Today I started my annual volunteer position at the Mt. Peter Hawk watch. I am scheduled to man the watch every Friday from 9-5 for the next ten weeks. Mt. Peter is the oldest all volunteer watch in the country, 52 years old this Fall. I've been heading up and watching the hawk, eagle migration for the last twenty years. Have met a lot of wonderful like minded people, that I really enjoy spending time with. I've been an official counter for about six years now. We count for http://www.hmana.org/sitesel.php hopefully helping to monitor the populations of our native hawks and eagles, and getting a clearer picture of how they are doing. It is a time of year that I look forward to, although today was pretty thankless....one bird for five hours of sitting on top of a mountain. Most people have no idea that birds are flying over head in large flocks heading to their Winter destinations. They are in shock when you tell them, we see THOUSANDS of Broad Wing Hawks in a single day. What? Hawks in flocks? Yes...Broad Wings fly in large flocks. They leave their Northern Summer homes in Mid September because they are predominately reptile amphibian eaters, and their prey begins to hibernate as soon as there is frost. Hawks and Eagles head to South America where they can find better sources of food to survive the Winter. They fly over Mt. ranges to use the updrafts to their advantage. They follow one up and glide down, repeating this over and over until they reach their destination. It is with great excitement that I look forward to the next few weeks, we never know if our watch will get the BIG days or if you will be able to be a part of it.....I begin my watch of the weather, ready to switch my work days if the wind and temperatures seem favorable.
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