Hawk Watching and Owl Banding this Past Weekend

Another successful and bird-filled weekend down in Bedford County, PA. I hawk watched with Cory Ritter Friday afternoon, Saturday, and Sunday; and we owl banded Saturday and Sunday nights. The raptor flight this weekend was dominated by Turkey Vultures and Red-tailed Hawks, but Cooper's Hawk were also fairly abundant. Some raptor highlights of the weekend were one adult Red-shouldered Hawk, and two adult Bald Eagles flying together on Saturday. An aerial dogfight between an adult and a juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk was also nice to see since they were so close to where we were haw watching from.

Red-tailed Hawk (adult)

Cooper's Hawk (juvenile)

Bald Eagles (adult male and female)

Osprey (adult)

The local Black Vultures at one of the hawk watching sites.
Another abundant migrant of the weekend were American Ladies (like this one). Monarchs were the most common butterfly migrants passing hawk watches a few weeks ago, but it seems they all passed through so now its the American Lady's turn.

Saturday night we attempted to capture and band Norther Saw-whet Owls at the Allegheny Fron Hawk Watch, but the widn was too strong and we closed up the nets early. Another attempt Sunday night was more successful. By the time I had to leave at midnight we had captured 4 owls, 3 hatch years and one after second year. Dave Darney and Kim Van Fleet continued through till dawn and managed to net 16 owls total! The next couple weekends should be filled with Saw-whets assuming the info I am getting from other banding stations holds up.

Hatch year Northern Saw-whet Owl (cell phone pic)