hydromatic-ggro 2009-09-13T15:23:15.632-0700 GGRO http://www.ggro.org ggro@parksconservancy.org hydromatic-ggro-200909132009-09-13T15:23:15.632-07002009-09-13T15:23:15.632-0700It was a relatively slow day on the Hill. The weather was overcast, and very odd - we could see almost to San Jose in the south, but couldn't even see Mount Tam in the north! The visitors numbered many more than the hawks, unfortunately. We watched as the rain crept up on the banding blinds, and eventually cut our day short as it finally reached us. <br/> <br/> Total Sightings: 118<br/> Hours Counted: 4<br/> HPH: 27.23<br/> Total Species: 6<br/> <br/> Species Counts:<br/> Turkey Vulture: 70<br/> Osprey: 2<br/> Cooper's Hawk: 1<br/> Red-tailed Hawk: 40<br/> American Kestrel: 1<br/> Peregrine Falcon: 4<br/> Robyn hydromatic-ggro-200909122009-09-12T16:17:27.690-07002009-09-12T16:17:27.690-0700Today we were weathered out. I say "weathered out" rather than "fogged out" because dense, ground-level fog was only one of the many impediments to hawkwatch today--there was also a very low cloud ceiling, rain, lightning, and even a little bit of hail! It seems that the fog got together with all of its buddies and conspired to keep us not only off of the hill, but cooped up in 1064.<br/> <br/> We still had a good time, though. Some get-to-know you stuff at the beginning, which was quite helpful for those of us new to the team. I then did my level best to impersonate Allen in the morning meeting by dragging out the accipiter education module as long as I could. Alas, I don't think I remembered all of his tangents. Too bad--they would have come in handy today!<br/> <br/> When I finally ran out of steam, the hawkwatchers departed for some hiking while I worked on switching the display case to peak birds (huzzah!). Their quick return (prompted by the aforementioned precipitation) forced a showing of Raptor Force, which basically compares military planes to birds of prey. What it lacked in real educational value it certainly made up for in cool footage of birds and planes doing crazy acrobatics and flying really fast! Which, incidentally, will be ours to experience first-hand in just a couple of weeks--I'm sure y'all are looking forward to that!<br/> <br/> In the mean time, here's hoping for some clear days with moderate winds and many birds.<br/> <br/> Total Sightings: 0<br/> Hours Counted: 0<br/> HPH: 0<br/> Total Species: 0<br/> Nathan hydromatic-ggro-200909112009-09-11T16:53:08.557-07002009-09-11T16:53:08.557-0700Our day started off hot and slow, but things picked up in the afternoon--both hawks and wind. Highlights include an adult red-shoulder, a sharp-shinned that came right over the hill, and a perched mystery bird in South quadrant that we have tentatively identified as a Great-Horned Owl. Don't forget sunscreen, water, and layers when you come up on the hill!<br/> <br/> Total Sightings: 205<br/> Hours Counted: 6<br/> HPH: 34.17<br/> Total Species: 10<br/> <br/> Species Counts:<br/> Turkey Vulture: 93<br/> Osprey: 1<br/> Northern Harrier: 4<br/> Sharp-shinned Hawk: 4<br/> Cooper's Hawk: 20<br/> Red-shouldered Hawk: 3<br/> Broad-winged Hawk: 1<br/> Red-tailed Hawk: 66<br/> American Kestrel: 4<br/> Peregrine Falcon: 2<br/> <br/> Unidentified...<br/> Accipiter: 4<br/> Falcon: 1<br/> Raptor: 2<br/> Lisa hydromatic-ggro-200909102009-09-10T04:26:26.140-07002009-09-10T04:26:26.140-0700A hot, sunny day up on the hill. Highlights include one broad-wing early in the day and the first official Ferruginous Hawk of the season in the afternoon. Our day's total was a very respectable 11 species, 268 sightings. <br/> <br/> Total Sightings: 268<br/> Hours Counted: 6<br/> HPH: 44.67<br/> Total Species: 11<br/> <br/> Species Counts:<br/> Turkey Vulture: 75<br/> Osprey: 8<br/> Northern Harrier: 4<br/> Sharp-shinned Hawk: 5<br/> Cooper's Hawk: 10<br/> Red-shouldered Hawk: 2<br/> Broad-winged Hawk: 1<br/> Red-tailed Hawk: 144<br/> Ferruginous Hawk: 1<br/> American Kestrel: 3<br/> Peregrine Falcon: 1<br/> <br/> Unidentified...<br/> Accipiter: 10<br/> Buteo: 1<br/> Raptor: 3<br/> Nathan, Lisa hydromatic-ggro-200909092009-09-09T09:30:29.309-07002009-09-09T09:30:29.309-0700The day started out a bit sketchy with fog, but it cleared quickly and we were up on the hill by 10:30. The Red-tails were giving us quite a spectacular show – 52 in the first half hour! But our beautiful sunny day quickly turned back into fog, getting worse and worse until we were forced to admit defeat a mere 2.5 hours after making it to the top – visibility had dropped to much less than half a mile in all directions!<br/> <br/> Total Sightings: 129<br/> Hours Counted: 2.5<br/> HPH: 51.6<br/> Total Species: 4<br/> <br/> Species Counts:<br/> Turkey Vulture: 35<br/> Cooper's Hawk: 4<br/> Red-tailed Hawk: 85<br/> American Kestrel: 2<br/> <br/> Unidentified...<br/> Accipiter: 1<br/> Raptor: 2<br/> Robyn & Zeka hydromatic-ggro-200909082009-09-08T06:53:03.217-07002009-09-08T06:53:03.217-0700Fog bookended an otherwise pretty good day. Visibility started off quite poor, but cleared a bit early afternoon, enough so that we got to see a number of falcons. In addition to close flybys by a number of Kestrels, we were also treated to the sight of one of the bridge Peregrines (presumably) defending its territory against an encroaching Prairie. The aerial acrobatics were quite spectacular, though unfortunately distant over Slacker Ridge. Other than that, lots of Red-tails and a good number of Coops. Hopefully the fog will stay farther out tomorrow!<br/> <br/> Total Sightings: 217<br/> Hours Counted: 5.75<br/> HPH: 37.74<br/> Total Species: 8<br/> <br/> Species Counts:<br/> Turkey Vulture: 57<br/> Osprey: 3<br/> Cooper's Hawk: 14<br/> Red-shouldered Hawk: 1<br/> Red-tailed Hawk: 125<br/> American Kestrel: 11<br/> Peregrine Falcon: 1<br/> Prairie Falcon: 1<br/> <br/> Unidentified...<br/> Accipiter: 1<br/> Raptor: 3<br/> Nathan and Robyn (interns) hydromatic-ggro-200909072009-09-07T07:36:58.778-07002009-09-07T07:36:58.778-0700Apparently the hawks didnt get the whole labor day off memo. Lucky for us, because we saw lots of cool birds. There are two reasons to write in all caps today: it was a FOUR FALCON DAY and we saw our FIRST BROAD-WINGED HAWK OF THE SEASON! We certainly made good use of our hats, sunscreen, and extra water. All in all, it was a lovely way to spend the holiday.<br/> <br/> Total Sightings: 264<br/> Hours Counted: 5.75<br/> HPH: 45.91<br/> Total Species: 12<br/> <br/> Species Counts:<br/> Turkey Vulture: 93<br/> Osprey: 4<br/> Northern Harrier: 1<br/> Sharp-shinned Hawk: 1<br/> Cooper's Hawk: 11<br/> Red-shouldered Hawk: 9<br/> Broad-winged Hawk: 1<br/> Red-tailed Hawk: 122<br/> American Kestrel: 8<br/> Merlin: 1<br/> Peregrine Falcon: 4<br/> Prairie Falcon: 1<br/> <br/> Unidentified...<br/> Accipiter: 3<br/> Buteo: 1<br/> Raptor: 4<br/> ZEK hydromatic-ggro-200909062009-09-06T11:51:09.724-07002009-09-06T11:51:09.724-0700I'm beginning to believe this whole Marin Headlands hawk migration story I've been hearing might actually be true. Today we saw so many hawks cruise by! Lots of Accipiter practice, except they were all Coops. Hopefully the Sharpies will make it here soon. Check out the species totals exciting things are happening.<br/> <br/> Total Sightings: 366<br/> Hours Counted: 5.75<br/> HPH: 63.48<br/> Total Species: 9<br/> <br/> Species Counts:<br/> Turkey Vulture: 128<br/> Osprey: 7<br/> White-tailed Kite: 1<br/> Northern Harrier: 1<br/> Cooper's Hawk: 34<br/> Red-shouldered Hawk: 1<br/> Red-tailed Hawk: 173<br/> American Kestrel: 11<br/> Peregrine Falcon: 8<br/> <br/> Unidentified...<br/> Raptor: 2<br/> GGRO hydromatic-ggro-200909052009-09-06T11:38:53.852-07002009-09-06T11:38:53.852-0700Fogged out today!<br/> <br/> Total Sightings: 0<br/> Hours Counted: 0<br/> HPH: 0<br/> Total Species: 0<br/> GGRO hydromatic-ggro-20090904 2009-09-04T16:00:00.000-07:00 2009-09-04T16:00:00.000-07:00 I emerged from the NPS dorm this morning amazed and dismayed &mdash; it was cold and foggy with Hawk Hill completely obscured! So after an enlightening morning lesson, we dispirited hawkwatchers birded around the lagoon. Don't get me wrong&mdash;we did see some interesting stuff, but they weren't our beloved raptors. <br /> <br /> But around noon, a miracle! The fog began to lift with such speed that we were still on our way back to 1064 when Hawk Hill completely cleared. After grabbing our gear and throwing it (and ourselves) into vehicles, we raced up to the top. To be surrounded by fog. Completely (maximum visibility of &lt;1 mile). Dismay, made even more vicious by the knowledge that somewhere above Slacker, a Golden Eagle waited (reported by other GGRO volunteers). By the time the fog cleared (clearing being a relative term), the eagle was, alas, gone. Instead we had to make do with a less sought-after season first&mdash;20+ mph winds! Gotta love shaking scopes and binoculars... <br /> <br /> However, these winds did clear out the fog, and by 2, Mt. Diablo was intermittently visible. We saw a fair number of hawks, and were delighted by three juvenile coops that hung out right above us for several minutes. At any rate, a much better day than we had anticipated! <br /> <br /> Total Sightings: 108 <br /> Hours Counted: 3.17 <br /> HPH: 34.11 <br /> Total Species: 5 <br /> <br /> Species Counts:<br /> Turkey Vulture: 42 <br /> Osprey: 1 <br /> Cooper's Hawk: 9 <br /> Red-tailed Hawk: 45 <br /> American Kestrel: 3 <br /> <br /> Unidentified... <br /> Buteo: 3 <br /> Falcon: 1 <br /> Raptor: 4 GGRO hydromatic-ggro-20090903 2009-09-03T16:00:00.000-07:00 2009-09-03T16:00:00.000-07:00 An absolutely gorgeous day on the hill&mdash;the temperature was mostly pleasant, and the breeze was strong enough to be quite refreshing. Great visibility too&mdash;all the way to the geysers beyond the North Saddle (66 miles away). So the landscapes were great, but unfortunately not well populated with raptors: only had double digits of turkey vultures and red-tails. However, we did see nine kestrels, getting a number of good looks. And as mentioned earlier, the weather was absolutely amazing. So being up there was by no means trying! An excellent way to spend the day. <br /> <br /> Total Sightings: 180 <br /> Hours Counted: 5.83 <br /> HPH: 30.86 <br /> Total Species: 7 <br /> <br /> Species Counts:<br /> Turkey Vulture: 84 <br /> Northern Harrier: 1 <br /> Sharp-shinned Hawk: 1 <br /> Cooper's Hawk: 2 <br /> Red-tailed Hawk: 69 <br /> American Kestrel: 9 <br /> Peregrine Falcon: 1 <br /> <br /> Unidentified... <br /> Accipiter: 3 <br /> Buteo: 2 <br /> Raptor: 8 Nathan and Zeka (interns) hydromatic-ggro-20090902 2009-09-02T16:00:00.000-07:00 2009-09-02T16:00:00.000-07:00 The day started out beautiful, with no fog. It got a little hot, reaching the low 90s, but Allen eventually made it to the Hill with an extra five gallons of water for us! The day seemed fairly slow, but we got a few good sightings of Osprey coming in close, and had a couple Red-shoulders at one point giving us a beautiful view of their striking colors. <br /> Total Sightings: 165 <br /> Hours Counted: 6 <br /> HPH: 27.5 <br /> Total Species: 7 <br /> <br /> Species Counts:<br /> Turkey Vulture: 66 <br /> Osprey: 4 <br /> Northern Harrier: 4 <br /> Cooper's Hawk: 3 <br /> Red-shouldered Hawk: 5 <br /> Red-tailed Hawk: 76 <br /> American Kestrel: 6 <br /> <br /> Unidentified... <br /> Buteo: 1 Robyn hydromatic-ggro-20090901 2009-09-01T16:00:00.000-07:00 2009-09-01T16:00:00.000-07:00 Today was the first pleasant balmy day up on Hawk Hill. We beat the previous high hawk sighting day of the season. Red-tailed hawks even out-numbered Turkey Vultures! The best sighting of all was the first Prairie Falcon recorded this season.<br /> <br /> Total Sightings: 215 <br /> Hours Counted: 4.7 <br /> HPH: 41.61 <br /> Total Species: 7 <br /> <br /> Species Counts:<br /> Turkey Vulture: 85 <br /> Osprey: 1 <br /> Sharp-shinned Hawk: 1 <br /> Cooper's Hawk: 9 <br /> Red-tailed Hawk: 113 <br /> American Kestrel: 1 <br /> <br /> Unidentified... <br /> Accipiter: 2 GGRO hydromatic-ggro-20090831 2009-08-31T16:00:00.000-07:00 2009-08-31T16:00:00.000-07:00 Things looked pretty foggy at the beginning of the day, but we were able to get up on the Hill around 11:30. At that point it was still pretty foggy, but we saw an adult Red-shouldered Hawk pretty soon after getting set up! For the next few hours the fog was in and out, but around 2:30 it started getting pretty clear. The most exciting part of the day was when the fog cleared, allowing the helicopter to finally start doing its job. We got to watch as it flew one of the power towers down to just beside the stables. We watched it avidly to make sure no hawks were in the way (and to see if it dropped the tower), and luckily no raptors were in sight. <br /> <br /> Total Sightings: 47 <br /> Hours Counted: 4 <br /> HPH: 11.75 <br /> Total Species: 5 <br /> <br /> Species Counts:<br /> Turkey Vulture: 19 <br /> Cooper's Hawk: 1 <br /> Red-shouldered Hawk: 1 <br /> Red-tailed Hawk: 23 <br /> American Kestrel: 1 <br /> <br /> Unidentified... <br /> Buteo: 2 Robyn hydromatic-ggro-20090830 2009-08-30T16:00:00.000-07:00 2009-08-30T16:00:00.000-07:00 Despite high hopes of no fog, today was completely fogged out. We made it out to the Annex for about an hour and a half, surrounded by mostly white. Most of the time we couldn't even see the Golden Gate Bridge, and we once caught one brief glimpse of a very white-looking Hawk Hill. We managed to see a few Red-tails and Turkey Vultures through the fog, and one Osprey came flying right overhead, but that was it for the day, unfortunately. <br /> Robyn hydromatic-ggro-20090829 2009-08-29T16:00:00.000-07:00 2009-08-29T16:00:00.000-07:00 Another scorcher today, but not quite as hot as it was yesterday, for which we were most thankful! Unfortunately, the air was relatively still all day, resulting in few raptors. But not a bad day to be on the hill, especially since we had plenty of ice-cold water in the GGRO cooler. <br /> <br /> Total Sightings: 152 <br /> Hours Counted: 5.75 <br /> HPH: 26.43 <br /> Total Species: 7 <br /> <br /> Species Counts:<br /> Turkey Vulture: 98 <br /> Osprey: 4 <br /> Northern Harrier: 2 <br /> Cooper's Hawk: 4 <br /> Red-shouldered Hawk: 3 <br /> Red-tailed Hawk: 31 <br /> American Kestrel: 5 <br /> <br /> Unidentified... <br /> Raptor: 5 Nathan (intern) hydromatic-ggro-20090828 2009-08-28T16:00:00.000-07:00 2009-08-28T16:00:00.000-07:00 All in all a very HOT, still, slow day on the hill, but we count ourselves fortunate to have made it up for a full six hours of hawk watching. We saw 110 birds of six species, including one beautiful dark morph adult red-tail, three male American Kestrels, three female American Kestrels and one red-shouldered hawk. We hit 95.5 degrees, so don.t forget water, hat and sunscreen when you come out to join us! <br /> <br /> Total Sightings: 110 <br /> Hours Counted: 6 <br /> HPH: 18 <br /> Total Species: 6 <br /> <br /> Species Counts:<br /> Turkey Vulture: 59 <br /> Northern Harrier: 2 <br /> Cooper's Hawk: 8 <br /> Red-shouldered Hawk: 1 <br /> Red-tailed Hawk: 33 <br /> American Kestrel: 7 <br /> GGRO hydromatic-ggro-20090827 2009-08-27T16:00:00.000-07:00 2009-08-27T16:00:00.000-07:00 Our very first fog-free day! Well, not entirely fog-free, but we did get up onto the hill promptly at 9:30 for the first time this season. And what a day it was! We saw TEN species today, getting to the double digits in species much earlier than the past two years. We were sitting happy with eight species at 3pm (a few early ospreys, a bunch of red-shoulders mid-day, some female kestrels in the afternoon, a smattering of standard accipiters, and lots of TVs and red-tails) and getting ready to call it a good day when a white-tailed kite booked it down in front of Slacker Ridge and we saw two peregrines&mdash;one on the bridge, one popping up far out over Wolfback Ridge.<br /> <br /> The afternoon was a lot slower bird-wise: as temperatures rose, the hawks settled down. It was quite warm by the time we quit (89 degrees Fahrenheit), so bring lots of water if you come up to visit or count! But all in all, a beautiful day to be on the hill.<br /> <br /> Total Sightings: 209 <br /> Hours Counted: 6 <br /> HPH: 10 <br /> Total Species: 34.83 <br /> <br /> Species Counts:<br /> Turkey Vulture: 103 <br /> Osprey: 3 <br /> White-tailed Kite: 1 <br /> Northern Harrier: 8 <br /> Sharp-shinned Hawk: 3 <br /> Cooper's Hawk: 5 <br /> Red-shouldered Hawk: 5 <br /> Red-tailed Hawk: 64 <br /> American Kestrel: 8 <br /> Peregrine Falcon: 2 <br /> <br /> Unidentified... <br /> Buteo: 3 <br /> Raptor: 4 Lisa and Nathan (interns) hydromatic-ggro-20090826 2009-08-26T16:00:00.000-07:00 2009-08-26T16:00:00.000-07:00 Weather on the hill was windy and foggy today, but we managed to count hawks from 12:30 until 3pm. The high point of the day was watching two Kestrels for about five minutes until they shot over our heads and sped off into the south Quadrant. Only three species seen today - Turkey Vultures, Redtails, and Kestrels. <br /> <br /> Total Sightings: 45 <br /> Hours Counted: 2.5 <br /> HPH: 17.6 <br /> Total Species: 3 <br /> <br /> Species Counts:<br /> Turkey Vulture: 22 <br /> Osprey: 0 <br /> White-tailed Kite: 0 <br /> Bald Eagle: 0 <br /> Northern Harrier: 0 <br /> Sharp-shinned Hawk: 0 <br /> Cooper's Hawk: 0 <br /> Northern Goshawk: 0 <br /> Red-shouldered Hawk: 0 <br /> Broad-winged Hawk: 0 <br /> Swainson's Hawk: 0 <br /> Red-tailed Hawk: 17 <br /> Ferruginous Hawk: 0 <br /> Rough-legged Hawk: 0 <br /> Golden Eagle: 0 <br /> American Kestrel: 3 <br /> Merlin: 0 <br /> Peregrine Falcon: 0 <br /> Prairie Falcon: 0 <br /> <br /> Unidentified... <br /> Accipiter: 0 <br /> Buteo: 2 <br /> Eagle: 0 <br /> Falcon: 0 <br /> Raptor: 0 GGRO hydromatic-ggro-20090825 2009-08-25T16:00:00.000-07:00 2009-08-25T16:00:00.000-07:00 The day started out foggy, but looked like it might clear up soon, so after a morning meeting we headed up to the Hill. We arrived in fog, but walked up all the same, only to face more fog. It occasionally started to clear, but seemed to always end up foggier than before. Tired of the fog, we headed to the Annex to see some birds – mostly a few Red-tails and Turkey Vultures, although we had one Peregrine sighting! Eventually we did have to conclude that the fog was not going to lift, and ended our day around 1 pm.<br /> <br /> Total Sightings: 0 <br /> Hours Counted: 0 <br /> HPH: 0 <br /> Total Species: 0 <br /> Robyn hydromatic-ggro-20090824 2009-08-24T16:00:00.000-07:00 2009-08-24T16:00:00.000-07:00 The Monday 2 Hawkwatch team braved the fog and wind this morning in order to squeeze in an hour and 45 minutes of observation. Unfortunately they were forced to come down early due to fog-out at 1 pm. What did they report as their most exciting moment? A banana slug on the road up to Hawk Hill! Understandably they then had to relocate said slug to the vegetation off of the road. The slug was first sighted by Suzanne, a UCSC alum. Coincidence? I think not. <br /> <br /> Total Sightings: 18 <br /> HPH: 10.29 <br /> Total Species: 2 <br /> <br /> Species Counts:<br /> Turkey Vulture: 12 <br /> Osprey: 0 <br /> White-tailed Kite: 0 <br /> Bald Eagle: 0 <br /> Northern Harrier: 0 <br /> Sharp-shinned Hawk: 0 <br /> Cooper's Hawk: 0 <br /> Northern Goshawk: 0 <br /> Red-shouldered Hawk: 0 <br /> Broad-winged Hawk: 0 <br /> Swainson's Hawk: 0 <br /> Red-tailed Hawk: 6 <br /> Ferruginous Hawk: 0 <br /> Rough-legged Hawk: 0 <br /> Golden Eagle: 0 <br /> American Kestrel: 0 <br /> Merlin: 0 <br /> Peregrine Falcon: 0 <br /> Prairie Falcon: 0 <br /> <br /> Unidentified... <br /> Accipiter: 0 <br /> Buteo: 0 <br /> Eagle: 0 <br /> Falcon: 0 <br /> Raptor: 0 ZEK hydromatic-ggro-20090823 2009-08-23T16:00:00.000-07:00 2009-08-23T16:00:00.000-07:00 Hooray! Though the morning began in a foggy way, the clouds eventually parted over Hawk Hill and we were able to Hawkwatch from 11:30am -3:30pm today. Maximum visibility hung at around 2 miles for the duration of our stay. We bundled up and hunkered down for a slow but exciting early-season view of the flyway. A juvenile Northern Harrier and Cooper's Hawks was probably the best looks of the day. But try as we may, our other raptor-ing successes could best be described as okay (as the numbers below will display). But hey, we love being out in the headlands anyway! Yay.<br /> <br /> Total Sightings: 83<br /> HPH: 20.75<br /> Total Species: 6<br /> <br /> Species Counts:<br /> Turkey Vulture: 55<br /> Osprey: 0<br /> White-tailed Kite: 0<br /> Bald Eagle: 0<br /> Northern Harrier: 1<br /> Sharp-shinned Hawk: 0<br /> Cooper's Hawk: 3<br /> Northern Goshawk: 0<br /> Red-shouldered Hawk: 0<br /> Broad-winged Hawk: 0<br /> Swainson's Hawk: 0<br /> Red-tailed Hawk: 18<br /> Ferruginous Hawk: 0<br /> Rough-legged Hawk: 0<br /> Golden Eagle: 0<br /> American Kestrel: 2<br /> Merlin: 0<br /> Peregrine Falcon: 1<br /> Prairie Falcon: 0 <br /> <br /> Unidentified... <br /> Accipiter: 0<br /> Buteo: 1<br /> Eagle: 0<br /> Falcon: 2<br /> Raptor: 0 ZEK hydromatic-ggro-20090822 2009-08-22T16:00:00.000-07:00 2009-08-22T16:00:00.000-07:00 Fogged out again. Bummer. It was too foggy to see anything from the Annex so we went down to the lagoon. Our day leader put us through Scoping 101 and simulated a hawkwatch so that the apprentices could familiarize themselves with the data sheet. We saw turkey vultures, red-tails, an osprey, a male kestrel, and an adult red-shoulder.<br /> <br /> Total Sightings: 0 <br /> HPH: 0 <br /> Total Species: 0 GGRO hydromatic-ggro-20090820 2009-08-20T16:00:00.000-07:00 2009-08-20T16:00:00.000-07:00 FIRST DAY ON THE HILL! FIRST DAY ON THE HILL! YAY! When we arrived for our morning meeting today we were pleased to see that the fog had finally lifted and Hawk Hill was visible. While it was overcast with NW winds for most of the day we did see some sunshine in the afternoon. In our full 5 1/2 hour day we managed to count 189 raptors. That amounted to 33.82 hawks/hr. Our most exciting sightings included, but were not limited to: a triple fly-by of an adult peregrine falcon, 2 dark morph juvie red-tails, 2 Ospreys, and a strafing by a female kestrel on a mission. We hope tomorrow's crew will be blessed with good weather and see many, many raptors. <br /> <br /> Total Sightings: 189<br /> HPH: 33.82 <br /> Total species: 8 <br /> <br /> SPECIES COUNTS: <br /> Turkey Vulture: 121 <br /> Osprey: 2 <br /> White-tailed Kite: 0 <br /> Bald Eagle: 0 <br /> Northern Harrier: 0 <br /> Sharp-shinned Hawk: 2 <br /> Cooper's Hawk: 1 <br /> Northern Goshawk: 0 <br /> Red-shouldered Hawk: 2 <br /> Broad-winged Hawk: 0<br /> Swainson's Hawk: 0 <br /> Red-tailed Hawk: 49 <br /> Ferruginous Hawk: 0 <br /> Rough-legged Hawk: 0 <br /> Golden Eagle: 0<br /> American Kestrel: 2 <br /> Merlin: 0 <br /> Peregrine Falcon: 3<br /> Prairie Falcon: 0<br /> <br /> UNIDENTIFIED... <br /> Accipiter: 2<br /> Buteo: 0<br /> Eagle: 0 <br /> Falcon: 0 <br /> Raptor: 2 GGRO hydromatic-ggro-20090819 2009-08-19T16:00:00.000-07:00 2009-08-19T16:00:00.000-07:00 Fog fog go away! The "hawkwatchers" took a walk around the lagoon and saw some otters, but Hawk Hill never cleared...<br /> <br /> Total Sightings: 0 <br/>Hours Counted: 0 <br/>HPH: 0 <br/>Total Species: 0 GGRO hydromatic-ggro-20090818 2009-08-18T16:00:00.000-07:00 2009-08-18T16:00:00.000-07:00 Fogged out again! The team took a walk to the new Marine Mammal Center and ate lunch at the Annex before calling it a day.<br/> <br/> Total Sightings: 0 <br/>Hours Counted: 0 <br/>HPH: 0 <br/>Total Species: 0 GGRO hydromatic-ggro-20090817 2009-08-17T16:00:00.000-07:00 2009-08-17T16:00:00.000-07:00 Fogwatch only for the first day of the season. The team was unable to go up and count hawks due to heavy fog. Better luck to the Tuesday 1crew!<br/> <br/> Total Sightings: 0 <br/>Hours Counted: 0 <br/>HPH: 0 <br/>Total Species: 0 <br/> Julian Hyde hydromatic-ggro-20090811 2009-08-10T16:00:00.000-07:00 2009-08-10T16:00:00.000-07:00 One week to go until the start of Hawkwatch 2009. Watch this space for daily hawkwatch updates! Julian Hyde