Laurie to the world; Mike to Laurie; Laurie to Mike

In a message dated 11/30/2006 2:34:53 PM Eastern Standard Time, goodrich@HAWKMTN.ORG writes:

Additionally, if you have ideas on how HMANA can better serve the community of hawk-watchers - please feel free.

Hi Laurie,

I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but I would like to see HMANA publish some kind of booklet/book that I think all hawkwatchers would be interested in. It would be an analysis of each species, where they nest, their migration routes, where they winter, and when they migrate in the largest numbers. It basically would say, "this is what we know, this is what we don't know" and challenge hawkwatchers to find out more of "what we don't know". Let's use the Golden Eagle as an example. I see all of the GE's that the Pa. watches and some NY watches report but I don't know for sure where they go after they exit Pa. They certainly don't come down the Blue Ridge where I watch at Harveys Knob. We only average around 12- 15. The two most reliable places to see wintering GE's in Va. are in Highland Co. and Tazewell Co., both on the W. Va. border. Does that mean most of them are wintering in W. Va. counties in appropriate habitat, or do a large number of them continue into Tn. and further south. Since they're not coming down the Blue Ridge I assume they're going down the Alleghenys. Someone must know. Of course it would be great if there were more watches in Va. and W. Va. in the Alleghenys, or if a watch like Hanging Rock Fire Tower on the Va. - W. Va. border had full coverage. Where are these GE's coming from? Some of the field guides cover some of this regarding nesting range but I feel there needs to be more. Using another species, the Redtail, I've suspected that a lot of the RT's that pass thru Pa. are stopping in Va., and north of Harveys Knob. I don't know this, I just suspect it. Maybe someone knows for sure. Another question that could be answered is where are all of the Bald Eagles seen at Hawk Ridge wintering.....and why? What's the draw? I would like to see this publication with detailed maps designed to show what HMANA has learned over the years plus input from the experts. The maps would show migrations routes used by large numbers of each species along with the watches they pass by. The book would also discuss the different hawkwatch sites, what species seen in large numbers and when best to visit those sites to see the most of a given species. I realize a lot of this information is already out there but it would be nice if it were all in one publication. The book might even discuss starting new watch sites, what to look for in starting a new site. You might even say "these are the locations where we'd really like to see watches started, is anyone up for it?"

Obviously I'm not a scientist, just an average hawkwatcher who's been watching for 35 years. Sometimes I feel like the more I watch hawks, think about hawks and read about hawks, the less I know, and the more questions I have.

MP

Hi MP



Thanks for your input! A start of the book you describe is planned for 2007, Status of North American Raptors proceedings, which will have descriptions of watch sites, flyways, and maybe the first stab at a species look at where they concentrate, where they breed and what we don’t know and need to know (we are doing this with SSHA first). I will pass on your recommendation to the Publications committee.

The synthesis of banding and migration counts to give us that information will take some time. We are doing the SSHA now and maybe Redtail next, with funding that HMANA and Hawk Mt and HWI have gotten for the Raptor Population Index project. What you describe is needed and would be used…but it will take some time to get the funding to do it all! There are clearly some areas we need to learn more about and southern US or central US is an area in need of more counts.

In the meantime, check out http://www.hawkcount.org/ and http://www.hmana.org/ to find a hawkwatch section. When you go to a site, there are summary tables now for most sites that give mean counts and peak counts, and maps of sites, so some of that information is starting to be assembled by HMANA in that site.

Thanks and stay in touch if other ideas come to mind on how HMANA can best serve the hawkwatchers.

Laurie Goodrich

570-943-3411 x 106

fax 570-943-2284

goodrich@hawkmtn.org