Broadwings 2007 at Selected Sites

(Click on the chart)






















































































I can’t do anything with the surface maps as there is too much info and I cannot get oriented.

But the tabular info is very interesting as it shows a high flight of Broadwings thru northern New Jersey where it is hard to distinguish a ridge from normal low level terrain. The flight at Scott Mt., New Jersey clearly indicates a flight that may or may not follow ridges but proceed down thru the Piedmont areas of the mid-Atlantic states, and it was a huge flight. The fact that the Hawk Mt., count was only very slightly increased and that Waggoner’s Gap and Hanging Rock did not show substantial increases indicates to me that the bulk of the Bws did soar down the Piedmont and not along the ridges.

We definitely need more data from Piedmont sites. I wonder if the Militia Hill site in Philadelphia reported in 2007. It is a pity that there are no sites situated in the Piedmont of Virginia as such a site or sites could provide a great deal of information about the behavior of Broad-winged hawks in migration.

In support of the Scott Mt. site in NJ I also wonder if the Montclair, NJ site is still reporting.

You see, we have a cluster of sites in the NE or northern tier of the U.S. but coverage is sparse to non-existent east of the Appalachian Mountains in the south starting at the Maryland State line.

I mention all this because we at the Harvey’s Knob site are always wondering where our hawks come from. We can assume almost any direction but we cannot offer a plausible explanation for any direction. A large bulk of hawks moving down through the Piedmont of Virginia that encounters several days of easterly winds may indeed show up at the Harvey’s Knob site in extraordinary numbers. That is precisely what we are beginning to surmise about the extraordinary flight of 2007. But we have absolutely no supporting data from Piedmont sites in our own state.

If there are any folks from around Richmond or Farmville or wherever who wish to go hawkwatching without the long drive to Rockfish or Snickers, may I suggest that you find a place close to home with a near 360 degree view of the sky and sit it out for a few days next fall. It isn’t written anywhere that a mountain is necessary for a hawkwatch. Ask the folks at Detroit, MI, and Windsor, Ont., and they will refer you to years of outstanding counts in some of the flattest country I have ever seen.

Excuse me for proselytizing, but in light of the fall 2007 counts at Harvey’s and Rockfish the need for Piedmont hawkwatches in Virginia has once again raised its ugly head. That is if we are ever to fully understand the behavior of hawks in migration.

Dave Holt
12/19/07











dh