Some local birders spent a day watching hawks at Conneaut
- Bruce Glick: Gone Birding
- May 6, 2018
- 2018
The weather finally cooperated enough to convince a group of birders from Wayne and Holmes counties to head up to Conneaut for the first time this year.
Conneaut is located on the shores of Lake Erie, just a mile or two from the Pennsylvania line. I made the long drive from Indiana, partly to see hawks but also to spend a day with friends that I don’t get to see very often.
This year there is an official raptor watch at Conneaut during the spring hawk migration season. Tom Wasilewski is the counter, and he was delighted to have a group of avid hawk watchers to help find and count raptors for a day.
The morning started out much as expected for a spring watch. Around 8 a.m. we saw the first sharp-shinned hawks working their way northeast, often quite close to Lake Erie. Then there was a lone northern harrier and an osprey.
For the day we ended up with nine harriers and five ospreys. As the air warmed, the first broad-winged hawks appeared over the woods to our west and then glided overhead, powered by the wind.
There was excitement as a merlin and then a peregrine falcon moved quickly by. The clear blue sky was already making it hard to see the hawks. A partly cloudy day is perfect for locating high-flying hawks, but there were almost no clouds.
Sharp-shinned hawks continued to trickle through with a total of 162 by late afternoon when the last birders left. There also were a few Cooper’s hawks, but the best find of the day was a juvenile northern goshawk that thankfully gave us enough time to see all the field marks for this rare bird. We haven’t seen many goshawks over the years, and this was late in the season.
Although there were a few groups of broad-wings during the day, we never had the big “kettles” that hawk watchers dream about. Still, the total of 269 was good, especially given that we rarely are still counting broad-wings in early May.
The peak migration dates are usually one to two weeks earlier. Turkey vultures were still coming through with a total of 158 for the day. Vulture migration peaks around the end of March.
Other late migrants included one rough-legged hawk and one red-shouldered hawk. Bald eagles were seen off and on during the day including nine migrants and several pairs that nest in the Conneaut area.
Because there wasn’t always a lot of raptor action, some of us walked around the area, looking for other birds. The prize was a cooperative American bittern, although it managed to make itself look very much like the surrounding vegetation.
Everybody had good looks, something that doesn’t happen every year. At least 50 species of birds were identified during the day including a number of first finds for the year. Small flocks of cormorants came over, several loons beat their way north and two bobolinks showed up.
I am sure we all enjoyed the day. The morning after I returned home, May 2, was a memorable day, full of returning warblers, thrushes, orioles, flycatchers, vireos, hummingbirds and more. Finally.
Good birding!
Bruce Glick can be reached at birderbruce@yahoo.com or 330-317-7798.