Roberts on Raptors

Many of you know Paul Roberts and have benefited from his wisdom and advice about raptors. For many years Paul has published his thoughts and stories about hawks in general and the Mystic Lake eagles in particular on various email listservs, such as MassBird and ArlingtonBirds.

We are very pleased that Paul has agreed to allow us to offer his raptor writings on the BBC website. We will treat this recurring feature like a blog, appending the newest installment at the top of the page.

On Seeing Hawks When Birding/Hawkwatching with Others

Ed: Note that hawks are already on the move this fall with good counts reported from the Wachusett Mountain and Mt. Watatic hawk watches.

Recently I have been reminded how many people don’t really know how to help birding colleagues find and enjoy watching a hawk in flight. Perhaps they just haven’t thought about it. Or most of the birds they spot and “share” are stationary. Perched on a branch. Sitting on a post. Pecking in the mud. During hawk migration time, most of the birds you hope to see will be in flight, possibly going as fast as 50-60 mph! Be prepared. Think and speak quickly.  

Once you spot a hawk flying and want your companions to see the hawk, call out where the bird IS. Don’t shout “look where I’m looking,” because you are wasting your friends’ precious time looking at you and not finding the bird.” If you know it’s possibly a “rarity,” say “possible eagle” or “large falcon” which tells people they should get on this bird as quickly as possible. Be conscious of where you are looking, so you don’t take your eyes off the bird. 

1. First, call out loudly if it is flying above or below the horizon! It’s much easier for companions to find a bird above the horizon.
2. If above, how high? Just above the horizon? Low and coming right at you? High and about to pass overhead? “Watch out, it is heading into the sun!” If coming directly towards you, you need to describe it quickly.
3. If flying across the sky, immediately say “streaking or streaming right or “streaming left.” If there is a large building or terrestrial feature on the horizon, give people a clue. At Wachusett Mountain we might say,” bird streaming low right about to go over Boston,” or streaking high over Wachusett Reservoir,” or farther away, “streaming over the slope of Mount Monadnock.” You are giving people a chance to find a fast moving and possibly uncommon raptor.
4. If the bird is soaring, you have a little more time. Again, look for a feature on the terrain or in the sky. “A kettle of hawks soaring over Gardner (a town), drifting towards Mt. Grace.” Or when it stops soaring, “streaming towards the horizon headed to Mt. Grace.”
5. If there are clouds, or jet contrails, refer to any that can be quickly distinguished by most companions. When there are big clouds (which often happens on good days), use a clock analogy. “At about 2 o’clock in the big cloud, streaming toward the edge.” “About to leave the cloud and go into a blue streak.” Sometimes it helps to use planes in sight as a reference, but especially on the weekends there might be ten planes in view at one time. Be as specific as you can QUICKLY.
6. If a really good day and you have a good-sized kettle (minimum 5 hawks, maximum in the thousands), go right to the top of the kettle to see if birds are already streaming (peeling) off the top of the thermal (column of hot rising air that birds use for lift). Then look down to the bottom to see if birds are streaming into the bottom of that thermal. (They may be coming into view from another more distant peel.) If you want to count the kettle, go right to the top front of the kettle and look to see if birds are peeling off, streaming in the direction of migration. If so, try to find the leaders in that stream off the top.  Speaking from experience, hundreds, even thousands, of birds might have passed overhead before anyone spotted this kettle. You may be in the rare ”rivers of hawks” situation.
7.  If a bird is interacting with another, note that aloud. “Two small hawks dogfighting.” Or “small hawk attacking a much larger hawk.”
8. If the bird is below the horizon, it’s much more difficult for companions to find. Give them any landmark you can. “About to go over the wind farm,” “the sun farm,” or “a church tower.” Occasionally you might luck out if the bird stops streaming and starts soaring again to gain altitude. If late in the season and the mystery bird is eagle-sized, follow it going away.
9. Clear blue sky days can be killers. There are few if any reference points. Cumulus clouds, even small ones, can be life savers. If high, a bird approaching overhead may occupy only a few seconds of arc, virtually invisible until it gets directly overhead. Pray for clouds. If you see gliders or planes, focus on them, which will help your eye spot hawks that might otherwise pass unnoticed.
10. If you have a very distant bird, say it is a “pepper speck,” or a “scope only” bird before giving directions. This helps other immensely. If any of several remarkable hawk spotters says “they’re only specks” wait to look until he/she says they are getting closer. On one of our most remarkable days, we had thousands of hawks that never came closer than being “scope only” birds. Other days they have passed directly overhead.
11. At many locations, there may be a lot of constant background chatter. If you spot a kettle or a possible highly uncommon bird, yell it out. If an organized count, be sure the lead counter is informed. Realize it may also be windy, so shout out to your left and your right, especially if birds are coming closer to your observation point.
12. (Eric Mueller suggest adding one more rule to Paul’s very helpful list: If you’re participating at an organized hawk watch (or even with a group of friends) and are counting birds in a kettle or a stream of birds, please count silently! Others around you probably started counting a second or two ahead of, or behind, you and it’s incredibly easy to lose count when people are calling out different numbers all at the same time. Once you’re done counting, compare notes with those around you, and report your consensus number to the official counter.)

If you are attentive, half all the birds you see should be flying away, but that is usually not what happens. If activity is slow, follow birds you’ve identified going away, so you become more familiar with what that species looks like going away.

Every day in the field can be different. Some days the numbers can be magical. Other days, you may see only a few dozen hawks, but you may have spectacular views; “life views” of one or more.  The only thing we can say with relative certainty is that the more often you get out and look, the more likely you are to see more.

Finally, you can go to established sites like Wachusett Mountain or Mt. Watatic. (check the Eastern Mass Hawk Watch site for more information), or just hawk watch locally from a local park, cemetery, or hill. I’ve had “good migration days” when my best flights have been from the work parking lot in Billerica, the grocery parking lot in Shrewbury, or on Mass. Ave in Cambridge.

For the next three weeks or so, you have your best chances to see significant numbers of migrating hawks anywhere, usually between 10 and 4 pm EDT. Especially on the first or second day of the arrival of a cold front.