Hello once again from the Montclair Hawkwatch! With the end of another month here at Montclair, it’s great to reminisce on the past and discuss what’s in store for the month to come.
October is a time of transition for raptor migration in the East. As temperatures slowly drop and the leaves follow, we also see a marked transition in what raptor species are passing by the Hawkwatch. Numbers of Broad-winged Hawks, traditionally our most numerous migratory species, drop off in the last week of September, and we were never fortunate enough to have another Broad-winged Hawk pass by in October. Along with the Broad-wings, Sharp-shinned Hawk numbers begin to slow during this month (although they can still be seen flying throughout the whole season), and the same goes for species like American Kestrels and Ospreys.
However, a number of species begin to take their place: this October, we saw Cooper’s Hawks moving in almost equal numbers to “sharpies,” and groups of Turkey Vultures began to make their migratory flights by October 7th. The largest TUVU movement came October 25th, when volunteers from the Montclair Bird Club counted 268 Turkey Vultures over the course of the day. It’s a fantastic phenomenon to get to watch groups of Vultures kettling the same as Broad-wings do, even if they’re also one of our most common local birds. Flights of both Turkey and Black vultures should continue throughout November, and we’re glad to have them to boost our count numbers.
October also brought the first decent flights of species we’d been waiting for with bated breath: Red-shouldered Hawks, Red-tailed Hawks, and Peregrine Falcons began to move in the second half of October, complimenting the handful of them we’d had earlier in the season. A series of particularly gusty and dreary days always brought the promise of a powerful Peregrine pushing southwest, and even rarer birds: Our first Golden Eagle of the season flew high and slow in gusting winds, nearly out of sight, on October 24th. We hoped there were more to come– and November has provided at least one more Golden Eagle so far, but we’ll discuss that more at the end of this month.
Beyond raptors, October has also been a fantastic month of transition for other migratory bird species. We began the month with a few different species of warblers still present, but as the month drew, they moved out and in moved a large number of other species, particularly finches. Purple finches were almost the highlight bird of October, with our largest recorded flight of the season so far on October 24th, with 82 birds. A few Pine Siskins have joined them, but we’re hoping for even more exemplary finches this November; we hear rumbles of great movements of Redpolls, grosbeaks, and others up north. Only time will tell if the onset of winter will bring some of these rarer finches down to us (and who knows what raptors they might bring!)
All in all, October was a great month for the Montclair Hawkwatch, with a great diversity of migratory species from beginning to end, and a few brutally windy days to keep us on our toes. We’ll keep our eyes to the sky this November and hope to round out the season with a few more great days.
– Peter Roy
Broad-winged Hawk (BWHA) by Martina Nordstrand
Turkey Vulture (TUVU) by Tom Reed
