For the records, our August 31st Jenner Hawkwatch 2024 Orientation event (event was held 8.31.24)

 

8.31.2024 Saturday 

(Tomorrow) Pre-Orientation Jenner date / 9:15am JVC, 9:30am up to the gate... up on the hill by 10am. Larry B will be at JVC (Jenner Visitor Center) At 9:15, and we'll head up to the Hawkwatch at 9:30am sharp. We'll be checking on annual permissions, waivers, gate codes, gates parking, etc.... My goal is to be on the hill from 10am to Noon, but weather and sightings could make us go earlier or stay longer, we are VERY fixable on this first day of 2024 season. 

Corby Hines our new Ranger will be there too...

 Call Larry at 707-791-0335 for questions   

8.31.24

TUVU 20, SSHA 1, RTHA 2, AMKE 1, Undoc Accip. 1

Fogged out

Bill Perry, Chris Richmond, Steve Corey, Sarah Reid, Larry Broderick

All images, photos, references, for educational and non profit use only, all copyrights to original author, photographers and agencies. 

Broad-winged Hawks on the West Coast migration 9-26-2021.... Jenner Headlands Preserve Raptor Migration Hike ~ 10am to 2pm

9.26.2021 Jenner Headlands Preserve

6 Broad-winged Hawks comprised of;

2 Adult light morphs, 

1 Adult dark morph, 

3 Juveniles

(see photo references below)

So WE did a thing yesterday.. 9-26-2021....

During a TWC Raptor Migration Hike / Count event; the hike pretty much just ended up a Point Count... 

WE set up on the Upper "Raptor Ridge" trail, below the upper trees to the north east, on that bluff over looking the "football field" as it was windy down along the coastal prairie and overlook... We sat / stood in awe and watched the parade of Accipiter's and Broad-winged Hawks..

The shear fact we had both Dark and Light Morph Adults accentuated the experience, and add in the Juvenile birds and the BWHA workshop was complete.... 

Fantastic experience for the group and great memories for many who got a life bird on this special day.

(photos below of the Broad-winged's are from professional photographers, these photos are indicative of what we saw, but not the actual birds we saw, using them as reference and educational use only)

Juvenile Broad-winged Hawk, Ron LeValley 

Juvenile Broad-winged Hawk, the one and only Don Bartling photography 

Adult Broad-winged Hawk, David Brown photo 

Dark Morph Broad-winged Hawk, Tony Leukering photo credit 

Luckily the whole group was able to get onto {thanks TWC and WCHW} for suppling some extra binocs so everyone could enjoy these highly migratory, small, compact Buteo's. 

This day ties, and possibly breaks the earlier record up at Jenner for BWHA's.

A lot of the plans for Jenner Hawk Migration monitoring were conceived by Dan Nelson's records of Hawk Migrations on of Bay Hill road in the 1990s and early 2000s and documented in his Madrone Audubon sightings as well as Jesse House who also was instrumental in some of those early west counties surveys....

Lucky to be able to get up there and count these hawks, thankful for all the volunteers, counters, spotters and ultimately the day leaders.

Keep up the great work .. 

Also on this day of 9.26.2021: 

19 Coopers Hawks 

8 Sharp-shinned Hawks 

36 Red-tailed Hawks [3 were juv]

23 American Kestrels 

4 Northern Harriers 

21 Turkey Vultures

Adult Red-tailed Hawk Jenner

Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk, all rights original photographer. 

Sharp-shinned Hawk Jenner

Coopers Hawks tussling Jenner

Coopers Hawks Jenner

Sharp-shinned Hawk Jenner

Cooper's Hawk Don Bartling...

Juvenile Harrier Jenner 

Two birds below for reference only.... from the web, male harrier and juvenile harrier 

male^ 

juv^

Northern Harriers above, juv, female, male ... ^

Female Kestrel for reference only 

Male Kestrel for refence only 

LB, Jenner Headlands Hawkwatch Project 

Thank you The Wildlands Conservancy, Sonoma Land Trust, Hawkwatch International and North American Hawk Migration Association... 

#hawkwatch 

@HawkWatchInternational 

#WestCoastHawkWatchGroup 

@hawkwatch

#hawkmigration

northcoastraptor@gmail.com
Jenner Headlands Preserve
Raptor migration hike, Sunday 9-26-2021, 10am to 3pm
Go to link:
https://wildlandsconservancy.org/preserves/jennerheadlands/publicprograms

2021 season dates coming! Tolay Lake Regional Park, Lynch Canyon Open Space, Jenner Headlands Preserve, Estero Americano Coastal Preserve...

 Stay tuned, dates coming for West County Hawkwatch 2021/2022 season !

2021 season dates coming!  

Tolay Lake Regional Park, 

Lynch Canyon Open Space, 

Jenner Headlands Preserve, 

Estero Americano Coastal Preserve... 

Will update soon! 

great information on Accipiter's. (tools for your tool kit) Wing Tips: Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks

Wing Tips: Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks: 

^ click link above for more helpful information 

The Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus) and Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) are two closely related birds of prey, and pose an identification challenge that some ornithologists used to consider unsolvable.

These two species belong to the genus Accipiter, which contains about 50 other species worldwide. Only one other accipiter, the Northern Goshawk, is found in the USA and Canada. Accipiters' short, rounded wings and long tails are well-adapted for maneuvers in forested habitats.

In today's post we'll discuss how to differentiate this duo while perched; many of these traits can be used for in-flight ID as well. One of the most important themes in this post is that no field mark is reliable on its own. Thus, let a majority of traits lead you to an identification. If there's no majority, it's better to be uncertain than inaccurate!

(all information is copyrighted to Wring-Tips)

This blog shares strategies to identify North American bird species, especially those found in the northeastern US.

Other topics include bird conservation trials and triumphs, general birding tips, and spotlights on avian life histories.
Wing Tips is written by Tessa Rhinehart.
---
Cover image: "Wandering Tattler" by Jason Crotty / licensed under CC BY 2.0
The name "Wing Tips" was inspired by Marc Radell, who came up with the phrase during a discussion about identifying broad-winged hawks in flight. Thanks, Marc!

An Inside Look: Raptor Migration

Join bird experts and trained hawkwatchers from Audubon Connecticut, Bedford Audubon Society, and Braddock Bay Raptor Research (plus a special guest appearance by a feathered friend) to learn how to identify raptors in flight, get information on participating in a "hawkwatch" to help scientists gather data, and discover some of the best viewing spots for fall migration.

Lynch Canyon 11-1-2020 _ Lynch Canyon Open Space Raptor Tour _ [West County Hawkwatch]

follow up on Lynch Canyon

Lynch Canyon 11-1-2020  _ Lynch Canyon Open Space Raptor Tour _  [West County Hawkwatch]

(all photos copyright to original photographers, use here for non profit and educational purposes only, photos here shown from WCHW photo pool and not of actual birds from the day, rather just references to help those learning, what we saw and how to tell what they are)

Lots of Red-tailed Hawks, most adult a few juvenile.

below is some Red-tailed Hawk photos, details under photos 

   Adult Red-tailed Hawk, dark hood, dark leading edge of wing, brick red tail, buteo form. 

(above) Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk, bird has two tone brown and tan look, note barred tail  

Adult bird, good belly band, dark leading edge on wing, dark hood, brick red tail 

 

 

Juvenile bird, barred tail, with good belly band, dark hood, and dark leading edge on wing (patagial)

Adult bird, good belly band, dark leading edge on wing (patagial), dark hood, brick red tail

 

 

Adult bird, faint belly band, dark leading edge on wing, dark hood, brick red tail 

 

 Photo on right shows "scapular 'V' " the pattern of tan fathers on the birds middle to upper back 

^ Above Red-tailed Hawk details on age and morphs...

Different age and morphs of red-tailed hawks (above)

 We also saw quite a few American Kestrels[below]

 

 

American Kestrel, [male from female difference] Male on left, female on right 

 American Kestrels, male on left, female on right 

 American Kestrels, Female on left, Male on right 

American Kestrel Range amp above ^

We also saw lots of Harriers. (Northern Harrier)

[Male] below

 Male Northern Harrier 

 

 

         Female Northern Harrier 

 

 

                             range map Northern Harrier  

                                          Age and male/female Northern Harrier 

 

We had some views of a Burrowing Owl, lucky to get both in flight views and a perch view.  

      

 

  Golden Eagle hunting Burrowing Owl (just a visual to show the protection to burrows offer)

Good chance some of the burrows we had passed had owls or badgers in them 
Above photos Burrowing Owls, true to their form they love burrows.....  

 

All day long we had Turkey Vultures  

wings held at a dihedral or swallow V and primary feathers at the tips of the wings "fingered out" and small non bird of prey like head, more of a scavenger head.... 

We also had good looks at Golden Eagles, 2 adults and a juvenile

Adult Golden Eagle above

Sub adult Golden Eagles (above, notice white base of tail)

Hey! look whos on the WCHW logo! (Adult Golden Eagle)

So on the drawing above we have Golden Eagles right is adult, middle is sub adult and left is juvenile, aka first year bird.

We also saw White-tailed Kites. 

 ... and to finish out the day we had a Sharp-shinned Hawk. (Below) small woodland hawk, in the accipiter group, short winged, head doesn't get to far past wrists, usually shows a squared off tail. 

Book we mentioned that goes into detail on all these above raptors and highly recommend for the next step in Raptor ID if you are going to take it 

Its got three different covers here are the two most popular covers.

Please check out Facebook page, like and if possible recommend us based on your days experience: on Facebook  www.facebook.com/WestCountyHawkWatch

Check the website for upcoming events: official Web page www.westcountyhawkwatch.com 

And here on this page we post reports from past events, like the event we had at described above: on Google Blogger  http://westcountyhawkwatch.blogspot.com 

thanks for coming out, it was a fun day, Larry Broderick