Good early April hawk flight

A pretty good early April hawk flight was seen at Sandy Hook today, with good overall variety and a particular strong showing of American Kestrel. Several Red-shouldered Hawks, including at least two adults (one of which is pictured above), were noted, although none were seen leaving the Hook. That's good news for those of my readers who want to see Red-shouldered Hawks but weren't able to make it to Sandy Hook today.

The falcons of course did not linger. Most of the falcon flight was made up of American Kestrels, but there were a few Merlins also and even a Peregrine Falcon.

Last year, the peak flight of American Kestrel occurred on April 6, back then with 85. Today, exactly a year later, I got to 67 kestrels. Last year, I had a small wave of first migrant Merlins also around this time, with 13 on the 6th, 8 on the 7th and 21 on the 8th. That was 42 Merlins in three days - a wave that, curiously, no other hawk watch recorded. This year, I had 13 Merlins on the 4th, none during the 2 hours of counting on the 5th, and then today just 3. It will be interesting to see if this wave of kestrels is followed by a smaller wave of Merlins in the days ahead…

Browse last year's Merlin posts here.

Back on the Hook

Today I started the migration watch on Sandy Hook (New Jersey), which runs between mid-March and mid-May. Sunny skies and light westerly winds made for pleasant hawk watching, even though the numbers at point in the season remain modest. Turkey Vulture was the most numerous migrant (26), followed by Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks (5 of each), Northern Harrier (4), Red-shouldered Hawk (3) and Red-tailed Hawk (1).

This immature Red-shouldered Hawk came in low for a few shots.

An early migrant this species, most of the adults will likely have passed already.

Started on Sandy Hook

This week I started the migration watch on Sandy Hook, NJ. I did this count two years ago, when I exposed myself to what seems in retrospect to have been two months of rain and cold with biting east winds coming right off the Atlantic, and long stretches with no birds. Already I feel like this year is going to be different, because today, on what's only the third day of the count, I was able to be on the platform in T-shirt. And there were even some birds to be seen, like this rather pale Red-tailed Hawk.

Best bird today was this immature Bald Eagle. These days a fairly common sight at many hawk watches, but for the Hook still a pretty good bird. Seasonal totals here run between 10 and 20 for this species.

Accipiters (like this Cooper's Hawk) are more numerous at this site.

This is the time for Red-shouldered Hawks to migrate through. Sandy Hook being a peninsular site, many buteos of course don't make the crossing. Today I did see a few going high enough for a serious attempt.

Interesting non-hawks this week included an Iceland Gull on the North Beach and an immature male Common Eider on the bay side, across from the bird observatory's office. Northern Gannets are curiously absent.