kim@athena.mit.edu (Kim Carney) (02/26/91)
This weekend I drove ~70 miles from the Mass Pike to Rt 495. I counted over 12 Hawks along the highway and in the median. This is about 1 bird per 5 miles. I was very surprised at the number. Is this unusual? I was driving about 1-1.5 hours before sunset.
bob@delphi.uchicago.edu (Robert S. Lewis, Jr.) (02/27/91)
In article <1991Feb25.192307.13085@athena.mit.edu> kim@athena.mit.edu (Kim Carney) writes: >This weekend I drove ~70 miles from the Mass Pike to Rt 495. I counted >over 12 Hawks along the highway and in the median. This is >about 1 bird per 5 miles. > >I was very surprised at the number. Is this unusual? I was driving >about 1-1.5 hours before sunset. I think this is a pretty good number for Massachusetts. I was visiting my family in Massachusetts about two weeks ago and, while driving from Medway to Haverhill on 495, only saw three or four redtails. I am from Mass., but I'm living in the midwest now. I have been amazed at the tremendous number of hawks one sees when driving along the Mississippi River in northern Illinois or central Iowa. This weekend we saw over 40 redtails in a 30 or 40 mile stretch from Dubuque to Sabula. We also saw three or four roughlegs (two dark phase birds) and more than 60 bald eagles. In past trips through this area this winter I have seen red-shouldered and cooper's hawks as well. I would say that one averages one redtail per mile of road traveled, a little more than one bald eagle per mile, numerous kestrels, and about one additional species of hawk every five or ten miles when driving along the Mississippi in winter. Some of the redtails are dark phase birds, which adds to the excitement. Rob Lewis
dragon@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Sam Conway) (02/27/91)
In article <1991Feb25.192307.13085@athena.mit.edu> kim@athena.mit.edu (Kim Carney) writes:
This weekend I drove ~70 miles from the Mass Pike to Rt 495. I counted
over 12 Hawks along the highway and in the median. This is
about 1 bird per 5 miles.
I was very surprised at the number. Is this unusual? I was driving
about 1-1.5 hours before sunset.
Not at all unusual! Very likely they were red-tailed hawks; you're a bit
far north to see any other buteos (except rough-legs) at this time of
year.
Hawks love highways! A highway is the modern-day equivalent of a
big open field. It's the perfect hunting ground: absolutely no cover,
a nice neutral color, broad and flat. Unfortunately, this doesn't
come without a price; fully 40% of all the injured hawks I see are
hit by cars.
--
Sam Conway * What shape do you usually have?
dragon@eleazar.dartmouth.edu * Mickey Mouse shape? Smarties
Chemistry Dept., Dartmouth College, NH * shape? Amphibious landing craft
Vermont Raptor Center (VINS) * shape? Poke in the eye shape?wwf@oz.plymouth.edu (Dr. Wavell Fogleman) (02/28/91)
In article <1991Feb25.192307.13085@athena.mit.edu> kim@athena.mit.edu (Kim Carney) writes: >This weekend I drove ~70 miles from the Mass Pike to Rt 495. I counted >over 12 Hawks along the highway and in the median. This is >about 1 bird per 5 miles. > >I was very surprised at the number. Is this unusual? I was driving >about 1-1.5 hours before sunset. This number is not too unusual along the N.E. highways in winter, particularly south of ME and NH. The highways make for good hunting of rodents and rabbits by Red-tailed and Rough-legged Hawks and a few Kestrels as long as the snow has melted away. Look for numbers to pick up as we get toward April when the real migration is under way.
gss@edsdrd.eds.com (Gary Schiltz) (03/01/91)
In article <1991Feb25.192307.13085@athena.mit.edu>, kim@athena.mit.edu (Kim Carney) writes: > This weekend I drove ~70 miles from the Mass Pike to Rt 495. I counted > over 12 Hawks along the highway and in the median. This is > about 1 bird per 5 miles. > > I was very surprised at the number. Is this unusual? I was driving > about 1-1.5 hours before sunset. Alright, another raptor counter! My wife and I like to count hawks between Kansas City and Springfield, Missouri when we're there over the Christmas holidays. In the space of 220 miles, we usually see 80-100 Red-tailed Hawks, 20-30 American Kestrels, a half dozen Northern Harriers, Broad-winged and Rough-legged Hawks plus a few Loggerhead Shrikes (pseudo-raptors). It's farm country with many rodents, along with telephone and power poles from which to hunt. Raptors, especially the kestrels, aren't nearly as plentiful here in southeast Michigan, but in neighboring southwestern Ontario, we often see large numbers between Detroit and Niagara Falls. That area is also farm country, and may explain the high numbers better than the latitudinal differences. ---- /\ What cheer, /\ | Gary Schiltz, EDS R&D, 3551 Hamlin Road | / o< cheer, <o \ | Auburn Hills, MI 48057, (313) 370-1737 | \\/ ) / cheer, \ ( \// | gss@edsdrd.eds.com | \ / cheer!!! \ / | "Have bird will watch ..." |
tjo@bugatti.siemens.com (Tom Ostrand) (03/05/91)
Maybe this is just a good year for hawks on highways :-) Since early February, I have seen 1-3 hawks nearly every morning on Route 1 in NJ, in the ~8 miles between North Brunswick and Princeton. I assume that most of them are red-tails, although I suspect that one might have been a rough-legged. This morning was typical: two perched hawks just off the road, actually within a half mile of each other. Tom Ostrand E-mail: tjo@cadillac.siemens.com Siemens Corporate Research Phone: 609-734-6569 755 College Road East FAX: 609-734-6565 Princeton, NJ 08540-6668
fleming@acsu.buffalo.edu (christine m fleming) (03/06/91)
In article <tjo.668186541@bugatti> tjo@bugatti.siemens.com (Tom Ostrand) writes: >Maybe this is just a good year for hawks on highways :-) >Since early February, I have seen 1-3 hawks nearly every morning on >Route 1 in NJ, in the ~8 miles between North Brunswick and Princeton. >I assume that most of them are red-tails, although I suspect that one >might have been a rough-legged. > >This morning was typical: two perched hawks just off the road, actually >within a half mile of each other. > >Tom Ostrand E-mail: tjo@cadillac.siemens.com Today i had the most glorious encounter with two beautiful hawks. I was watching for my bus through the office window, and saw a hawk circling the far parking lot. Soon another joined up and they made lazy circles around and around. I lost sight of them in about 10 minutes. When i walked out to the bus, and i had just cleared the building, one of them was in the middle of a swoop and hovered a story over my head for a few seconds. The sun was so bright, and the glare from the snow so sharp that the bird looked unreal - almost as if made of gold. I could see the individual flights and tail feathers! Amazing! As the bus drove away i watched them land on the rooftop railings of the building and perch there for a while before they started off circling again! Needless to say, this was a good day!...:) ...jones PS... here in Western New York i too have seen a LOT of hawks. Mostly red-tails, i believe. (What other raptors are native to the area? I have seen others that weren't redtails, but i wrote them off as immatures... ) Also is it rare to see them paired or in close contact? I usually see them on a strip of road within sight (their's, not MINE!...:) of one another... --
bob@delphi.uchicago.edu (Robert S. Lewis, Jr.) (03/07/91)
In article <63483@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> fleming@acsu.buffalo.edu (christine m fleming) writes: >PS... here in Western New York i too have seen a LOT of hawks. Mostly >red-tails, i believe. (What other raptors are native to the area? I >have seen others that weren't redtails, but i wrote them off as >immatures... ) Also is it rare to see them paired or in close contact? >I usually see them on a strip of road within sight (their's, not >MINE!...:) of one another... In addition to redtails, for Buteos you've got red-shouldered hawk, broad-winged hawk (spring through fall), and rough-legged hawk (fall through spring--both light and dark phases). Red-tails are by far the most often seen, I think, but the others are at least locally common, I'm sure. Broadwings prefer woodland and redshoulders wet woodland. Redtails like woodland interspersed with clearings. Roughlegs like open areas (fields and marshes). Rough-legs hover frequently, the others much less often, though redtails, at least, hover with some regularity when hunting over open areas. They don't do it as often, as effortlessly or as long as do roughlegs, however. Other hawks you could encounter in your area include Northern Harrier, Cooper's Hawk, Sharp-Shinned Hawk, and Goshawk (at least in winter). Harriers and Sharpies are probably pretty common (harriers in open areas--fields or marshes), the others fairly uncommon. All the accipiters (coopers, sharpies, goshawk) like to stay in dense cover, and hence are harder to find. But they do soar occasionally, maybe even daily if conditions are right. Lastly, there are bald eagles and turkey vultures to consider, as well as three regular falcon species. I bet at least a few of the hawks you've seen were species other than redtails. With a little practice, it's not too hard to learn the others. Each of the species has a unique shape and manner of soaring--the differences are often subtle and may seem impossible to learn at first, but with repeated observation, the differences become very apparent (for most species at least). Rob Lewis