Other Raptors
Cooper’s Hawk
Peregrine
Short-tailed Hawk
I found a superlative crowd of birders at the Hawk Watch this morning transported to Tubac in at least 99 vehicles. The weather and sky conditions were much improved with scattered clouds, plenty of blue, tolerable temperatures and light to moderate winds.
Birders expressed confidence that they would observe peak migration today. Knowing I had seen only 2 Black Hawks the last two chilly, windy days, regulars tried to console me with promises that the Black Hawks must be piling up south of us and this would be the day hawks would fly.
Nine O’clock arrived with no sign of migration, only some local Cooper’s Hawks to distract the eager crowd. Our fortunes improved after 10:00 with a modest flight of Black Hawks, Zonetails, Gray Hawks and Redtails. Over 100 Turkey Vultures dominated the liftoff.
I anticipated the crowd would thin after 11:00 having enjoyed all the usual unusual raptor migrants. I underestimated their determination to see the new rising star of Tubac, that pint-sized buteo, the Short-tailed Hawk. Normally a mountain recluse in Arizona, Tubac has established itself as a low altitude Shorttail migration haven. Patient birders were rewarded as the dark morph Shorttail glided over the park. We carefully noted tail details. I moved deeper into the crowd to help other birders locate the Shorttail when a dark morph Redtail, piqued at all the attention given this small pretender to the dark morph throne, snuck into view creating chaos on the ground. Birders checked their recent photos. Reassured, they sorted out the multiple dark buteos overhead.
The HWI raptor ambassadors, Goose, the Peregrine and Stax, the Harris Hawk made their farewell appearance at the HWI tent.
Finally sated, birders wondered off for lunch or to the community center for a talk on Raptor Migration Trends.
The trickle of Black Hawks in the morning left us at 12 for the day as the counters finished lunch. At 2:00 Black Hawks got serious about migration with consecutive hours of 10, 12, and 17 counted. Nine more were counted the last half hour of the count, with another 9 Black Hawks roosting to the south, perfectly positioned for tomorrow morning.
We left a Peregrine and a Merlin patrolling the wood lot north of the park to prevent any counted Black Hawks from sneaking south.
