August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 Hawkwatch Sightings* December 2007 (If you check this site often, you may need to hit your "refresh" button to see the latest addition, depending on your browser...) *Not to be cited except by permission of the GGRO. 2007 data are preliminary and have not been audited.

Friday November 30, 2007 Daily HawkWrap: Sightings:  245 Hours counted: 6 Rate of sightings: 40.8 hph Number of Species seen: 7 Daily HawkCount : Turkey Vulture: 53 Osprey: 0 White-tailed Kite: 0 Bald Eagle:  0 Northern Harrier: 6 Sharp-shinned Hawk: 0 Cooper’s Hawk:  4 Northern Goshawk:  0 Red-shouldered Hawk: 3 Broad-winged Hawk:  0 Swainson’s Hawk:  0 Red-tailed Hawk: 171 Ferruginous Hawk:  0 Rough-legged Hawk:  0            Golden Eagle: 0 American Kestrel: 6 Merlin:  0 Peregrine Falcon:  1 Prairie Falcon:  0 UNIDENTIFIED… Accipiter: 0 Buteo:  1 Eagle:  0 Falcon:  0 Raptor: 0 Daily HawkBlog Today was a gorgeous last day for this Hawkwatch! We’ve seen enough fog and rain and deserved this beautiful sendoff. Today was the day of the dark-morph Red-tails. With two Juvenile dark-morphs and seven adult dark-morphs, we all had an excellent opportunity to see several as they made their way across Hawk Hill. The combination of fabulous people, great food, and a beautiful day made this the perfect end to the migration! I wish everyone on this team luck next season! -Lisa

Thursday, November 29, 2007 Daily HawkWrap: Sightings:  407 Hours counted: 6 Rate of sightings: 67.8 hph Number of Species seen: 8 Daily HawkCount : Turkey Vulture: 165 Osprey: 0 White-tailed Kite: 0 Bald Eagle:  1 Northern Harrier: 7 Sharp-shinned Hawk: 2 Cooper’s Hawk:  0 Northern Goshawk:  0 Red-shouldered Hawk:  7 Broad-winged Hawk:  0 Swainson’s Hawk:  0 Red-tailed Hawk: 201 Ferruginous Hawk:  0 Rough-legged Hawk:  0            Golden Eagle: 0 American Kestrel: 12 Merlin:  0 Peregrine Falcon:  6 Prairie Falcon:  0 UNIDENTIFIED… Accipiter: 1 Buteo:  2 Eagle:  0 Falcon:  0 Raptor: 3 Daily HawkBlog A great last day on the hill for Thursday Two!  The day started with a Peregrine Falcon directly overhead, and it ended with the first Bald Eagle of the season!  At first, it appeared to be an adult Golden Eagle, but after watching it for a few minutes and then getting a great side profile view, we noted the long head, lack of a golden nape and generous bill that pointed straight to…Bald EAGLE!!  It flew from the north saddle toward Hill 88, over the lagoon, and disappeared behind the pines.  Well, Allen did request a Bald upon leaving, having completed his duty of sampling Charles Massen’s long-awaited annual mushroom pate.  Thanks, Thursday Two. It’s been a great season! - Ruthie and Nat, interns

Wednesday November 28 Daily HawkWrap: Sightings:  376 Hours counted: 6 Rate of sightings: 62.67 hph Number of Species seen: 9 Daily HawkCount : Turkey Vulture: 103 Osprey: 0 White-tailed Kite: 0 Bald Eagle:  0 Northern Harrier: 10 Sharp-shinned Hawk: 2 Cooper’s Hawk:  5 Northern Goshawk:  0 Red-shouldered Hawk:  1 Broad-winged Hawk:  0 Swainson’s Hawk:  0 Red-tailed Hawk: 241 Ferruginous Hawk:  0 Rough-legged Hawk:  0            Golden Eagle: 1 American Kestrel: 3 Merlin:  0 Peregrine Falcon:  4 Prairie Falcon:  0 UNIDENTIFIED… Accipiter: 2 Buteo:  3 Eagle:  0 Falcon:  0 Raptor: 1 Daily HawkBlog Today the weather was beautiful for this team’s last day on the hill! We had the large numbers of Red-tails often seen at the tail end of the season, but we also had a juvenile Golden Eagle. There were four Peregrines and a couple male Kestrels that were also kind enough to visit on this team’s last day. One of the male Kestrels even took a shot at a perched Red-tail; what guts! The day was filled with wonderful food and wonderful people-- a great end to the season for this team!   -Lisa, Beth, and Nat

Tuesday, November 27, 2007 Daily HawkWrap: Sightings:  516 Hours counted: 6 Rate of sightings: 86 hph Number of Species seen: 10 Daily HawkCount : Turkey Vulture: 142 Osprey: 0 White-tailed Kite: 0 Bald Eagle:  0 Northern Harrier: 7 Sharp-shinned Hawk: 7 Cooper’s Hawk:  5 Northern Goshawk:  0 Red-shouldered Hawk: 3 Broad-winged Hawk:  0 Swainson’s Hawk:  0 Red-tailed Hawk: 339 Ferruginous Hawk:  1 Rough-legged Hawk:  0            Golden Eagle: 0 American Kestrel: 2 Merlin:  1 Peregrine Falcon:  5 Prairie Falcon:  0 UNIDENTIFIED… Accipiter: 1 Buteo:  3 Eagle:  0 Falcon:  0 Raptor: 0 Daily HawkBlog After a few days of low raptor numbers, the bird count picked up again today!  The skies were clear, with moderately high winds from the northeast.  The Red-tailed Hawks were forming kettles all around, with 11 dark morph individuals mixed in.  A couple of adult Peregrine Falcons gave us great views, a juvenile Ferruginous Hawk came through West and North quadrants, and we also had the best possible view of an adult Red-shouldered Hawk flying close to the hill.  –Nat and Ruthie

Monday, November 26, 2007 Daily HawkWrap: Sightings:  104 Hours counted: 6 Rate of sightings: 17.3 hph Number of Species seen: 7 Daily HawkCount : Turkey Vulture: 22 Osprey: 0 White-tailed Kite: 0 Bald Eagle:  0 Northern Harrier: 9 Sharp-shinned Hawk: 8 Cooper’s Hawk:  0 Northern Goshawk:  0 Red-shouldered Hawk:  4 Broad-winged Hawk:  0 Swainson’s Hawk:  0 Red-tailed Hawk: 50 Ferruginous Hawk:  0 Rough-legged Hawk:  0            Golden Eagle: 0 American Kestrel: 8 Merlin:  0 Peregrine Falcon:  3 Prairie Falcon:  0 UNIDENTIFIED… Accipiter: 0 Buteo:  0 Eagle:  0 Falcon:  0 Raptor: 0 Daily HawkBlog The weather was great today, except for the lack of wind.  The skies were still, and most of the birds today were perched.  We had quite a few American Kestrel sightings, mostly males.  Notably, we didn’t see a single Turkey Vulture in the last hour of hawkwatch! -Nat and Beth

Sunday, November 25, 2007 Daily HawkWrap: Sightings:  197 Hours counted: 6 Rate of sightings: 32.8 hph Number of Species seen: 7 Daily HawkCount : Turkey Vulture: 121 Osprey: 1 White-tailed Kite: 0 Bald Eagle:  0 Northern Harrier: 13 Sharp-shinned Hawk: 2 Cooper’s Hawk:  0 Northern Goshawk:  0 Red-shouldered Hawk:  0 Broad-winged Hawk:  0 Swainson’s Hawk:  0 Red-tailed Hawk: 53 Ferruginous Hawk:  0 Rough-legged Hawk:  0            Golden Eagle: 0 American Kestrel: 2 Merlin:  0 Peregrine Falcon:  1 Prairie Falcon:  0 UNIDENTIFIED… Accipiter: 1 Buteo:  2 Eagle:  0 Falcon:  0 Raptor: 1 Daily HawkBlog  The weather today was cool and overcast with NE winds.  An adult Peregrine Falcon gave us a great look as it flew around near Kirby Cove, and then granted us an even better look when it flew directly over our heads.  The surprise of the day was the very last bird, at 15:29, when an Osprey appeared in the West quadrant and flew very close to the hill on its way over to San Francisco!  -Nat

Saturday, November 24, 2007 Daily HawkWrap: Sightings:  124 Hours counted: 5 Rate of sightings: 24.8 hph Number of Species seen: 7 Daily HawkCount : Turkey Vulture: 56 Osprey: 0 White-tailed Kite: 0 Bald Eagle:  0 Northern Harrier: 5 Sharp-shinned Hawk: 3 Cooper’s Hawk:  3 Northern Goshawk:  0 Red-shouldered Hawk:  0 Broad-winged Hawk:  0 Swainson’s Hawk:  0 Red-tailed Hawk: 51 Ferruginous Hawk:  0 Rough-legged Hawk:  0            Golden Eagle: 0 American Kestrel: 3 Merlin:  0 Peregrine Falcon:  2 Prairie Falcon:  0 UNIDENTIFIED… Accipiter: 0 Buteo:  1 Eagle:  0 Falcon:  0 Raptor: 0

Friday, November 23, 2007 Daily HawkWrap: Sightings:  331 Hours counted: 6 Rate of sightings: 55.17 hph Number of Species seen: 9 Daily HawkCount : Turkey Vulture: 66 Osprey: 0 White-tailed Kite: 0 Bald Eagle:  0 Northern Harrier: 8 Sharp-shinned Hawk: 14 Cooper’s Hawk:  10 Northern Goshawk:  0 Red-shouldered Hawk:  4 Broad-winged Hawk:  0 Swainson’s Hawk:  0 Red-tailed Hawk: 215 Ferruginous Hawk:  1 Rough-legged Hawk:  0            Golden Eagle: 0 American Kestrel: 3 Merlin:  0 Peregrine Falcon:  3 Prairie Falcon:  0 UNIDENTIFIED… Accipiter: 2 Buteo:  1 Eagle:  0 Falcon:  0 Raptor: 4

Thursday, November 22, 2007 Daily HawkWrap: Sightings:  359 Hours counted: 6 Rate of sightings: 59.83hph Number of Species seen: 10 Daily HawkCount : Turkey Vulture: 101 Osprey: 0 White-tailed Kite: 0 Bald Eagle:  0 Northern Harrier: 9 Sharp-shinned Hawk: 19 Cooper’s Hawk:  11 Northern Goshawk:  0 Red-shouldered Hawk:  1 Broad-winged Hawk:  0 Swainson’s Hawk:  0 Red-tailed Hawk: 208 Ferruginous Hawk:  0 Rough-legged Hawk:  0 Golden Eagle: 1 American Kestrel: 2 Merlin:  0 Peregrine Falcon:  1 Prairie Falcon:  1 UNIDENTIFIED… Accipiter: 4 Buteo:  2 Eagle:  0 Falcon:  0 Raptor: 0 Daily HawkBlog Happy Thanksgiving!

Wednesday, November 21, 2007 Daily HawkWrap: Sightings:  354 Hours counted: 6 Rate of sightings: 59.0 hph Number of Species seen: 11 Daily HawkCount : Turkey Vulture: 75 Osprey: 0 White-tailed Kite: 0 Bald Eagle:  0 Northern Harrier: 21 Sharp-shinned Hawk: 15 Cooper’s Hawk:  6 Northern Goshawk:  0 Red-shouldered Hawk:  4 Broad-winged Hawk:  0 Swainson’s Hawk:  0 Red-tailed Hawk: 208 Ferruginous Hawk:  0 Rough-legged Hawk:  1 Golden Eagle: 0 American Kestrel: 5 Merlin:  2 Peregrine Falcon:  15 Prairie Falcon:  1 UNIDENTIFIED… Accipiter: 0 Buteo:  0 Eagle:  0 Falcon:  0 Raptor: 1 Daily HawkBlog SE winds turning slowly to N by day’s end produced a high flight of mainly Redtails to the West of Hawk Hill.  The predom. flight line seemed to be along the coast then bending toward the east from Rodeo Lagoon and make a high south crossing high from Hawk Hill toward SF.  One juv light-morph Roughleg tried to sneak into this parade but got spotted by our sharp-eyed south Quad folks.  This was the second four-falcon day of the year with a mid afternoon flyby of a big Prairie that shot across the GG about 1330.   The undisputed high point of the day was the Peregrine action, which included at least 3 separate juvs and 2 adults.  Just before noon, an adult female Peregrine charged a juv female Peregrine across the sky, the encounter resulting in a talon-grapple right above us on Hawk Hill.  The two birds spiraled out of the sky some 40 feet then dis-articulated and flew off to the north.  Photos to follow.  Have a great Thanksgiving weekend of watching.  – Allen Fish

Tuesday November 20, 2007 Daily HawkWrap: Sightings:  355 Hours counted: 6 Rate of sightings: 59.2 hph Number of Species seen: 11 Daily HawkCount : Turkey Vulture: 85 Osprey: 0 White-tailed Kite: 1 Bald Eagle:  0 Northern Harrier: 15 Sharp-shinned Hawk: 18 Cooper’s Hawk:  3 Northern Goshawk:  0 Red-shouldered Hawk:  1 Broad-winged Hawk:  0 Swainson’s Hawk:  0 Red-tailed Hawk: 216 Ferruginous Hawk:  0 Rough-legged Hawk:  2  Golden Eagle: 0 American Kestrel: 5 Merlin:  1 Peregrine Falcon:  1 Prairie Falcon:  0 UNIDENTIFIED… Accipiter: 5 Buteo:  Eagle:  0 Falcon:  1 Raptor: 1 Daily HawkBlog Gorgeous weather, gorgeous Redtails (about 5% or 13 dark morphs).  Could’ve been the same Roughleg seen twice but to quote Dayleader Tim Behr “Who the hell knows?”  Awesome Merlin release by GGRO banders resulted in a Merlin sitting on a rock just a few dozen feet from the hawkwatch.   Nearly the last of the accipiters?  Yep, we’re moving toward the December Redtail Show.  Bring your binos and your triple-layer woolies.  – Allen Fish

Monday November 19, 2007 Daily HawkWrap: Sightings:  71 Hours counted: 3 Rate of sightings: 23.7 hph Number of Species seen: 4 Daily HawkCount : Turkey Vulture: 9 Osprey: 0 White-tailed Kite: 0 Bald Eagle:  0 Northern Harrier: 3 Sharp-shinned Hawk: 18 Cooper’s Hawk:  0 Northern Goshawk:  0 Red-shouldered Hawk:  0 Broad-winged Hawk:  0 Swainson’s Hawk:  0 Red-tailed Hawk: 45 Ferruginous Hawk:  0 Rough-legged Hawk:  0 Golden Eagle: 0 American Kestrel: 0 Merlin:  0 Peregrine Falcon:  0 Prairie Falcon:  0 UNIDENTIFIED… Accipiter: 0 Buteo:  Eagle:  0 Falcon:  0 Raptor: 0 Daily HawkBlog Morning rains cleared at noon to reveal a swift NW wind and a solid flight of Redtails.  – Allen Fish

Sunday, November 18, 2007 Daily HawkBlog Fog, yet again!  Fog 3, Hawkwatch 0.  The team took a walk along the lagoon, looking for oiled birds, and didn’t see anything that needed reporting.  In addition to the shorebirds, a few raptors were in the area: a female and a male American Kestrel, a juvenile and an adult Red-shouldered Hawk, and a couple of Turkey Vultures.  -Nat

Saturday, November 17, 2007 Daily HawkBlog: Fogged out again!  The team took a walk around the lagoon and saw one oiled scaup and one dead shorebird that was possibly another scaup.  Both of these were called into the Oiled Wildlife Care Network at (877) 823-6926.  -Nat

Friday, November 16, 2007 Daily HawkBlog Fogged out today! No hawks counted.

Thursday, November 15, 2007 Daily HawkWrap: Sightings:  290 Hours counted: 6 Rate of sightings: 48.3 hph Number of Species seen: 7 Daily HawkCount : Turkey Vulture: 114 Osprey: 0 White-tailed Kite: 0 Bald Eagle:  0 Northern Harrier: 10 Sharp-shinned Hawk: 15 Cooper’s Hawk:  4 Northern Goshawk:  0 Red-shouldered Hawk:  0 Broad-winged Hawk:  0 Swainson’s Hawk:  0 Red-tailed Hawk: 138 Ferruginous Hawk:  0 Rough-legged Hawk:  0            Golden Eagle: 0 American Kestrel: 3 Merlin:  1 Peregrine Falcon:  0 Prairie Falcon:  0 UNIDENTIFIED… Accipiter: 1 Buteo:  3 Eagle:  0 Falcon:  0 Raptor: 1 Daily HawkBlog The weather tried to kick us off the hill today, but we didn’t allow ourselves to be defeated!  It was perfectly clear in the morning, with one great hour of 124 sightings (including one Merlin that came whizzing past). Unfortunately, the afternoon was full of fog rolling in and out.  When it cleared again, the skies were gorgeous, but the raptors were few and far between.  Oh well, not every hour can be busy.  -Nat and Ruthie

Wednesday, November 14, 2007 Daily HawkWrap: Sightings:  411 Hours counted: 6 Rate of sightings: 68.5 hph Number of Species seen: 11 Daily HawkCount : Turkey Vulture: 93 Osprey: 1 White-tailed Kite: 0 Bald Eagle:  0 Northern Harrier: 32 Sharp-shinned Hawk: 48 Cooper’s Hawk:  5 Northern Goshawk:  0 Red-shouldered Hawk:  6 Broad-winged Hawk:  0 Swainson’s Hawk:  0 Red-tailed Hawk: 213 Ferruginous Hawk:  0 Rough-legged Hawk: 1            Golden Eagle: 1 American Kestrel: 4 Merlin:  0 Peregrine Falcon:  1 Prairie Falcon:  0 UNIDENTIFIED… Accipiter: 3 Buteo:  3 Eagle:  0 Falcon:  0 Raptor: 0 Daily HawkBlog Beautiful day on the hill!  We had a few flurries of Red-tailed hawks, including some dark morphs.  There were definitely slow points during the day when the wind died down, but everyone had a good time regardless. -Lisa Blankenship and Beth Sturgeon

Tuesday, November 13, 2007 Daily HawkWrap: Sightings:  334 Hours counted: 6 Rate of sightings: 55.7 hph Number of Species seen: 9 Daily HawkCount : Turkey Vulture: 105 Osprey: 0 White-tailed Kite: 3 Bald Eagle:  0 Northern Harrier: 24 Sharp-shinned Hawk: 36 Cooper’s Hawk:  5 Northern Goshawk:  0 Red-shouldered Hawk:  4 Broad-winged Hawk:  0 Swainson’s Hawk:  0 Red-tailed Hawk: 138 Ferruginous Hawk:  0 Rough-legged Hawk:  1            Golden Eagle: 0 American Kestrel: 4 Merlin:  0 Peregrine Falcon:  0 Prairie Falcon:  0 UNIDENTIFIED… Accipiter: 6 Buteo:  5 Eagle:  0 Falcon:  1 Raptor: 2 Daily HawkBlog Today was a beautiful day on the hill, with a nice stream of birds.  The fog left us alone until the very end of the day, at which point it started rolling in.  We had high numbers of Red-tailed Hawks, including ELEVEN dark morphs: 5 adults and 6 juveniles.  This Tuesday Two team also had its first Rough-legged Hawk of the season, hanging out down by Kirby Cove, and then flying over toward Angel Island and Slacker Ridge, giving us a great look!  -Nat

Monday, November 12, 2007 Daily HawkWrap: Sightings:  171 Hours counted: 6 Rate of sightings: 31.09 hph Number of Species seen: 8 Daily HawkCount : Turkey Vulture: 56 Osprey: 0 White-tailed Kite: 0 Bald Eagle:  0 Northern Harrier: 12 Sharp-shinned Hawk: 19 Cooper’s Hawk:  5 Northern Goshawk:  0 Red-shouldered Hawk:  1 Broad-winged Hawk:  0 Swainson’s Hawk:  0 Red-tailed Hawk: 69 Ferruginous Hawk:  0 Rough-legged Hawk:  0            Golden Eagle: 0 American Kestrel: 5 Merlin:  2 Peregrine Falcon:  0 Prairie Falcon:  0 UNIDENTIFIED… Accipiter: 1 Buteo:  0 Eagle:  0 Falcon:  0 Raptor: 1 Daily HawkBlog Today’s weather on the hill was beautiful…except that there was very little wind…meaning we didn’t see many raptors.  We entertained ourselves by watching the ravens, discussing the oil spill and observing the cloud movements.  We also had the rare chance to witness the release of the GGRO’s telemetry bird- a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk.  The bird will be tracked by the telemetry team until the 18th of this month.  So it turned out to be an exciting day even if our count was low. -Natalya Blumenfeld and Beth Sturgeon

Sunday, November 11, 2007 Daily HawkWrap: Sightings:  437 Hours counted:  6 Rate of sightings:  72.8 hph Number of Species seen:  10 Daily HawkCount : Turkey Vulture: 76 Osprey: 1 White-tailed Kite: 0 Bald Eagle:  0 Northern Harrier: 12 Sharp-shinned Hawk: 26 Cooper’s Hawk:  10 Northern Goshawk:  0 Red-shouldered Hawk:  8 Broad-winged Hawk:  0 Swainson’s Hawk:  0 Red-tailed Hawk:  289 Ferruginous Hawk:  0 Rough-legged Hawk:  0            Golden Eagle: 0 American Kestrel:  4 Merlin:  1 Peregrine Falcon:  3 Prairie Falcon:  0 UNIDENTIFIED… Accipiter: 3 Buteo:  2 Eagle:  0 Falcon:  0 Raptor: 2 Daily HawkBlog The Red-tailed Hawks completely dominated the skies today: 289 sightings, including 4 juvenile dark morphs and 2 adult dark morphs!  A few of the adult Red-tailed Hawks showed interesting display patterns, prompting us to look for Golden Eagles or other large intruders.  We also had a great look at an adult Peregrine Falcon as it took a leisurely flight from Middle Kingdom to the pines, and then zoomed over to San Francisco.  -Nat

Saturday November 10, 2007 Daily HawkBlog After standing in the rain for a while, we determined that the birds had to be smarter than we were. They were not out in the rain; they were huddled comfortably in some dry tree -- probably enjoying a nice cup of coffee and a book by the fire. Dry and warm started to sound pretty nice to us, so our dayleader set us free. Rained out. -Lisa

Friday, November 9, 2007 Daily HawkWrap: Sightings:  324 Hours counted: 360 Rate of sightings: 54.0 hph Number of Species seen: 11 Daily HawkCount : Turkey Vulture: 124 Osprey: 0 White-tailed Kite: 1 Bald Eagle:  0 Northern Harrier: 17 Sharp-shinned Hawk: 21 Cooper’s Hawk:  5 Northern Goshawk:  0 Red-shouldered Hawk: 4 Broad-winged Hawk:  0 Swainson’s Hawk:  0 Red-tailed Hawk: 131 Ferruginous Hawk:  0 Rough-legged Hawk:  0            Golden Eagle: 0 American Kestrel: 3 Merlin:  2 Peregrine Falcon:  5 Prairie Falcon:  0 UNIDENTIFIED… Accipiter: 1 Buteo:  4 Eagle:  0 Falcon:  0 Raptor: 4 Daily HawkBlog A beautiful sunny day on the hill after days of fog! A little quiet and mellow on the bird side, but we saw a number of peregrine falcons of various ages, in addition to a few other small falcons. We had a brief Red-tail fly-by as 25 birds kettled up and over the hill and then one by one, crossed the water heading south. A handful of dark morph birds in the mix made the sight even more interesting. We also got a great view of a juvenile Golden Eagle that flew over the hill on its way south. Ruthie, intern

Thursday, November 8, 2007 Daily HawkWrap: Sightings:  153 Hours counted: 6 Rate of sightings: 25.5 hph Number of Species seen: 9 Daily HawkCount : Turkey Vulture: 57 Osprey: 1 White-tailed Kite: 0 Bald Eagle:  0 Northern Harrier: 9 Sharp-shinned Hawk: 7            Cooper’s Hawk:  3       Northern Goshawk:  2 Red-shouldered Hawk:  1 Broad-winged Hawk:  0 Swainson’s Hawk:  0 Red-tailed Hawk: 66 Ferruginous Hawk:  0 Rough-legged Hawk:  0            Golden Eagle: 0 American Kestrel: 2 Merlin:  0 Peregrine Falcon:  0 Prairie Falcon:  0 UNIDENTIFIED… Accipiter: 1       Buteo:  0 Eagle:  0 Falcon:  0 Raptor: 4 Daily HawkBlog The day of the two juvenile Goshawks!  The day wasn’t high in numbers, but the diversity made up for it.  Red-tailed Hawks and Turkey Vultures were both vying for the highest number spot, but the Red-tails won.  –Nat and Beth

Wednesday, November 7, 2007 Daily HawkBlog: FOG FOG FOG!! No Hawk counting done today. Duck-counting had to suffice...

Tuesday, November 6, 2007 Daily HawkBlog: Too much fog!  We tried counting from 11:15-noon, but then the fog rolled back in.  In that short time, we saw 2 Turkey Vultures, 3 Northern Harriers, 4 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 3 Cooper’s Hawks, and 10 Red-tailed Hawks, so imagine what we could have seen if it had been clear!  -Nat and Ruthie

Monday, November 5, 2007 Daily HawkBlog Too foggy to stay on the hill.  Instead, we took a nice hike up Bobcat Trail and saw a couple of Northern Harriers, four Kestrels hunting along the ridges, and a wire-sitting Cooper’s Hawk.  Better luck next time!  -Nat

Sunday November 4, 2007 Daily HawkWrap: Sightings: 552 Hours counted: 6 Rate of sightings: 100.36hph Number of Species seen: 10 Daily HawkCount Turkey Vulture:  123 Osprey:  2 White-tailed Kite:  Bald Eagle:  Northern Harrier:  22 Sharp-shinned Hawk:  44 Cooper’s Hawk:  12 Northern Goshawk:  Red-shouldered Hawk:  12 Broad-winged Hawk:  Swainson’s Hawk:  Red-tailed Hawk:  275 Ferruginous Hawk:  Rough-legged Hawk:  Golden Eagle:  American Kestrel:  11 Merlin:  4 Peregrine Falcon:  3 Prairie Falcon:  UNIDENTIFIED… Accipiter:  25 Buteo:  13 Falcon:  2 Eagle:  Raptor:  Daily HawkBlog: Glorious day on the hill!  The weather was perfect, as evidenced by the large number of visitors.  We had a good number of red tails come through, but nothing else in high numbers.  There were only twelve cooper’s hawks counted, which is a notably small count based on what we’ve been seeing this season.  Many of the birds today gave us nice, close views, including one Merlin that came by close enough for us to see dinner in it’s talons.  -Beth Sturgeon

Saturday, November 3, 2007 Daily HawkWrap: Sightings:  719 Hours counted: 6 Rate of sightings: 119.8 hph Number of Species seen: 12 Daily HawkCount : Turkey Vulture: 146 Osprey: 0 White-tailed Kite: 3 Bald Eagle:  0 Northern Harrier: 24 Sharp-shinned Hawk: 75 Cooper’s Hawk:  43 Northern Goshawk:  0 Red-shouldered Hawk:  4 Broad-winged Hawk:  0 Swainson’s Hawk:  0 Red-tailed Hawk: 389 Ferruginous Hawk:  0 Rough-legged Hawk:  3            Golden Eagle: 1 American Kestrel: 4 Merlin:  2 Peregrine Falcon:  4 Prairie Falcon:  0 UNIDENTIFIED… Accipiter: 10 Buteo:  1 Eagle:  0 Falcon:  0 Raptor: 10

Friday November 2, 2007 Daily HawkWrap: Sightings:  670 Hours counted: 6 Rate of sightings: 111.67 hph Number of Species seen: 11 Daily HawkCount : Turkey Vulture: 78 Osprey: 0 White-tailed Kite: 1 Bald Eagle:  0 Northern Harrier: 14 Sharp-shinned Hawk: 107 Cooper’s Hawk:  69 Northern Goshawk:  2 Red-shouldered Hawk:  16 Broad-winged Hawk:  0 Swainson’s Hawk:  0 Red-tailed Hawk: 352 Ferruginous Hawk:  0 Rough-legged Hawk:  0            Golden Eagle: 0 American Kestrel: 6 Merlin:  7 Peregrine Falcon:  6 Prairie Falcon:  0 UNIDENTIFIED… Accipiter: 5       Buteo:  2 Eagle:  0 Falcon: 3 Raptor: 2 Daily HawkBlog Early in the morning Hawk Hill was open above the fog bank, but the fog quickly burned off, leaving a beautiful sunny day. The Red-tails were out in full force! We counted 352 Red-tails; there were kettles of them filling the sky! Today seemed to be a peak day for this team, finally escaping its legacy of fog and rain. However, the highlight of today had to be the Northern Goshawk that was spotted! It stayed close and circled around Hawk Hill, giving us an excellent view! After the rare bird forms were filled out and the pictures of the Goshawk were examined, we all had to come down from our excitement long enough to count the new kettles of Red-tails that had formed in the meantime. -Lisa (the intern who can now cross Northern Goshawk off her list) CLICK HERE FOR A PHOTO OF THE GOSHAWK!

Thursday, November 1, 2007 Daily HawkWrap: Sightings:  594 Hours counted: 3.5 Rate of sightings: 169.71 hph Number of Species seen: 10 Daily HawkCount : Turkey Vulture: 47 Osprey: 0 White-tailed Kite: 0 Bald Eagle:  0 Northern Harrier: 15 Sharp-shinned Hawk: 104 Cooper’s Hawk:  48 Northern Goshawk:  0 Red-shouldered Hawk:  21 Broad-winged Hawk:  0 Swainson’s Hawk:  0 Red-tailed Hawk: 313 Ferruginous Hawk:  2 Rough-legged Hawk:  0            Golden Eagle: 0 American Kestrel: 6 Merlin:  3 Peregrine Falcon:  1 Prairie Falcon:  0 UNIDENTIFIED… Accipiter: 16 Buteo:  6 Eagle:  0 Falcon:  0 Raptor: 12 Daily HawkBlog Due to a foggy morning, we were only up on the hill for 3.5 hours, but we had an amazing flow of birds!  The Red-tailed Hawks were forming kettles in every quadrant, and we had two juvenile Ferruginous Hawk sightings!  We also had one juvenile Peregrine Falcon and three Merlins zoom past.  –Ruthie and Nat

The GGRO is a program of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy in cooperation with the National Park Service.