October 13, 1988 - Hawk Migration Provides a Treat for BirdwatchersFocus on Nature
Hawk Migration Provides a Treat for Birdwatchers
By Paul Stoutenburgh
It seems hard to believe that at one time
man indiscriminately shot hawks, not only
because he thought they did harm to his
chicken flock but for the pure sport of
shooting them. Hawk Mountain in Kemp -
ton, Pennsylvania, is probably one of the
most famous hawk migration spots. Gun-
ners used to line up along the ridges of the
mountain and lie in wait for the hawks to
pass. On particularly good days, when the
wind and weather were just right,
thousands of hawks would take advantage
of the extra boost these conditions provided
to pass through and it was then they were
devastated.
I've been to Hawk Mountain and can see
.. how and why the hawks took such a beating
by the gunners in those early days, for the
hawks fly right by you. Today the scene is
completely different, for instead of gunners
with their shotguns loaded with death and
destruction, there are now hawkers with
their binoculars, scopes and cameras. You
get some idea how popular hawking has
become when you pull up 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 refreshing
and to some a bit exhausting. Trail markers
' show the way but these are really not need-
ed since 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
windbreakers with their glittering array of
paraphernalia. Some groups have young
children with them while others seem to be
- part of a bird club or more often individuals
who have just come to see the annual spec -
tacle of hawks in migration.
Spot and Identify
As in olden days when death and destruc-
tion lay in wait, the direction from which
the hawk is coming is called out with a
shout of "Two o'clock" or "Eleven o'clock"
and all eyes swing to that location. Eyes
` squint for at that point the hawk is just a
dot. The glasses go up and the search
. resumes with new, magnified vision. Now
it's identification time, time to look for the
trademarks: is it big or small, does it have
rounded wings or long thin wings, how does
it fly, does it glide or continually beat, what
are its colors and markings? All this infor-
mation goes into the hawkers' computer
brain and soon the first to identify it 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 barrier beaches
of our south shore are well known for their
hawk nights. Station yourself anywhere
along the beaches of Shinnecock on a good
day when the wind is out of the northwest
and you'll be guaranteed good hawking in
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the month of September.
A good friend of mine, Paul Bernath and
his companion, have been hawking there
since September when their count started
in earnest. From that time until the end of
the month, they counted 2,150 hawks pass-
ing through. On September 15, their big
day, with a 30- mile - per -hour northwest
wind blowing, they had 37 merlins, 413
kestrels, 20 harriers, 3 sharpies, 26 osprey
and 17 unidentified hawks on their way
south. Besides hawks, they had a large
number of swallows that continually passed
through; tree, bank, rough- winged, martin
and even a few cliff swallows. They also had
a few red bats and brown bats migrating
during the daylight hours rather than at
night when most do their flying.
Shifted from Killing to Counting
It is this kind of serious dedication by
Paul and his friend that gives us some in-
dication of how our hawk population is do-
ing. It's nice to see man has shifted his
focus from killing hawks to counting them
and I'm sure man and hawk alike are better
for it.
One of my sons has a plane and flew out to
Fisher's Island a week ago. Being a birder
himself he took time to do some hawking
there. It's an ideal spot, for Elizabeth Air-
port ties on the westerly side of the island
where the hawks funnel before taking off on
another leg of their migration south. Off one
side of the airstrip is an old Army bunker
that was built during World War IT to pro-
tect the entrance to Long Island Sound and
it is here atop this bunker one can survey
the immediate area.
Peter brought back glowing reports of
having merlins and kestrels fly 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 of mine, 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 engulf-
ing us which meant we would not have our
clear northwest wind that. day but we'd
have to settle for a westerly wind. As we
new eastward we were reminded of the
good fortune we inherited below, bays and
sound, lakes and creeks, farmlands and
woods. As we stepped out of the plane, so-
meone's sharp eyes caught a flight of a bar-
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rier working across the runway. Perhaps
we'd have a good day after all.
Left for a Day of Hawking
Soon Peter's plane was back on the run-
way and off and we were left with our knap-
sacks and binoculars headed for the lookout
atop the bunker, a half a mile down and off
the runway. 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 toward Race
Rock and disappeared across the water.
We had one good view of a merlin that
came right over our heads and paid little at-
tention to us as we stood there in awe. The
best sightings of the day were four
peregrine falcons. One rested right on the
runway where we were able to observe it
for a good ten minutes. Perhaps he was
recouping his energy, for as soon as he took
off he headed west over the water. Another
one landed on a rock on the beach. Jen and I
went down and worked our way behind
some bushes to get a better look. It too was
resting. It was a young bird, which is a good
sign showing that these peregrines are con-
tinuing to reproduce an hopefully, have
shaken the deadly curse of DDT that almost
wiped them out.
A dead tree near our lookout was an ideal
spot for hawks to stop and rest and we often
observed merlins sitting there in their
typical hunting pose. Our day was not the
greatest but when we tallied up we had 12
merlins, 15 kestrels, 10 harriers, 4
peregrines, 2 sharpies and 2 ospreys. Not a
bad day for a westerly wind.
By two o'clock things slowed up so I gave
Peter's office a call. Within a half an hour
his plane dropped out of the sky to pick us
up. We found Fisher's Island a great hawk-
ing spot. Its one drawback is the difficulty
of getting there, but then if you have a son
with a plane, it makes it kind of nice.
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THE SOUTHAMPTON PRESS / OCTOBER 13, 1988