bushnell Sportvlew ®�
8x21 Folding Roof Prism Compact Binocular
with Black Rubber Armoring and Center+t°.'
Focus. #13-8210
Don't forget seed
Super for the birds
\ Yankee
j Feeder
i Model SYB r�
I �
Big Top
Feeder
• Wild Bird Food • Sunflower Seed
V
Birdwatcher's Companion
North Road, County Road 48, Southold • 765 -5872
Open Year -Round • Closed Wednesday • Saturday, Monday, Tuesday 10 -5,
Sundays 12 -5, Thursday and Friday 3:15 -5