Embedded Files
Swallow-tailed Kite
Elanoides forficatusSwallow-tailed Kite
Some rarities show up out of nowhere, wandering birds that turn up without rhyme or reason when least expected. A Painted Redstart in Dansville in the middle of winter, for example. Or a Mottled Petrel running through an old cornfield near Mt. Morris – but nowhere near a ocean. Others are anticipated by knowledgeable birders who know that, under the right conditions, at the right time of year, there’s no reason why certain species rarely or never seen here shouldn’t turn up. Consider, for example, the conversation on the hawkwatch platform at Braddock Bay on 30 May 1987. The setup was perfect. Two high pressure systems were pumping in hot, humid air from the tropics. Mike Davids, Dick Mather, Jeff Dodge and Frank Nicoletti knew it was a great day for a kite. “It’s all we talked about,” Dodge related. “We just have to get a Swallow-tailed.” “Maybe even a White-tailed.” A little past 11 a.m., Nicoletti jumped off his seat. “He was so excited, he literally could not speak.”And there it was. A Swallow-tailed Kite. (GOS, August/September 1987).
Background
These unmistakable, graceful birds, normally found from Louisiana through South Carolina, hawk insects in midair or pluck them from treetops (Sibley, p. 111). They also wander. It is hard to mistake this incredibly graceful aerialist for any other bird. As these birds course low over treetops, twisting and diving in search of insects, they rarely flap their wings “but almost continuously rotate their tail, often to nearly 90 degrees, in order to hold a heading, turn abruptly, or trace tight circles while drifting across the sky,” notes Kenneth D. Meyer in his profile of this species for The Birds of North America series. This is primarily a bird of the extreme southeastern U.S. and Central and South America, inhabiting swamps and lowland forests, and both fresh and brackish marshes, where several pairs may nest in close proximity. This species once ranged throughout the Mississippi River valley and its tributaries, as far north as Minnesota, but declined drastically from 1880 to 1940, in part because of agricultural development and logging of bottomland forests, but also because of “direct human persecution (shooting) of a conspicuous, notoriously unwary bird.” U.S. population estimated at no more than 3,200 to 4,600 individuals at the end of the breeding season. (BNA 138: 1-4, 15)
Status
Occasional, very rare visitant.
Occurrence
1.Nicoletti’s bird on 30 May 1987 at Braddock Bay (KB 37:147). Accepted by NYSARC. (KB 38: 229) 2.An immature on 3 August 1994 (D. Tetlow) at Braddock Bay viewed “for about five minutes as it worked along the lakeshore.” (KB 44:302) 3.Two on 20 or 23 August 2004 at Hogan Point (KB 54:333; LG, October 2004). As reported in the Kingbird’s Region 2 summary, the pair was first spotted by a resident in the Town of Murray. Dave Tetlow, alerted to the sighting, “then had a naked-eye sight observation out his window of a bird that was more than likely one of the two, followed shortly by a point-blank single bird flying low over a neighbor’s house on Hogan Point. The site was about 15 miles NE of the original sighting.” 4.One on 4 August 2007 (Niven) at Hogan Point. (LG, October 2007) Misc: David Butler observed an adult near Dansville while fishing on 25 April 1986 (KB 36:148; Fox, p. 109). It was included in the Region 2 Kingbird report, but according to Frank Dobson, Butler was fishing at the Dansville Reservoir, south of the village and just over the county line in Steuben County when he saw the bird circling over the water. That would place it just outside Region 2. (Birds, 15 June 1986) Fox also notes the bird may have been just outside the region at a reservoir in Steuben County. Butler described the kite as a large bird with a distinctive forked tail that looked like an “open hedge-trimming shears.” Even with the naked eye, Butler could see a white head and some white on the forward edge of the wings.
Mississippi Kite
Ictinia mississippiensis The 21st of April was a big day during the 1985 Braddock Bay Hawkwatch. 11,207 Broad-winged Hawks were tallied. But that wasn’t all that was flying that day. An adult Mississippi Kite was spotted by Richard Mather, Jeff Dodge and other hawk watchers familiar with the species, at the Bailey Road observation point in Parma. At 2:22 p.m. to be exact. (GOS, June 1985) Interestingly, the day before Mather recorded the Bailey Road bird, an adult had been reported at Machias, Cattaraugus County, about 65 miles southwest of Rochester, at about 9 a.m., catching insects over a marsh. “If ever there was a day made for a Mississippi Kite appearance, it was this past June 7,” Frank Dobson reported after another of these birds was spotted here in 1989 (Birds, 25 June 1989). “There was a great flurry of dragonfly activity, the largest (Frank) Nicoletti had noticed all spring. And before the day had progressed too far, there it was, a sub-adult kite, undoubtedly lured by an abundance of dragonflies.”Mississippi Kite
Background
This “sleek, acrobatic” raptor seems to be adapting well to human encroachment. Within the Great Plains portion of its breeding range, it can be found roosting and nesting in city parks, residential areas and golf courses. This has brought this species into conflict with humans when it dives at people near its nests. This species expanded into this part of its range (and continues to increase) after the planting of millions of trees as shelterbelts by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the 1930s and 40s. Farther east, along the Mississippi and in the Deep South, it less abundant and still nests primarily in old-growth forest, often near streams, notes James Parker in his profile of this species for The Birds of North America series. Whether hunting from a perch or on the wing, this is a conspicuous raptor, with foraging flocks of 25 or more not unusual. The 186,000 that passed by Veracruz, Mexico, en route to South American wintering grounds August-November 1998 may have represented 75-95 percent of entire North American breeding population. (BNA 402: 1-3, 18)
Local history
Three years before the sighting of the bird at Bailey Road, the “exciting news of the week” occurred when one of these southern birds flew over the west spit of Braddock Bay and the Elmheart Hotel around noon on 7 May 1982, John Brown reported in his Birds Afield column (BA, 13 May 1982). It was identified as an immature Mississippi Kite by Bill Symonds and Dick Mather. The identification probably would be accepted only as a hypothetical record, Brown noted, “since the bird was under observation for only a short time as it flew by overhead.” Status
Irregular, very rare spring visitant and casual, very rare fall visitant.
Occurrence
Since 1985, single birds have been spotted in the Braddock Bay area by the Hawkwatch or other observers on average every other year, usually late May to early June. Best years were 1990 and 1996, with three sightings in each, and 2004, with two in August. 1. An adult 21 April 1985 (Mather, Dodge, mob) at Parma, first regional record. (KB 35:187) Not accepted by NYSARC. (KB 37: 203) 2. A subadult 1 June 1986 (Nicoletti) Braddock Bay. (KB 36:218) Accepted by NYSARC. (KB 37: 205) 3. A subadult 22 May 1987 (Nicoletti, mob) Braddock Bay. (KB 37:147; GNR) Accepted by NYSARC. (KB 38: 229) 4. An immature 7 June 1989 (Nicoletti) Braddock Bay. (KB 39:226) 5. Three sightings of immatures 15, 22 and 24 May 1990 (Nicoletti) Braddock Bay. (KB 40:176, 178) 8. One 14-20 May 1991 (Dodge, mob) Braddock Bay. (KB 41:183) 9. One 31 May 1994 (Liquori) Braddock Bay. (KB 44:205) 10. Three sightings 19, 20 May (?) and 1-3 June 1996 (O’Hara, Lanzone) Braddock Bay. (KB 46:233, 333) 13. One 6 June 1999 (D. Tetlow, Davids) Braddock Bay. (KB 49:330) 14. A subadult 30 June 2001 (D. Tetlow) Braddock Bay. (KB 51:784) 15. One immature 30 May 2002 (Guerard) Braddock Bay. (KB 52:242) It was seen at 3:45 p.m. “kettling with a Red-tailed Hawk and a group of Broad-winged Hawks,” Jason Guerard reported. (Inside the Kettle, 3/2:5) “The bird was unmistakable when compared in size to the Red-tailed Hawk nearby, pointed wings and stiff deep flap. The bird was observed for about five minutes until it soared up and out of sight in the haze.” Accepted by NYSARC. (KB 54: 289-290) 16. One immature 23 August 2004 (D. Tetlow) Braddock Bay. (KB 54:335)) 17. One immature 27 August 2004 (D. Tetlow) Parma. (KB 54:335) 18. One immature 16 June 2005 (D. Tetlow) Braddock Bay. (KB 55:362) 19. One immature 6 July 2006 (D. Tetlow) Braddock Bay. (KB 56:338)
Golden Eagle*
Aquila chrysaetosGolden Eagle*
In November 1970, a huge dark bird glided into a marsh in Savannah, Wayne County – right in front of a group of startled duck hunters – and was unable to take off again. It was a Golden Eagle. It was taken to the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology where it was treated for starvation. Dr. James Tate surmised that the bird, an immature, had wandered here from the west and “in unfamiliar habitat the bird was unable to get enough food to get along and gradually became weaker and weaker,” John Brown reported. (BA, 27 November 1970) This story had a happy ending. Walter and Sally Spofford, research collaborators at the lab, fed the eagle “about two pounds of steak and a chicken each day,” Brown related. In midwinter it was ready to be released. Realizing it had only a small chance of surviving an upstate winter, the Spoffords drove to the Pisgah National Forest near Asheville, N.C., to release the bird – leaving a few pounds of steak for good measure. (BA, 25 March 1971) Remarkably, this same bird, identified by its band, had to be rescued again – in November 1971 – after crashing though a wire fence at a pheasant farm near Atco, N.J. The dazed bird was transported to Brigantine National Wildlife Refuge and released. (BA, 17 February 1972)And then had to be rescued a third time – after being found grounded in a patch of briars. Federal biologists concluded that the eagle “doesn’t seem to be able to hunt effectively.” It ended up being kept in captivity at Patuxent Research Center. (BA, 24 February 1972)
Background
Rare in the eastern half of North America, this large predator is more commonly found in the west near open spaces where it hunts. It nests on cliffs from Alaska south into Mexico, and can also be found in Europe and Asia. Eastern breeding populations are found south of Hudson Bay, in northern Quebec and Labrador, and along the Gaspe Peninsula. It has persisted on this continent despite continuing persecution by trapping, shooting and poisoning, and despite the encroachment of towns, farms and wildfires on its traditional “shrub-steppe foraging habitat,” notes the profile of this species in The Birds of North America series. A single nesting territory can be 20-30 square kilometers and contain as many as 14 nests, which a pair maintains as part of their courtship. “A typical Golden Eagle raises an average of only 1 young per year and up to 15 young over its lifetime.” Long –term surveys suggest declining populations in western U.S. but not in Alaska and Canada. (BNA 684: 1-3, 26)
Local history
Eaton (1914) regarded this as an accidental visitor, with just two records from Monroe County, the latest being 25 October 1900 “when a golden eagle was captured alive in the city of Rochester, and placed in the local zoo.” (Eaton I: county charts, II: 90)Horsey, in his listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913-1936, did not indicate any occurrence of this species. In the 1940s Edson said the chances of seeing this migrant here were “very remote indeed.” (WBR, 16 September 1946) There had been only two records since that captured bird in 1900. (WBR, 28 March 1949)By 1951, however, it had been appearing “in apparently increasing numbers” the last five years. (WBR, 7 May 1951) This coincided with the first systematic counts near Braddock Bay, where seven were counted in spring 1949 (GOS, May/July 1949), including three on 17 April. (Bull, p. 190)Even so, when Leo Tanghe examined the returns from 1,665 outings by Genesee Ornithological Society members within a 50-miles radius of Rochester from 1951-1954, he found this species reported only 13 times, all during March through May. (KB 5: 69: 2A-2B)As with Bald Eagle, numbers have been increasing in recent years.
Status
Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a regular, uncommon spring transient and a casual, very rare winter visitant. Livingston County, Fox (1998) considered this a sporadic rare spring transient. Occurrence
Spring: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 12 March to 4 May, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 23 March to 22 April. Subsequently, one at Braddock Bay on 8 March 1994 (Liguori) was record early. (GOS, May 1994)In most years had departed by 20 May, with a late departure date of 8 June. Subsequently, an immature on 18 June 2006 (D. Tetlow) at Braddock Bay – the same day 17 Bald Eagles were tallied – was even later. (LG, September 2006)Jerry Ligouri, manning the hawkwatch platform for Braddock Bay Raptor Research in spring 1994, tracked a Golden Eagle coming in from the west about 11:15 a.m. on 14 April. We watch as this bird, barely clearing a close hedgerow 30 feet west of the platform, flies past. . . . I drop my binoculars to see the whole bird as it beats past. This eagle is immature . . .and the bird is so close I can see its expression. It’s working hard, with mouth open and eyes wide, but it seems hesitant. It looks at us, as if unsure it is too close.That’s the closest I’ve ever been to an eagle. It was huge,’ ” one woman exclaims. “I think that is the closest any of us has been to an eagle. (The Raptor Researcher 8/1:7)Now tallied each year at the Braddock Bay Hawkwatch. A relatively high count of 21 in April 1988 alone may have been attributable to the “great abundance of Canada Geese feeding in the cornfields along the western lakeshore. . .” All Golden Eagles seen this month were observed flushing flocks of geese in the fields along Salmon Creek in search of injured birds,” according to the Braddock Bay Raptor Research report for that period. (GOS, August/September 1988)
Other spring maxima: 4 on 9 April 1978 (Sherony, mob) Sodus Bay. (GNR)25 on 23 April 2007 (D. Tetlow) Braddock Bay, the record daily high. (LG, June 2007) 6 on 30 April 1991 (Czech) at Webster. (GOS, June 1991)
Summer: Considered extremely rare here in summer. One on 22 July 1991 in Fairport was described as “unprecedented.” (KB 41:262) A juvenile bird was observed on 18 July 1995 (Griffith) at Greece “on day with warm southeast winds.” (KB45: 291; GOS, September 1995)
Fall: Rarely reported in fall. One on 21 October 1978 (S. Taylor) was at Buck Pond. (LG, November 1978) One on 14 October 1980 (Clarridge, mob) was at Hamlin. (GOS, December 1980) An immature on 4 November 1987 (Reinhardt, Boudrie) was at Mendon Ponds Park. (LG, December 1987) Even later was one on 27-28 November 1971 (O’Hara, Doherty) at Hamlin Beach. (GOS, January 1972)
Winter: Very rare in winter. The Monroe County annotated list gives a date of 31 December 1951 – however, there is no record of this bird in the Goshawk or Kingbird. Another on 24 February 1996 (Sullivan) was at Braddock Bay. (GOS, April 1996)
Misc.
When Allen Kemnitzer saw one migrating in a northeasterly direction from the Webster Public Library in April 1967, he immediately placed a phone call to birder Warren Lloyd, whose house lay directly in the eagle’s path. “Lloyd got a very good view of the bird as it passed over.” (BA, 27 April 1967)An uneventful RBA field trip along the east lakeshore suddenly turned memorable when a “heavy, flapping, large dark bird” suddenly rose above the tree line along the southeast part of Sodus Bay on 9 April 1978. “Scopes were opened immediately and as the flat-winged bird soared against the clear blue sky we unanimously decided that it was an adult Golden Eagle,” Mike Tetlow reported. Tires squealing, the birders set off in hot pursuit, taking a speed bump at 45 miles per hour, only to see the bird disappearing as a speck on the horizon. And then two more eagles flew up from another woodlot, only to be joined by a third. For the next hour, the incredulous birders enjoyed the sight of three adult Golden Eagles perched in a nearby woodlot, and flying over the bay. An immature Bald Eagle that joined them was, at that point, icing on the cake. (LG, April 1978)“For several years a high percentage of the few Golden eagles have been seen right around noon. This has happened so often that on flight days when a group of veteran hawk watchers is gathered someone always says, “It’s nearly noon. Watch for a Golden eagle.” So when Robert Dobson spotted one at the hawkwatch in April 1969, he automatically looked at his watch. “It was just 12 o’clock,” John Brown reported. (BA, 1 May 1969)
Summer: Considered extremely rare here in summer. One on 22 July 1991 in Fairport was described as “unprecedented.” (KB 41:262) A juvenile bird was observed on 18 July 1995 (Griffith) at Greece “on day with warm southeast winds.” (KB45: 291; GOS, September 1995)
Fall: Rarely reported in fall. One on 21 October 1978 (S. Taylor) was at Buck Pond. (LG, November 1978) One on 14 October 1980 (Clarridge, mob) was at Hamlin. (GOS, December 1980) An immature on 4 November 1987 (Reinhardt, Boudrie) was at Mendon Ponds Park. (LG, December 1987) Even later was one on 27-28 November 1971 (O’Hara, Doherty) at Hamlin Beach. (GOS, January 1972)
Winter: Very rare in winter. The Monroe County annotated list gives a date of 31 December 1951 – however, there is no record of this bird in the Goshawk or Kingbird. Another on 24 February 1996 (Sullivan) was at Braddock Bay. (GOS, April 1996)
Misc.
When Allen Kemnitzer saw one migrating in a northeasterly direction from the Webster Public Library in April 1967, he immediately placed a phone call to birder Warren Lloyd, whose house lay directly in the eagle’s path. “Lloyd got a very good view of the bird as it passed over.” (BA, 27 April 1967)An uneventful RBA field trip along the east lakeshore suddenly turned memorable when a “heavy, flapping, large dark bird” suddenly rose above the tree line along the southeast part of Sodus Bay on 9 April 1978. “Scopes were opened immediately and as the flat-winged bird soared against the clear blue sky we unanimously decided that it was an adult Golden Eagle,” Mike Tetlow reported. Tires squealing, the birders set off in hot pursuit, taking a speed bump at 45 miles per hour, only to see the bird disappearing as a speck on the horizon. And then two more eagles flew up from another woodlot, only to be joined by a third. For the next hour, the incredulous birders enjoyed the sight of three adult Golden Eagles perched in a nearby woodlot, and flying over the bay. An immature Bald Eagle that joined them was, at that point, icing on the cake. (LG, April 1978)“For several years a high percentage of the few Golden eagles have been seen right around noon. This has happened so often that on flight days when a group of veteran hawk watchers is gathered someone always says, “It’s nearly noon. Watch for a Golden eagle.” So when Robert Dobson spotted one at the hawkwatch in April 1969, he automatically looked at his watch. “It was just 12 o’clock,” John Brown reported. (BA, 1 May 1969)
Bald Eagle**
Haliaeetus leucocephalus Mike Allen was frankly skeptical when Harlan Brody of The Friends of Irondequoit Bay called in April 2007 to report that a pair of Bald Eagles had built a nest near the south end of that body of water. Allen, a wildlife technician with the state DEC, has been directly involved in the Bald Eagle restoration program in New York since its inception in 1975. He has personally helped document the incredible recovery of this species, far beyond anyone’s expectations. But he also knows that people often confuse any large raptors, even the common place Red-tailed Hawks, for Bald Eagles. So he figured he was probably going to find yet another “red-tailed eagle’s” nest. Until he turned the corner, saw the nest and the birds, and stopped dead in his tracks. “I was stunned,” he told a standing room only audience at Irondequoit Town Hall the following year. They were Bald Eagles all right. And their initial reaction was not to circle and call loudly, as most Bald Eagles do when humans approach a nest. Instead, they simply “hunkered down,” Allen related. In other words, it wasn’t the first time they had been disturbed. Which is exactly why Allen was amazed to find a nest in this location. Eagles are secretive birds; they need their privacy when they nest. And Irondequoit Bay, right in the midst of a bustling metropolitan area, is not exactly a private place. And yet, the pair managed to fledge two young.Even in the 1940s, Rochester birders had to travel to Scottsville to find nesting Bald Eagles. And when the bottom fell out of the eagle population in the 1960s, they had to go all the way to Hemlock Lake to see the last nesting pair in all of New York State. So when the pair was confirmed nesting at the south end of Irondequoit Bay in 2007, it was an historic event.Think of it: Bald Eagles on a nest at Irondequoit Bay. Osprey on a nest the same year at Braddock Bay. Both breeding in closer proximity to Rochester than at any time in recent history, at two bays that are like geographic bookends for our metropolitan area. What an appropriate symbol for the incredible comeback by both species. And yet, the fact that Bald Eagles were nesting so close to the city was greeted with relative nonchalance by many birders. After all, by 2007 they were accustomed to seeing these magnificent raptors in ever increasing numbers during migration, and at ever expanding breeding sites in the Rochester area.And that, too, was a further indication of this species’ remarkable recovery. Bald Eagle**
Background
Our national emblem and symbol of wilderness protection has undergone “dramatic population fluctuations” over the past two centuries, notes David A Buehler in his profile of this species for The Birds of North America series. Early explorers found it abundant in areas with large bodies of water – Florida, Chesapeake Bay, Maine, the Great Lakes, the lake regions of Canada, and the Pacific Northwest. Settlement of shoreline areas by European immigrants, and persecution through hunting caused significant population declines by the early 1900s. After 1947, use of DDT across much of its range greatly reduced breeding productivity, and continued shooting led to drastic population declines. The subsequent recovery of this species constitutes “one of the continent’s most successful conservation stories.” By 1999 as many as 100,000 inhabited North America, with most still in Alaska and British Columbia. An opportunistic forager, it prefers fish over other prey. Migration patterns are complex, dependent on the age of the individual, location of breeding sites (north vs. south, coastal vs. interior), severity of climate and year-round food supply. Most immatures migrate and may move nomadically, presumably because they are not tied to defense of a nest site. Adults migrate as needed when food becomes unavailable. “It often scavenges prey items when available, pirates food from other species when it can, and captures its own prey only as a last resort.” (BNA 506: 1-4, 22)
Local history
In Seneca lore, a mythical eagle carried on its back a pound of dew. It sprinkled this dew over the earth each night to revive it for the new day. (Marcotte, p. 15) The European settlers who displaced the Native Americans also held the Bald Eagle in high esteem and chose it as their national symbol. That did not, however, prevent them from persecuting these magnificent predators. “A bald eagle was shot on one of the farms of the Wadsworth estate, a few miles south of Geneseo, a day or two ago, measuring over seven feet from tip to tip of his wings,” the Rochester Union and Advertiser reported on 25 May 1865.Despite “constant persecution” by humans, it was not unusual to find Bald Eagles along the Great Lakes, frequenting Conesus Lake throughout the spring and summer, and nesting near Sodus Bay, Eaton (1914) wrote. He listed this as an uncommon resident in Wayne County and a rare one in Monroe where it was also an uncommon transient. (Eaton, II: 91; I: county charts)R. E. Horsey, in his listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913 to 1936, indicated this was a “rare to uncommon” migrant, with only two fall dates in 24 years. Even in spring, single birds were the norm, with a maximum count of three, on dates ranging from 29 March to 24 May.Bald Eagles also formerly nested near Troutburg, Avon and south of Scottsville (Bull, p. 174), the latter site at the Street Farm (north of Avon) visited regularly by Genesee Ornithological Society field trips in the late 1940s and early 50s. (GOS, March/April 1952) Historically, as many as 72 “verifiable nesting locations” had been used by Bald Eagles in New York State. (Andrle, p. 100) However, “shooting, logging, habitat loss, and human disturbance had reduced our breeding population to fewer than 20 pairs” by the late 1940s, Peter G. Nye notes. (Levine, p. 183) By 1957 the former Bald Eagle nest at Conesus Lake “appears to be unoccupied,” the Goshawk reported in its monthly summary that June.Also vacated was the Street Farm nesting site on the flats near the Genesee River. The land, when owned by James Wadsworth, was used exclusively for grazing cattle, which required a minimum of human maintenance, John Brown noted. “One nest, added to each year, finally became too much for the branches that held it, and it crashed to the ground. Another one was built nearby the following year, but soon thereafter the farm changed hands and the pasture was converted to cropland with considerable attendant activity of men, tractors and other farm machinery.” The eagles departed. (BA, 29 June 1967)More direct forms of persecution continued as well. “An immature Bald Eagle which had been frequenting the parkway west of Rochester was shot and seriously wounded by a hunter,” Howard Miller reported in 1957. “The bird is now in the Seneca Park Zoo, probably crippled for life.” (KB 7: 120)DDT did the rest. This and other pesticides began to be used widely after World War II. “Runoff from farms and forests sprayed with DDT found its way into the waters hunted by Bald Eagles for their staple food, fish. This poisonous pesticide worked its way into the aquatic ecosystem, becoming concentrated in tissues of fish and then to the top of the food chain in the Bald Eagle,” Nye explains. The DDT caused the eggshells of eagles (and other raptors) to become so thin they often broke under the weight of an incubating adult.The results were devastating. By the 1960s, an eyrie at Hemlock Lake where a pair had been nesting since 1965, was the only active nest site remaining in New York. (See Fox, pp. 36-37 and Andrle, p. 100 for an account of this site.) And even there the adults were able to produce only one offspring during a 13-year span. (“Flying Free for the Fourth,” TU, 28 June 1978) An egg from the Hemlock nest was reported to contain DDE, DDD, DDT, Dieldrin, PCBs and other contaminants in 1971. (BA, 16 December 1971) Another indication of the decline of this species can be seen in the dramatic reduction in migrating birds. In the spring of 1949, the first attempt at a systematic hawkwatch at Braddock Bay tallied 113 of these birds, including 16 on 1 May and 18 on 18 May. (GOS, May/July 1949) When Leo Tanghe examined the returns from 1,665 outings by Genesee Ornithological Society members within a 50-miles radius of Rochester from 1951-1954, he found this species reported 87 times during the spring, with average counts of three to five. (KB 5: 69: 2A-2B)Fourteen others flew over Braddock Bay on 12 May 1956. (GOS, January/June 1956) However, during spring 1969, there was not a single sighting reported along the Lake Ontario shoreline. “The writer can not remember this happening ever before,” Miller noted. (KB 19:151) For all who thrill at the sight of these magnificent raptors flying overhead, this was a sobering reminder of how close we came to losing our national symbol.The long road back began in the 1970s.In 1978, for example, a two-week-old eaglet produced by captive parents at the Patuxent, Md. Wildlife Research Center was successfully placed in the Hemlock nest and accepted by the birds there. (“Flying Free for the Fourth,” TU, 28 June 1978) Each year DEC staffers would replace an egg, rendered sterile by pesticides, with an eaglet. (Birds, 18 May 1986) Three years later, in January 1981, the old male of the pair was found dead on the ice of one of the lakes, “tragic victim of old pellet wounds inflicted by some vandal with a shotgun,” John Brown reported. However, the old female returned to the nest with a young male, and began “incubating” a plastic-filled goose egg placed in the nest by DEC. The plan was to replace the egg with one or two young chicks from western nests. (BA, 16 April 1981) When the old female died, her younger mate paired with a young female. In 1985 the new pair successfully fledged their own offspring for the first time. (Birds, 18 May 1986)In the meantime, with the banning of DDT, dramatic recovery efforts were underway on other fronts. In the mid 1970s, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation embarked upon a hacking project to introduce young eagles brought from other parts of the country. Begun at Montezuma NWR in 1976, the project eventually released 198 birds, most from Alaska, in various parts of the state. (Levine, p. 183) In fact, it was one of these birds that became the new mate of the Hemlock female in 1981. (Andrle, p. 100)By the first Breeding Bird Atlas project (1980-1986), four pairs were holding territories in the state (Andrle, p. 100), and seven of these eight birds had been released by hacking programs. By 1996, 29 pairs were breeding in New York (Levine, p. 183), including nests at Iroquois and Montezuma National Wildlife Refuges just outside Region 2. In 2006, 110 nesting pairs fledged 172 young.Given the incredible recovery of this species, it is not surprising it is being found in increasing numbers in our region. Status
Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a regular, uncommon spring transient; an occasional, very rare fall transient, and a sporadic, very rare visitant throughout the year. Now a regular, common spring migrant, local summer resident, increasing fall migrant and year-round visitor.Livingston County, Fox (1998) considered this a rare (yet conspicuous) local permanent resident and a regular rare year-round visitant.
Occurrence
Spring: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 15 February to 29 April, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 13 to 29 March. In most years had departed by 5 June, with a late departure date of 21 June.The extraordinary recovery, not only in New York but throughout the East, has been reflected in spring tallies at the Braddock Bay Hawkwatch. In its first nine years (1977-1985) the annual spring count of migrating Bald Eagles never exceeded thirty-nine; in the ten years from 1994-2003, the count never dropped below 112 and exceeded two hundred during four of those seasons. The total count in spring 2004 was a record 362. (See table below.) It is not unusual for migrants to stop over at the bay, perching in the wooded island at the center and making flights over the bay to pick up fish. (KB 35:24) The migration extends well into June: 17 were sighted at Braddock Bay (D. Tetlow) on 18 June 2006. (LG, September 2006)
Summer/breeding status: The Breeding Bird Atlas projects have documented this species’ increasing breeding presence in our region. During the first project, the only confirmed breeding was at Hemlock Lake, with possible breeding in three other blocks to the east, at and near Canandaigua Lake.During the second project, this species was confirmed breeding in two blocks at Hemlock Lake, two at Letchworth SP, and three in and around the Montezuma wetlands complex, with nine additional blocks of possible or probable breeding along the lakeshore in Wayne County. Two adults and 5 immatures were at Honeoye Lake (C. Cass, D. Mather) on 8 July 2003. (LG, September 2003)
Watch for these birds in increasing numbers in summer even away from nesting sites. Three immatures, for example, summered in the Braddock Bay area in 1994. (KB44: 301) Fall: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 5 August to 20 September, departing from 20 August to 29 November.This species is also increasing during the late summer raptor dispersal flights at Braddock Bay. Thirty-four were tallied there during August 2000 (LG, October 2000), and another 40 during August 2004 (D. Tetlow), including 14 on the 18th. (LG, October 2004)
Winter: In addition to the dramatic increase in nesting pairs statewide, has come an equally startling increase in winter visitors and residents. In January 2006 aerial surveys and observers found a record 442 bald eagles across the state, including 252 adults and 190 immatures, just edging past the 441 recorded the year before, according to Peter Nye of the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Not surprisingly, wintering birds are being found more often in our region. For example, five Bald Eagles were at Letchworth SP (Davids, D. Tetlow) on 1 January 2001. (LG, March 2001)
Misc.
Much is made of this predator’s predilection for stealing fish from Osprey and otherwise taking the “easy way out.” However, Dan Niven and other Braddock Bay Raptor Research hawkwatchers witnessed a display of prowess on 21 April 1988. “While scanning over the bay, I spotted an immature Bald Eagle flying low over the water, getting up the gulls and ducks. . . . A Ring-billed Gull, a little slow in reacting, got up a couple of seconds behind the other gulls and ducks. The Bald Eagle took notice of this gull and its behavior changed from a casual flight (slow wing beat) to a purposeful flight (pumping wing beat) heading toward the gull.” The eagle quickly shortened the distance. “The gull tried fleeing by making evasive moves to the right and let. Each time the eagle was able to cut the inside angle off, thus getting closer. The eagle, finally in position slightly above and behind, struck the gull.” The injured bird crashed into the water. “After making several attempts to grasp the gull, the eagle finally got hold of (it) and flew to the island in the bay and landed in one of the trees. The eagle proceeded to eat its hard won meal.” (The Raptor Researcher, 9:15)Nearly 40 years earlier, Robert and Catherine Scholes described in the Goshawk a similar display of this raptor’s prowess. On 17 March 1949 they were looking at waterfowl at an open spot of water at Mendon Ponds Park when all of a sudden the Mallards, Black Ducks, Redheads, American Wigeon and Canada Geese “took off en masse, leaving only three or four coot coasting on the water.” This in itself was a “memorable picture,” the two related. “We then spotted the cause of the exodus – an adult bald eagle coming in low over the pond. As we watched, he hovered and dived several times at something in the water that flashed momentarily at the surface. He veered off for a few seconds, then came back for several repeats, working his great wings with remarkable facility as he hung a few feet over the water with legs extended.” His intended prey “Flashed at the surface repeatedly as he came down on it, the time between stoops progressively diminishing. Finally he dived in to his body and came up with the prey, flew a few yards to the ice edge, and started tearing off black feathers. The only conclusion to be drawn was that a coot had been the hapless victim.” Throughout, a single coot continued “riding the water a few yards from the scene . . . neither diving nor swimming away and apparently only too happy to remain a passive, but living, segment of the drama.”
Winter: In addition to the dramatic increase in nesting pairs statewide, has come an equally startling increase in winter visitors and residents. In January 2006 aerial surveys and observers found a record 442 bald eagles across the state, including 252 adults and 190 immatures, just edging past the 441 recorded the year before, according to Peter Nye of the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Not surprisingly, wintering birds are being found more often in our region. For example, five Bald Eagles were at Letchworth SP (Davids, D. Tetlow) on 1 January 2001. (LG, March 2001)
Misc.
Much is made of this predator’s predilection for stealing fish from Osprey and otherwise taking the “easy way out.” However, Dan Niven and other Braddock Bay Raptor Research hawkwatchers witnessed a display of prowess on 21 April 1988. “While scanning over the bay, I spotted an immature Bald Eagle flying low over the water, getting up the gulls and ducks. . . . A Ring-billed Gull, a little slow in reacting, got up a couple of seconds behind the other gulls and ducks. The Bald Eagle took notice of this gull and its behavior changed from a casual flight (slow wing beat) to a purposeful flight (pumping wing beat) heading toward the gull.” The eagle quickly shortened the distance. “The gull tried fleeing by making evasive moves to the right and let. Each time the eagle was able to cut the inside angle off, thus getting closer. The eagle, finally in position slightly above and behind, struck the gull.” The injured bird crashed into the water. “After making several attempts to grasp the gull, the eagle finally got hold of (it) and flew to the island in the bay and landed in one of the trees. The eagle proceeded to eat its hard won meal.” (The Raptor Researcher, 9:15)Nearly 40 years earlier, Robert and Catherine Scholes described in the Goshawk a similar display of this raptor’s prowess. On 17 March 1949 they were looking at waterfowl at an open spot of water at Mendon Ponds Park when all of a sudden the Mallards, Black Ducks, Redheads, American Wigeon and Canada Geese “took off en masse, leaving only three or four coot coasting on the water.” This in itself was a “memorable picture,” the two related. “We then spotted the cause of the exodus – an adult bald eagle coming in low over the pond. As we watched, he hovered and dived several times at something in the water that flashed momentarily at the surface. He veered off for a few seconds, then came back for several repeats, working his great wings with remarkable facility as he hung a few feet over the water with legs extended.” His intended prey “Flashed at the surface repeatedly as he came down on it, the time between stoops progressively diminishing. Finally he dived in to his body and came up with the prey, flew a few yards to the ice edge, and started tearing off black feathers. The only conclusion to be drawn was that a coot had been the hapless victim.” Throughout, a single coot continued “riding the water a few yards from the scene . . . neither diving nor swimming away and apparently only too happy to remain a passive, but living, segment of the drama.”
Northern Harrier**
(formerly Marsh Hawk)Circus hudsonius (formerly Circus cyaneus)Northern Harrier**
This birder pulled over on the shoulder of Church Road in Hamlin on 2 March 1993 to watch a mixed flock of Horned Larks and Snow Buntings working their way along the roadside. Suddenly, a harrier came in from the east, “low, right down the shoulder of the road, and over the middle of it. The effect is of a broom coming along, pushing the larks and buntings ahead of it, and spilling them off into the fields on either side.” “No sooner did the birds reassemble at the roadside than the harrier comes back for another sweep. It is a beautiful male “grey ghost” with black tipped wings underneath, and nice white rump. He has no luck and soon disappears over a rise to the south.”More successful was a Northern Harrier, one of three, harassing at least a dozen Short-eared Owls along Doran Road in Lima on 20 January 2007. Michael Peter “happened to see a harrier dive bomb an owl; the owl dropped a mouse, and the harrier grabbed it out of the air as it was falling.” “That was spectacular.” (Posting on Genesee Birding at Birdsonthe.Net) At one time this was the second most frequently encountered raptor in and around our region, but its numbers have since declined with the loss of the open fields and marshes it favors.
Background
“Unlike other hawks, (this species) frequently relies heavily on auditory cues, as well as visual ones, to capture prey” as it courses low and buoyantly over the grasslands and marshes it inhabits, notes the profile of this species in The Birds of North America series. Called Hen Harrier in Europe and Asia, this bird has a widespread breeding range in North America encompassing Alaska, most of Canada into much of the northern and western U.S., and wintering in the southern U.S. into Central America. But breeding populations can be quite localized. Most males are monogamous, but in some instances males pair with up to five mates in a season. “No other raptor species exhibits either the degree, or regularity of occurrence, of polygyny.” Males do not feed nestlings directly, instead “passing” prey to the female in midair or simply dropping it on the nest. Its numbers likely increased in the 1800s due to the clearing of forests; more recently, some local populations have declined extensively because of loss of wetlands and loss of undisturbed grasslands and prairie habitat, though populations in other areas have remained stable. This is a nomadic species, its breeding and nonbreeding numbers varying from year to year depending on availability of prey, especially voles. (BNA 210: 1-2, 10, 15-16, 19) When hunting for prey, this graceful bird circles slowly or flies in wavering fashion low over meadows and marshes. “When attracted by some movement in the grass it wheels suddenly about and shoots upward a short distance to examine the spot; at other times it turns a compete somersault or makes a half turn and drops suddenly in the grass to strike its humble and unsuspecting quarry,” Eaton (1914) observed. (Eaton II: 71)
Local history Eaton (1914) related finding eggs of this species in the bogs of Bergen Swamp and Mendon Ponds that had been “sucked by crows.” He considered this a fairly common summer resident in Monroe and Wayne counties, also occurring in Livingston, and a common transient in Monroe. (Eaton II: 73, I: county charts) R. E. Horsey, in his listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913 to 1936, indicated single birds were the norm, with a maximum count of 20, on dates ranging from 12 March to 26 December.Leo Tanghe in 1953 listed this as a common breeding species in the Rochester area, and mentioned the Burroughs Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary and Buck Pond as nesting locations. (GOS, May/August 1953) Particularly startling is what Tanghe found when he examined the returns from 1,665 outings by Genesee Ornithological Society members within a 50-miles radius of Rochester from 1951-1954. Northern Harrier (then called Marsh Hawk) was reported 633 times, more than any other raptor except American Kestrel. More than 40 sightings came in late June through early August, nearly doubling the sightings of Red-tailed Hawk for the same time frame, with another 29 reports in January and February. (KB 5: 69: 2A-2B)However, this species has since been declining, Gerald A. Smith notes. (Andrle, p. 102) Though the reasons are unclear, DDT probably played a role, as it did in the decline of other raptor species in the 1950s and 1960s. Moreover, changing farming practices, “including the change to a corn monoculture and a decrease in the amount of pasture and grassland habitat” has had an impact in some areas, and changes in the vegetation of lakeshore marshes caused by regulated Lake Ontario levels may also play a role.By 1960, Howard Miller observed that “this species has become scarce during the summer in this area.” (KB10: 101)
Status
Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a regular, uncommon summer resident and winter visitant. It is also a regular, at times abundant, spring migrant.Livingston County, Fox (1998) considered this a regular fairly common winter visitant, a (presumably regular) fairly common spring and fall transient, and an uncommon summer resident.
Occurrence
Spring: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 20 February to 21 April, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 13 to 31 March. An average of 911 migrants were counted annually (through 2004) at the Braddock Bay Hawkwatch, but the count is much higher some years than others. (See table below) Flights can begin as early as late February: 23 were tallied on 27 February 2000 (mob) at Braddock Bay. (LG, May 2000)
Summer/breeding status: Braddock Bay, with its open marshes and adjoining fields, is often mentioned in Kingbird reports as the location of confirmed or possible nesting. In 1973, “at least one pair” was reported attempting to nest there. (KB 23:145) In June 1984, harriers nesting at Braddock Bay harassed migrating eagles. “When the male was observed bringing food to the nest, the female would rise from the cattails, turn upside down and take the food from his talons. This behaviour was repeated over and over during the nesting season,” Laura and Neil Moon related. “Braddock Bay is a superb place for watching the aerial acrobatics performed by this species during courtship.” (Birds, 22 July 1984; KB 35:25)It was also reported breeding in 1995 at Beatty Point (McKinney, O’Hara) when a nest with five young and two eggs was found on 29 June. (GOS, September 1995)In Livingston County, nesting pairs have been found in such locations as Nations Road, Retsof, Doran Road in Lima, and River Road south of Mt. Morris, according to Fox. (Fox, p. 37)However, there is evidence that Northern Harrier is declining as a breeding species in large parts of our region. During the first BBA, our region had one of the heaviest concentrations of blocks with evidence of breeding, particularly in the western third of the region. However, during the second BBA, evidence of breeding was greatly reduced all along the lakeplain in Wayne, western Monroe and Orleans counties. Most evidence of breeding was confined to lakefront marshes and the northern half of Livingston County.
Summer maxima:Max. 10 migrating from 16-31 August 1980, west lakeshore. (LG, September 1980)
Fall: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of departure dates from 2 October to 9 November, with a mid range, or “normal departure time” of 11 to 26 October. Though less concentrated than in spring, fall migrants have been detected by lakewatchers. For example, 12-14 were observed on 21 September 2003 (RBA field trip) at Hamlin Beach crossing the lake. (KB 54:53; LG, November 2003)
Winter: One “coursing over the field and marshes at the north end of Dewey Avenue” in January 1932 was “possibly the most interesting” of the birds seen at the start of the New Year, Horsey and Edson noted. It was the first January record they knew of in Monroe County, though small numbers were known to winter in warmer parts of the state. (“Meager Fall Bird Migration Blamed on Two Years’ Drought,” D&C, 11 January 1932) In Livingston County wintering birds can be found in the same places as in summer, e.g. Nations Road, Retsof, Doran Road in Lima, and River Road south of Mt. Morris, according to Fox. (Fox, p. 37) The discovery of nine in a roost at Lima 27-31 December 1982 (J. and A. Foster) “was most exciting.” (KB33: 118)
Winter maxima:20-30 in January 1988 (Symonds, mob) along the west lakeshore. (LG, February 1988)
Fall: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of departure dates from 2 October to 9 November, with a mid range, or “normal departure time” of 11 to 26 October. Though less concentrated than in spring, fall migrants have been detected by lakewatchers. For example, 12-14 were observed on 21 September 2003 (RBA field trip) at Hamlin Beach crossing the lake. (KB 54:53; LG, November 2003)
Winter: One “coursing over the field and marshes at the north end of Dewey Avenue” in January 1932 was “possibly the most interesting” of the birds seen at the start of the New Year, Horsey and Edson noted. It was the first January record they knew of in Monroe County, though small numbers were known to winter in warmer parts of the state. (“Meager Fall Bird Migration Blamed on Two Years’ Drought,” D&C, 11 January 1932) In Livingston County wintering birds can be found in the same places as in summer, e.g. Nations Road, Retsof, Doran Road in Lima, and River Road south of Mt. Morris, according to Fox. (Fox, p. 37) The discovery of nine in a roost at Lima 27-31 December 1982 (J. and A. Foster) “was most exciting.” (KB33: 118)
Winter maxima:20-30 in January 1988 (Symonds, mob) along the west lakeshore. (LG, February 1988)
Sharp-shinned Hawk***
Accipiter striatus On a September morning in 1993, a small group of migrating warblers and sparrows were busily foraging from limb to limb and scratching through the ground litter in a woodlot at Badgerow Park. A chorus of “chips” and “peeks” signaled their presence. Suddenly, dead silence.A Sharp-shinned Hawk, a lethal predator of songbirds, was flying overhead, and the warblers and sparrows instinctively froze. (Marcotte diary entry.) Many birders encounter this raptor under exactly such circumstances in the field.Veronica Miller, however, had a closeup view of one of these raptors under far different circumstances, when she heard a thump from the direction of her dining room window. She found a small smudge on it, looked out and saw a sharpie on her front step trying to shake off the effects of the collision. It was apparently trying to get at some very realistic, ceramic birds placed on the inside window sill, almost perfectly level with the top of a hedge outside. When the hawk recuperated, and made yet another pass at the window, Miller decided to relocate the ceramic birds! (Birds, 2 February 1992)Most non-birders, however, first encounter this raptor when it shows up at their bird feeders, preying on cardinals and other favorite songbirds. And many, no doubt, react with anger, just as Eaton did early in the 20th century, before people came to realize that accipiters prey upon songbirds because they were designed to do so, as part of Nature’s checks and balances. All of which was just fine with the employees of an Agway Farm Store in Hilton in 1992, where House Sparrows had become a “real nuisance” in the warehouse, getting into spilled corn and grain, sometimes even tearing bags open, roosting in the rafters, making a mess with their droppings and creating a very annoying din with all their chipping and chirping. “Then, one wintry day, a little blue jay-sized hawk showed up. Eventually identified as an adult sharp-shinned hawk, it decided that the warehouse sparrow population would be a great place to stave off starvation for awhile,” Frank Dobson reported. It would perch right in the rafters to feed on its prey. It stayed only 10 days, but by that time the sparrows had left, to the relief of the Agway employees. (Birds, 5 April 1992)Sharp-shinned Hawk***
Background
This small, slender, feisty accipiter feeds almost entirely on small birds, its long legs and toes enabling it to reach into vegetation, and its “long, deeply curved, needle-sharp talons” permitting a quick sure grasp even while the bird is in motion. Smallest reported prey was an Anna’s Hummingbird (4.4 grams); largest, a Ruffed Grouse (577 grams). Although it breeds across a broad range, from Alaska across most of Canada, south through the Great Lakes and along the Appalachians, and in the west into Mexico, they are widely dispersed and secretive as nesters. Sharp-shinneds are best seen on migration – or when they prey at feeders. At one time, even noted ornithologists considered Sharp-shinneds to be “vicious bird killers” and thousands were gunned down annually in the early 1900s at key migration points. Birds vacate northernmost parts of breeding range in winter. This is one of the most difficult birds to census in the U.S. Declines in counts at migration watch sites in eastern North American from the 1940s to early 1970s were almost certainly due to widespread use of DDT. After the U.S. ban on the pesticide, this species rebounded. Another decline was detected in the 1980s and early 1990s, initially attributed to a variety of factors. However, recent analysis of CBC data from the same period showed significant increases in Sharp-shinned Hawks overwintering in areas north of the watch sites in question. This “strongly” suggests that the declines are due to migratory short-stopping – birds staying farther north, perhaps in response to the increased use of bird feeders where they can find prey – and not to an overall decline in eastern populations. (BNA 482: 1-2, 5, 8-9, 17-18)
Local history
Eaton (1914) knew about the spring flights along the Lake Ontario shoreline, and listed this as an abundant migrant in Monroe County, common in Wayne. He also recorded this as a fairly common summer resident in Monroe County, occasional in Wayne and also occurring in Livingston. (Eaton II:75, I: county charts)R. E. Horsey, in his listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913 to 1936, indicated this was both a resident and migrant species, with single birds the norm, but a maximum count of 50 – probably during spring.During those years, this species was still on the “black list” of even ardent birders because of its predations against songbirds. “This is one of the destructive hawks, as is easily seen by a visit to one of their killing blocks. These . . . are logs or tree stumps near the nest, to which they bring their prey to prepare it, especially for the young before they leave their nest,” Edson wrote in 1930. “Around these blocks are to be found the remains of many kinds of birds, and comparatively few indications of the hawk feeding on harmful things, such as mice and rats. “In thickly-settled communities the sharp-shinned and Cooper hawks, the most destructive hawks, luckily run afoul of the farmer, poultry keeper or game protector, so that they are kept down to reasonable numbers.” (“Three of Birdland’s Most Dreaded Pirates Seen Here,” D&C, 27 October 1930) When Leo Tanghe examined the returns from 1,665 outings by Genesee Ornithological Society members within a 50-miles radius of Rochester from 1951-1954, he found this species reported 259 times, the most of any of the accipiters, followed by Cooper’s Hawk (191) and Northern Goshawk (6). Nearly half the sightings of Sharp-shinneds were during the spring hawk flights, from the last half of April into early May, when average counts of 100-200 occurred. (KB 5: 69: 2A-2B)However, at least one tally during that period was much higher: 1,151 on 28 April 1951 (Kemnitzer, Bieber) at Braddock Bay. (GOS, April/June 1951) Twenty-seven of the 1951-1954 sightings were in January and February, but only two in July and August. Tanghe in 1953 listed this as an uncommon breeder in the Rochester area, citing the Burroughs Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary and Pittsford as nesting locations. (GOS, May-August 1953) Status
Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as an uncommon permanent resident; a regular, fairly common to abundant spring transient, and an irregular, uncommon fall transient.Livingston County, Fox (1998) considered this an uncommon (formerly rare) permanent resident, a regular uncommon (formerly rare) winter visitant and a (presumably regular) fairly common spring transient.
Occurrence
Spring: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 14 February to 15 April, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 13 March to 1 April. In most years had departed by 31 May, with a late departure date of 13 June.On 30 April 1984, a warm southwest wind roared through the area at 40 to 67 miles per hour, downing power lines in some places. The Braddock Bay hawk lookout that day was “wall-to-wall” Sharp-shinned Hawks, Laura and Neil Moon reported. Most were “just skimming the cat-tails and grass, trying to keep low in the strong wind, zooming by to the right and left of the observation platform and flying on a rather broad front all the way from the West Spit, at the lake, to Frisbee Hill, 1.5 miles inland . . . Many hawks, exhausted, stopped to rest in the few small trees or bushes in the hedge rows and in the woods.” (GOS, June 1984) Even in Eaton’s time, this was recognized as an abundant spring migrant in our area. Bull cited counts at Manitou of 2,000 on 12 May 1956 (Listman, Bieber, McKinney) and 20 April 1957 (Bieber, Listman), and back to back counts of 1,200 (actually 1,260 according to GNR) and 1,600 on 20-21 April 1966 (L. Moon/mob). (Bull, p. 178; GNR) This was the raptor most frequently caught by the hawk banders of Braddock Bay Raptor Research during the 11 years from 1984-1994, totaling 4,711, or more than half the total of 7,565. (GOS, October 1994)It is still the most common accipiter here during spring migration. However, numbers have been declining at Braddock Bay and other hawk census locations. Kevin Griffith noted this species was “continuing a precipitous drop in numbers” at the hawkwatch in 1992. (KB42: 161) One of many possible explanations: DDT still used in other countries is ingested by songbirds that winter there, then ends up in the Sharp-shinneds that prey upon them. (Weidensaul, p. 226) Historically, the average annual count at the Braddock Bay Hawkwatch is 6,889 (through 2004), but that has been reached or exceeded only three years since 1989.
The annual hawkwatch helped confirm that Sharp-shinneds, like other accipiters and the falcons, are less reliant on warm thermals than Broad-wingeds and other buteos during migration. They “are able to fly close to the shore, and even out over the lake parallel with the shore, despite a cold adverse wind,” Neil and Laura Moon noted. (GOS, July/August 1984)“A migrating Sharp-shin has been observed catching a warbler in full flight. They will also on occasion dive into a tree full of Red-winged Blackbirds, and the birds literally explode in all directions. When Sharp-shins are flying low, a look at their profile shows that many have full crops,” the Moons related in their review of the first eight years of the hawkwatch. (KB 35:25) On 13 May 1978, “Sharp-shins were very low, diving at the Jays that were on the ground and in the trees” at the west spit, Jeanne Skelly related. (LG, May 1978) Summer/breeding status: During the first BBA, nesting was confirmed primarily to the south of Monroe County, including the higher elevations in the southern part of our region where this species is more likely to find the forested tracts it prefers, and the Genesee River Valley. During the second project, evidence of breeding was found in a larger number of blocks farther north in the lakeplain in Wayne, Monroe and Orleans counties. How much of this reflects differences in observer effort – and pure chance, given the secretive nature of this species while breeding – is not clear.
Fall: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 1 September to 24 October, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 14 September to 5 October. In most years had departed by 13 November, with a late departure date of 28 November.
Winter: A regular visitor, especially at feeders where it preys on songbirds. Tanghe’s tallies for 1951-1954 showed Sharp-shinned reported slightly more often than Cooper’s, 27-21, during January and February. (KB 5: 69: 2A-2B) However, in many winters Cooper’s is more numerous (see profile of that species). Misc.
Jerry Czech, who trapped and banded raptors for years at his home in Webster, began to notice an “unusual change” in the behavior of migrating hawks, particularly Sharpies, beginning in the late 1970s. Prior to that time, it was “nearly impossible” to lure a Sharp-shinned to a pigeon tethered as a lure. His theory: For nearly 30 years, most birds flopping around on the ground were likely dying from pesticide poisoning, and any raptor eating them would soon be dead too. Any hawks that survived during that period would have been the “more suspicious” ones – in other words, less inclined to be attracted to a similarly acting “lure” at a bird banding station.About 1980, hawks suddenly began coming to tethered lures. With the reduction in pesticides, “it is quite possible that fewer poisoned birds are present for Sharp-shinneds (and other raptors) to prey upon; and consequently, opportunistic behavior may not be so strongly selected out of the population.” (GOS, July/August 1984)Banded birds: One captured at Manitou on 8 May 1995 had been banded on 29 September 1994 in Ontario, Canada. (LG, February 1996) Another banded on 9 September 2000 at Selkirk Provincial Park in that province was recaptured at Manitou, about 123 miles away, the following 10 May. (LG, February 2002) Three caught at Braddock Bay in spring 1984 had been banded in previous falls at banding stations on the north shore of Lake Erie. (GOS, July/August 1985)“It seems very logical that hawks that come north in spring at Braddock Bay would go south in fall along the north shore of Lake Erie,” the Moons observed. (KB 35:29)
Winter: A regular visitor, especially at feeders where it preys on songbirds. Tanghe’s tallies for 1951-1954 showed Sharp-shinned reported slightly more often than Cooper’s, 27-21, during January and February. (KB 5: 69: 2A-2B) However, in many winters Cooper’s is more numerous (see profile of that species). Misc.
Jerry Czech, who trapped and banded raptors for years at his home in Webster, began to notice an “unusual change” in the behavior of migrating hawks, particularly Sharpies, beginning in the late 1970s. Prior to that time, it was “nearly impossible” to lure a Sharp-shinned to a pigeon tethered as a lure. His theory: For nearly 30 years, most birds flopping around on the ground were likely dying from pesticide poisoning, and any raptor eating them would soon be dead too. Any hawks that survived during that period would have been the “more suspicious” ones – in other words, less inclined to be attracted to a similarly acting “lure” at a bird banding station.About 1980, hawks suddenly began coming to tethered lures. With the reduction in pesticides, “it is quite possible that fewer poisoned birds are present for Sharp-shinneds (and other raptors) to prey upon; and consequently, opportunistic behavior may not be so strongly selected out of the population.” (GOS, July/August 1984)Banded birds: One captured at Manitou on 8 May 1995 had been banded on 29 September 1994 in Ontario, Canada. (LG, February 1996) Another banded on 9 September 2000 at Selkirk Provincial Park in that province was recaptured at Manitou, about 123 miles away, the following 10 May. (LG, February 2002) Three caught at Braddock Bay in spring 1984 had been banded in previous falls at banding stations on the north shore of Lake Erie. (GOS, July/August 1985)“It seems very logical that hawks that come north in spring at Braddock Bay would go south in fall along the north shore of Lake Erie,” the Moons observed. (KB 35:29)
Cooper’s Hawk***
Astur cooperii (formerly Accipiter cooperii) Cooper’s Hawk***
For a few brief moments in March 1981, Jerry Czech found himself in the same predicament farmers once experienced when these raptors showed up to chase the chickens in their barnyards. A Cooper’s Hawk dove right into his pigeon coop at his home on Whiting Road, Webster. The farmers, as often as not, would run for their guns. Not Czech. He had raised and fed the pigeons at his place specifically to attract raptors, which he had been trapping and banding for years. In this case, he was able to retrieve the Cooper’s “before it did any serious damage,” John Brown reported. (BA, 26 March 1981) It was a “beautiful” adult male, Czech told Brown, perhaps four years old, with “bright, rosy barring on its breast and brilliant red eyes.” “Unlike younger hawks of the species that he (Czech) has captured, this bird didn’t fight or bite or make a complaining sound,” Brown noted. “It showed no fear while Czech was placing a band on its leg, and when it was released it flew off in a leisurely way, circled and came back to perch in a nearby tree.”
Background
This is a “quintessential woodland hawk,” with short, powerful, rounded wings and a relatively long tail that ensure maneuverability in dense cover, notes the profile of this species in The Birds of North America series. “It is superbly adapted for quick pursuit of forest birds and mammals.” It breeds inconspicuously, in habitats ranging from forests to suburbs, across virtually all of the United States, and into southern Canada and parts of Mexico. Females are about a third larger than males, “among the greatest reversed size dimorphism of any of the world’s hawks.” Compared to Sharp-shinned, Cooper’s is more likely to use nesting habitat with older, taller and fewer trees, whereas Sharp-shinned is more reliant on conifers. Some eastern populations of Cooper’s Hawk declined significantly in the mid 1900s, probably due to shooting, trapping and pesticide contamination. Still widely listed in east as species of at least special concern, but recent evidence suggests that breeding populations have recovered in many areas. (BNA 75: 1-2, 4, 15)
Local history
“In the more thickly settled districts it is much less common than formerly, the nesting birds having been killed off on account of their destructiveness to poultry and game birds,” Eaton (1914) wrote. He listed this as a common migrant in Monroe County, and fairly common in Wayne. He also considered it a fairly common (Monroe County) to uncommon (Wayne County) summer resident, also occurring in Livingston. (Eaton II: 77, I: county charts) R. E. Horsey, in his listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913 to 1936, indicated this was both a resident and migrant species, with single birds the norm, but a maximum count of 250. When Leo Tanghe examined the returns from 1,665 outings by Genesee Ornithological Society members within a 50-miles radius of Rochester from 1951-1954, he found this species reported 191 times, with more than a third of the sightings (74) occurring during the spring hawkflights, from the last half of March through April. Another 21 sightings were in January and February. (KB 5: 69: 2A-2B)Greatly reduced as a breeder in the state during the 1960s, apparently as a result of DDT and other pesticides, but has since recovered. (Bull, p. 180; Levine, p. 189) This much-maligned “chicken hawk” was long persecuted by angry farmers for plundering their poultry, when hens and roosters were in less protected settings. Now it is maligned – quite unfairly – for its plundering at bird feeders. Like its close cousin the Sharp-shinned, it is only doing what it is specifically designed to do – control songbird populations.
Status
Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a rare, permanent resident (less numerous than formerly); a regular, fairly common spring transient and an irregular, rare fall transient.Livingston County, Fox (1998) considered this an uncommon (formerly rare) permanent resident, a regular uncommon (formerly rare) winter visitant and a (presumably regular) uncommon spring transient.
Occurrence
Spring: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 3 March to 23 April, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 11 to 30 March. In most years had departed by 28 May, with a late departure date of 12 June. Less common than the almost identical Sharp-shinned during spring migration because we are nearer the northern limit of its range. (Bull, p. 179) Average count for an entire spring season at the Braddock Bay Hawkwatch was 571 through 2004. 1,340 were trapped by Braddock Bay Raptor Research hawk banders from 1984-1994, trailing only the 4,711 Sharp-shinned Hawks. (GOS, October 1994)
Summer/breeding status: The BBA projects seem to bear out the theory that Cooper’s Hawk has expanded as a breeding species in our region. During the first project, most evidence of breeding was found in the higher elevations to the south, especially along the Genesee River Valley. The second project found significantly more blocks with evidence of breeding in the lake plain, especially in Wayne, the southwest quadrant of Monroe, Genesee, and eastern Orleans counties.
Occasionally found breeding even in heavily populated areas. For example, nesting was confirmed at Maplewood Park in 1950. (GOS, June/Aug 1950)
Fall: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 31 August to 7 October, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 10 to 23 September. In most years migrants had departed by 7 November, with a late departure date of 23 November. Winter: Though not as common as Sharp-shinned in spring migration, it often outnumbers its accipiter cousin here in winter. During the winter of 1977-78, Cooper’s Hawk was reported 30 times, compared to 22 for Sharp-shinned and 14 for Goshawk. (KB 28:105) “Note our typical 1:2 winter Sharp-shinned: Cooper’s Hawk ratio,” Bob Spahn wrote in the notes accompanying the February 1982 noteworthy sightings. (GOS, April 1982) Dave Tetlow found 42 at scattered locations in January 2004. (KB54: 149)
Misc.
When 40 Rock Doves suddenly flew up in panic next to a parking lot at Charlotte Beach, Bob Marcotte suspected a raptor was nearby. A young Cooper’s Hawk bored in from the west. “I witnessed the exact moment of the kill. But it happened so quickly that I have only a vague recollection of the hawk suddenly pulling upright into a near vertical position, talons outstretched, grasping in front of it. And the next thing I knew, the hawk was standing atop its victim on the pavement.” Eventually the raptor carried its victim into a nearby field. Marcotte later found in the dirt a loose cluster of the pigeon’s feathers, and a pile of 80 undigested kernels of corn, still glistening with blood, trailing off to the southwest. “I had an eerie feeling looking at those kernels. The dove had fed well, perhaps too well. Had 80 kernels of corn slowed it down just enough to make it an easy catch?” (GOS, January 1998)These raptors do not confine themselves to live prey, as Jerry Czech witnessed in January 1982. A pigeon killed by either a Goshawk or Cooper’s Hawk that had been frequenting his Webster neighborhood “became lodged in a cranny in his barn roof. He watched a Cooper’s hawk try repeatedly to dislodge it,” John Brown reported. “Failing this, it ate part of the bird on the roof. The carcass finally disappeared and may have been removed by the goshawk. Another dead dove, tossed up on the roof, also disappeared.” (BA, 21 January 1982)Banded bird: One male banded as an immature at the Hawk Cliff Banding Station near Port Stanley, Ontario on 1 October 1987 was retrapped in the Braddock Bay area on 9 May 1988. Hawk Cliff is about 210 miles WSW of the Braddock Bay area. (LG, February 1989)
Fall: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 31 August to 7 October, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 10 to 23 September. In most years migrants had departed by 7 November, with a late departure date of 23 November. Winter: Though not as common as Sharp-shinned in spring migration, it often outnumbers its accipiter cousin here in winter. During the winter of 1977-78, Cooper’s Hawk was reported 30 times, compared to 22 for Sharp-shinned and 14 for Goshawk. (KB 28:105) “Note our typical 1:2 winter Sharp-shinned: Cooper’s Hawk ratio,” Bob Spahn wrote in the notes accompanying the February 1982 noteworthy sightings. (GOS, April 1982) Dave Tetlow found 42 at scattered locations in January 2004. (KB54: 149)
Misc.
When 40 Rock Doves suddenly flew up in panic next to a parking lot at Charlotte Beach, Bob Marcotte suspected a raptor was nearby. A young Cooper’s Hawk bored in from the west. “I witnessed the exact moment of the kill. But it happened so quickly that I have only a vague recollection of the hawk suddenly pulling upright into a near vertical position, talons outstretched, grasping in front of it. And the next thing I knew, the hawk was standing atop its victim on the pavement.” Eventually the raptor carried its victim into a nearby field. Marcotte later found in the dirt a loose cluster of the pigeon’s feathers, and a pile of 80 undigested kernels of corn, still glistening with blood, trailing off to the southwest. “I had an eerie feeling looking at those kernels. The dove had fed well, perhaps too well. Had 80 kernels of corn slowed it down just enough to make it an easy catch?” (GOS, January 1998)These raptors do not confine themselves to live prey, as Jerry Czech witnessed in January 1982. A pigeon killed by either a Goshawk or Cooper’s Hawk that had been frequenting his Webster neighborhood “became lodged in a cranny in his barn roof. He watched a Cooper’s hawk try repeatedly to dislodge it,” John Brown reported. “Failing this, it ate part of the bird on the roof. The carcass finally disappeared and may have been removed by the goshawk. Another dead dove, tossed up on the roof, also disappeared.” (BA, 21 January 1982)Banded bird: One male banded as an immature at the Hawk Cliff Banding Station near Port Stanley, Ontario on 1 October 1987 was retrapped in the Braddock Bay area on 9 May 1988. Hawk Cliff is about 210 miles WSW of the Braddock Bay area. (LG, February 1989)
American Goshawk (formerly Northern Goshawk)***
Astur atricapillus (formerly Accipiter gentiles)American Goshawk (formerly Northern Goshawk)***
A group of well-meaning birders taking a census of feathered residents in the Canadice-Hemlock-Honeoye lakes area knocked on the “wrong door” when they came upon a Northern Goshawk’s nest. The nest contained two young, and was “guarded by parent birds that dive-bombed intruding observers and drove them into the shelter of nearby thick evergreens,” John Brown reported. (BA, 18 June 1981)“The prowess of the bird is legendary,” Dunne, Sibley and Sutton write in Hawks in Flight. “In some places, the (goshawk) has become a suburban dweller, nesting in well-vegetated neighborhoods, becoming the terror of golden retrievers and of homeowners who set out trashcans on the curb. Maternal instincts run high in female Goshawks. They show little tolerance for any close approach to a nest site.” (Dunne, p. 67)Jack Otto, a turkey hunter, was stunned by another encounter with this species in spring 1995. He had set up two full-sized hen decoys in a promising spot in Penfield, and waited patiently in nearby cover after giving a turkey call. Suddenly, “a large hawk came out of nowhere, just skimming the ground. The big raptor struck at one of the decoys, and in the blink of an eye, both the hawk and realistic decoy were gone,” Frank Dobson reported. (Birds, 2 July 1995) The hawk soon returned to check the other “bird” but did not strike. This time Otto noted the size, shape and coloring of the raptor and concluded it was an immature goshawk. He followed the direction in which the Goshawk had carried the first decoy, and eventually found it. “He saw where the raptor had sunk one set of talons in the decoy neck and the other in the back.” Background
A goshawk adorned the helmet of Attila the Hun. That will come as no surprise to anyone who has witnessed our largest North American accipiter in action. It is capable of killing a variety of prey, including tree squirrels and hares in addition to birds. Its short powerful wings allow rapid acceleration, and its long tail provides quick maneuverability in trees. These aggressive birds “eagerly crash through brush when capturing prey or readily strike intruders approaching their nests.” This species nests in boreal and temperate forests in Scandinavia, Russia, Siberia, the Himalayas, China and Japan. In North America it breeds from Alaska across most of Canada, southward into Northeast U.S., the Great Lakes region, and western U.S. into Mexico. Usually a permanent resident, but part of the population regularly winters south of the breeding range, and occasionally large irruptions occur. Population trends poorly understood, however eastern populations apparently are increasing as forests regenerate. (BNA 298: 1,2, 22)
Local history
“Before the demise of the Passenger Pigeon around 1900, the Northern Goshawk was believed to have been common in the Northeast,” Stephen Eaton notes. (Andrle, p. 108) His father, Elon Howard Eaton, called this fierce raptor the “most dreaded scourge of our grouse coverts and poultry yards.” In 1910, he listed it as a fairly common (Monroe County) to uncommon (Wayne County) transient, and uncommon winter visitor in both counties. (Eaton II: 80, I: county charts)R. E. Horsey, in his listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913 to 1936, listed only one record, on 28 March 1936.Even after softening his denunciations of shrikes and other predators of songbirds, Edson continued to call this fierce raptor a “brigand” – though he had to concede that one on the grounds of Strong Memorial Hospital in December 1942 was “engaged in the laudable occupation of reducing the house sparrow population.” (WBR, 14 December 1942)“Of the last 35 years in only 13 years does it appear in our records,” he noted in 1959. (WBR, 14 December 1959) Indeed, GOS members found this bird only six times during 1,665 outings within a 50-mile radius of Rochester during the years 1951-1954, according to Leo Tanghe’s compilations. (KB5: 69: 1B-2B) “Goshawks have been recorded here very rarely except for an occasional spring migrant,” noted the Goshawk monthly summary for December 1953. “We should see an occasional fall bird such as the one recorded this month.” (GOS, November-December 1953)However, reforestation provided additional nesting habitat for this species (see summer/breeding status below). Moreover, as birders devoted more and more attention to the spring hawkflights, sightings increased.Jerry Czech, for example, specialized in trapping and banding birds of prey at his home in Webster. After a large incursion of these birds was reported in the Northeast in fall 1972, many of them showed up along the lakeshore the following spring, apparently part of a return flight. Czech reportedly saw 50, for example, on 28 March in a fairly short time (BA, 5 April 1973; but not reported in GOS or KB), and another 20 the following day. (GOS, May 1973) Twenty-four were tallied at Braddock Bay by a Genesee Ornithological Society field trip the following 23 March. (GNR)Even so, it remains the least common of the three accipiters in our region.
Status
Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a regular, uncommon spring transient; an occasional, rare summer resident; an irregular, uncommon fall transient, and a regular, uncommon winter visitant.Livingston County, Fox (1998) considered this an irregular rare summer resident and winter visitant.
Occurrence
Spring: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 12 February to 19 April, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 1 to 28 March. In most years had departed by 11 May, with a late departure date of 3 June. Average spring count at the Braddock Bay Hawkwatch was 48 through 2004, ranging from five in 1998 to 141 in 1983.
Summer/breeding status: Eaton knew of only a few instances of breeding in New York state, primarily in the Adirondacks. However, this species may have benefited from the decline of Cooper’s Hawk (see above), increasing phenomenally as a breeder in New York in the 1950s and 1960s. (Bull, pp. 182-183) “Reforestation of New York has provided additional nesting habitat for this species,” Stephen Eaton noted. (Andrle, p. 108)First documented breeding in our region was in 1974 near Honeoye Lake where a pair produced two young. (KB24: 189) Two years later, Chip Perrigo reported that “it is a welcome surprise, but not unexpected, that the impressive Goshawks have chosen a new nesting location within the safe and secluded confines of Bergen Swamp.” (LG, July 1976) In 1979, nesting was again reported at Honeoye Lake (KB 29:216), and then at Harriet Hollister Spencer SRA on 6 June 1981. (LG, July 1981) Fox reported breeding at a Springwater tree farm from 1988 to 1996. (Fox, p. 38) It also was reported nesting at Pike (Kimball) in May 1999. (KB49: 233, GNR)The BBA projects hint at a contraction in its breeding presence in our region, perhaps as Cooper’s rebounds (see profile of that species). During the first BBA the only confirmed nesting was in higher elevations to the south, but there was scattered evidence of breeding elsewhere in northern Livingston and in Monroe and Wayne counties. During the second project, there was no evidence of breeding in those areas, or anywhere else along the lake plain.
Blocks in and around Letchworth SP and Honeoye Lake/Harriet Hollister may be its main remaining strongholds in our region. Fall: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of dates from 13 August to 6 November. Subsequently, one banded on 1 August 2004 (R. Mather) at Manitou was an even earlier “first” of fall. (GOS, October 2004) Also early: one on 8 August 1998 (Ewald) at Braddock Bay. (GOS, October 1998)
Winter: As at other times of the year, the least likely of our three accipiters to be reported here. Three on 8 January 1994 (Davids) at Caledonia was a good tally for this season. (GOS, March 1994)
Misc.
In March 1982, John Brown described what happened when one disrupted a busy crowd of birds at his feeder in Scottsville. “A split second later, the mourning doves were disappearing into the snowy skies, flying high and fast. The finches were dispersed in the tallest trees and everything else had disappeared except a squirrel shivering in a crotch of the walnut tree just outside the kitchen window. We thought maybe a Cooper’s hawk that had paid us previous visits . . . had returned, but then we saw this big, gray bird with a long tail whip through the trees, circle over the garden and land in a tree about 50 yards away. It was a huge, handsome, adult goshawk, the first we had seen anywhere since last spring. It perched quietly in a tangle of tree limbs for several minutes, and the squirrel in the tree outside the window apparently lost track of it and went back down under the sunflower seed feeder. The hawk dropped down through the trees and came swift as an arrow as the squirrel zipped back up the tree, eluding the hawk’s extended yellow talons by an inch or less. The goshawk may have seen me lower my binoculars as it approached, because instead of pursuing its prey after the near miss, it veered off sharply about three feet from the window and took off across the open flats toward the river. . .” (BA, 11 March 1982)Another alighted on the surface of Lake Ontario about a half mile offshore from Hamlin Beach SP on 15 November 1994. After a couple of minutes it resumed its flight, Brett Ewald recounted. “The raptor quickly had approximately twenty gulls harassing it . . . It continued in a southerly direction, pumping laboriously in its quest to reach the relative safety of the shore and accompanying trees.” (Raptor Researcher, 9:23) Frank Dobson related the strange behavior of an immature bird that showed up in his backyard in January 1988. After perching for several minutes, “it dropped to the ground and walked, quite awkwardly, toward a pile of brush about five feet high. Then it started to climb the pile.” As it climbed, small limbs would give way and the hawk “would sprawl with outstretched wings flapping like mad.” After about three minutes of these “comical antics” it reached the top, checked all directions for several minutes, climbed back down the pile and “was last seen walking into a grove of spruce trees.” Dobson said he “never expected to see such an awkward procedure from such a graceful bird.” (Birds, 21 February 1988) Note: May stalk prey on foot, using vegetation and topography for concealment. (BNA 298: 7)Another demonstrated this species’ ability to blend into a wooded landscape. When it swooped through Jerry Czech’s yard in Webster in March 1970, the assistant curator at Rochester Museum and Science Center got off his sick bed and set a pigeon-baited snare trap on a nearby hill. The Goshawk soon returned, landed in a tree in Czech’s yard, then hit the trap and was momentarily caught by a loop. However, before Czech could reach the bird, it struggled free and flew to a nearby apple tree. What impressed Czech was that “when he looked away he found it difficult to pick the bird out again, particularly without binoculars, even though it was only a few hundred feet away,” John Brown related. “With its streaked light belly and darker back it blended in perfectly with the background woods.” (BA, 5 March 1970)
Winter: As at other times of the year, the least likely of our three accipiters to be reported here. Three on 8 January 1994 (Davids) at Caledonia was a good tally for this season. (GOS, March 1994)
Misc.
In March 1982, John Brown described what happened when one disrupted a busy crowd of birds at his feeder in Scottsville. “A split second later, the mourning doves were disappearing into the snowy skies, flying high and fast. The finches were dispersed in the tallest trees and everything else had disappeared except a squirrel shivering in a crotch of the walnut tree just outside the kitchen window. We thought maybe a Cooper’s hawk that had paid us previous visits . . . had returned, but then we saw this big, gray bird with a long tail whip through the trees, circle over the garden and land in a tree about 50 yards away. It was a huge, handsome, adult goshawk, the first we had seen anywhere since last spring. It perched quietly in a tangle of tree limbs for several minutes, and the squirrel in the tree outside the window apparently lost track of it and went back down under the sunflower seed feeder. The hawk dropped down through the trees and came swift as an arrow as the squirrel zipped back up the tree, eluding the hawk’s extended yellow talons by an inch or less. The goshawk may have seen me lower my binoculars as it approached, because instead of pursuing its prey after the near miss, it veered off sharply about three feet from the window and took off across the open flats toward the river. . .” (BA, 11 March 1982)Another alighted on the surface of Lake Ontario about a half mile offshore from Hamlin Beach SP on 15 November 1994. After a couple of minutes it resumed its flight, Brett Ewald recounted. “The raptor quickly had approximately twenty gulls harassing it . . . It continued in a southerly direction, pumping laboriously in its quest to reach the relative safety of the shore and accompanying trees.” (Raptor Researcher, 9:23) Frank Dobson related the strange behavior of an immature bird that showed up in his backyard in January 1988. After perching for several minutes, “it dropped to the ground and walked, quite awkwardly, toward a pile of brush about five feet high. Then it started to climb the pile.” As it climbed, small limbs would give way and the hawk “would sprawl with outstretched wings flapping like mad.” After about three minutes of these “comical antics” it reached the top, checked all directions for several minutes, climbed back down the pile and “was last seen walking into a grove of spruce trees.” Dobson said he “never expected to see such an awkward procedure from such a graceful bird.” (Birds, 21 February 1988) Note: May stalk prey on foot, using vegetation and topography for concealment. (BNA 298: 7)Another demonstrated this species’ ability to blend into a wooded landscape. When it swooped through Jerry Czech’s yard in Webster in March 1970, the assistant curator at Rochester Museum and Science Center got off his sick bed and set a pigeon-baited snare trap on a nearby hill. The Goshawk soon returned, landed in a tree in Czech’s yard, then hit the trap and was momentarily caught by a loop. However, before Czech could reach the bird, it struggled free and flew to a nearby apple tree. What impressed Czech was that “when he looked away he found it difficult to pick the bird out again, particularly without binoculars, even though it was only a few hundred feet away,” John Brown related. “With its streaked light belly and darker back it blended in perfectly with the background woods.” (BA, 5 March 1970)
Red-shouldered Hawk***
Buteo lineatusRed-shouldered Hawk***
On 7 March 1985, a gloomy, gray overcast day, the first Red-shouldered Hawk of the season approached the shelter at Braddock Bay. It “performed nicely, making several turns at low altitude in front of the shelter before going on,” Laura and Neil Moon reported. “The second Redshoulder, chased by two crows, dropped almost to the ground just west of the shelter, trying to evade the crows, showing its robin-red underparts very distinctly.” (GOS, May 1985)These hawks migrate early in the season, often when there is still snow on the ground, the Moons noted in their Kingbird summary of the first eight years of the hawkwatch. “Because there are not many thermals when the adults first arrive, they usually fly at a moderate height, and the rufous shoulders, as well as the robin-red underparts can often be seen. On certain days, the crescent windows in the wings . . . stand out beautifully.” (KB 35: 25) This is surely one of the handsomest raptors seen in our region. Unfortunately, unlike the early 1900s when this was still a common breeding species in our region, it is now seen primarily as a spring migrant – and within a fairly narrow window of time at that. Background
This raptor occupies a variety of wooded habitats across the eastern United States into southern Ontario province, especially in bottomlands and swamps. A West Coast population is even found in eucalyptus groves and suburban woodlots. Over much of its range it is a permanent resident; only northernmost populations migrate. It was once considered common or abundant in the eastern part of its range, but is much less common now, no doubt in large part because of destruction of large forests. Reversion of farmlands to forest “offers some hope of habitat increases for this species, at least in the Northeast.” Western population has probably also declined, but now appears stable. (BNA 107: 1, 2, 13)
Local history
A century ago, a shrill cry could be heard along many of the woodlots in summer in western New York, as a Red-shouldered Hawk soared “upward above the tree-tops, but becoming silent as it reaches a higher altitude, and mounting higher and higher, perhaps accompanied by its mate, almost disappears from view in the upper air.” (Eaton II: 84)When Eaton and his birding companions arrived at Irondequoit Bay on an outing in early May 1902, “behind us the red shouldered hawk from her nest in the chestnut tree was watching every motion.” When one of the party began to climb the tree for a closer look at the eggs, “she had brought her mate from across the township, and their loud “Kee-yer, kee-yer, kee-yers” saved the treasures.” (“Flood-tide of migration,” D&C, 10 May 1902)Eaton (1914) considered this “probably the commonest” large hawk in western New York, even after most of the original forest had been stripped away, leaving small patches of woodland along streams and swampy tracts. He listed it as a fairly common summer resident for Monroe County, a common summer resident in Wayne County and also occurring in Livingston. (Eaton II:84, I: county charts) R. E. Horsey, in his listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913 to 1936, indicated single birds were the norm, with a maximum count of 50, on dates ranging from 16 March to 13 December.Beardslee and Mitchell still considered this a fairly common breeder throughout western New York in 1965. (B&M, p. 166) A pair had even nested on the grounds of Strong Hospital in 1948 (GOS, May/July 1948), and a nest was found in Thousand Acre Swamp in 1951. (GOS, April/June 1951) However, by the early 1950s, it was no longer seen nearly as often as Red-tailed Hawk. For example, when Leo Tanghe examined the returns from 1,665 outings by Genesee Ornithological Society members within a 50-miles radius of Rochester from 1951-1954, he found this species reported only 123 times, compared to 513 for Red-tailed Hawk. And Red-shouldered was reported only three times during June and not once during July. Nearly half of the sightings (55) came late March through the third week of April during spring migration. (KB 5: 69: 2A-2B)It did not help that as recently as 1950 these birds were still being shot; on 25 March that year, for example, Robert Dolan and Dick O’Hara “picked up a beautiful specimen of the red-shouldered hawk which had been crippled by gunshot on the west spit at Braddock Bay. The bird was in a hopeless condition and had to be destroyed.” (GOS, January/March 1950)Tanghe, in his 1953 listing of breeding birds in the Rochester area, considered this an uncommon nester here, and cited Thousand Acre Swamp and the Rochester airport as breeding locations. (GOS, May/August 1953) A pair was also reported nesting in Genesee Valley Park in 1957 “in a small patch of woods” and in 1958. (Unpublished GOS noteworthy sightings, KB8:46) Alfred Maley reported a nest at Letchworth State Park in 1964. (BA, 2 July 1964)However, Allen Kemnitzer in 1966 noted that “this species has shown a marked decline in numbers in our region during the last 10years. They appear to be almost completely absent from the swamps and moist woodlands where they nested until recently. Not one nesting record of the red-shouldered hawk was reported last year in Monroe and neighboring counties.” (WBR, 28 March 1966) “There is good reason to believe that the population of Red-shouldered Hawks has greatly diminished in recent years (pesticides?),” Bull wrote in 1974. (Bull, p. 186) “No longer does the piercing cry of the Red-shouldered Hawk echo through the many areas that once held the swamps where it bred. One after another of these breeding haunts have been drained for housing developments or agricultural land. This woodland buteo . . . is now uncommon,” Gerald Smith noted in 1988. (Andrle, p. 110)
Status
Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a regular, common (formerly very common) spring transient; a casual (formerly occasional), rare summer resident; an occasional (formerly regular), rare (formerly uncommon) fall transient, and an occasional, rare winter visitant.Livingston County, Fox (1998) considered this an occasional very rare winter visitant, a (presumably regular) rare summer resident and an occasional rare fall transient.
Occurrence
Spring: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 24 February to 9 April, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 11 to 25 March. One on 27 February 2000 (D. Tetlow) at Manitou was also quite early. (GNR)In most years had departed by 26 May, with a late departure date of 30 May.Seen primarily as a spring migrant along the Lake Ontario shoreline, where annual counts at the Braddock Bay Hawkwatch averaged 860 through 2004.One flight that started at 6:30 a.m. on 26 March 1987 was “very, very early for a buteo movement,” Jeff Dodge noted. Between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m., 212 Red-shouldereds passed the hawk lookout. (GOS, May 1987)“Not as dependent on thermals as the Broad-winged Hawk, good flights of Red-shoulders can occur on brisk northwest winds,” the Moons reported. (KB 35: 25)
Summer/breeding status: On 12 June 1993, participants on a Genesee Ornithological Society field trip were delighted to finally see one of the Red-shouldered Hawks they had been hearing. “The hawk circled and gained altitude, then it folded its wings and dove; about halfway down it pulled up, circled and gained altitude. It repeated this display several times,” Greg Hartenstein wrote. However, they had to go all the way to the Rattlesnake Hill WMA at the south end of our region to witness this marvelous courtship display. (GOS, July/August 1993)The two Breeding Bird Atlas projects dramatically illustrate the extirpation of this species from the lowland areas where it once thrived. During the first project, breeding was confined mostly to higher elevations south of Rochester, where it has been known to nest at Springwater and at Rattlesnake Hill (Fox, p. 38), but there was still some evidence of breeding in eastern Genesee, northern Livingston and southeastern Wayne counties. By the second project, no evidence of breeding was found in those areas, or anywhere else along the lake plain.
“Comparison of Atlas data and the historical record strongly suggests that the breeding distribution of the Red-shouldered Hawk has changed substantially,” Smith noted after the first BBA project. “Breeding was recorded infrequently by Atlas observers in lowland areas of the central and western counties, where the Red-tailed Hawk has replaced the Red-shouldered Hawk as the common large breeding hawk. The virtual absence of the Red-shouldered Hawk from the red maple-hardwood swamps along Lake Ontario and the scarcity of records in riparian situations on the Great Lakes Plain is striking.” Equally striking, he suggested, was the large number of records from the Adirondack and Tug Hill Plateau forests, unlike the distribution described earlier in the century. “The future of New York breeding populations of this hawk now seems closely tied to the heavily forested higher elevations of the state. Reforestation should provide additional nesting habitat for this species elsewhere as well.” (Andrle, p. 110) However, he cautioned, there is some evidence that reductions of forest cover through development and timber harvest expose Red-shouldered Hawks to competition from the more aggressive Red-tailed Hawk.
Fall: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 28 August to 29 September. Subsequently, two on 9 August 1998 (Ewald) at Braddock Bay were earlier “first of fall” arrivals. (GOS, October 1998) Also early: one on 10 August 1993 (McKinney) at Braddock Bay. (GOS, October 1993) In most years had departed by 29 October, with a late departure date of 16 November. Subsequently, one on 17 November 1991 (Czech) at Webster was later. (GOS, January 1992) See also winter records below.One on 15 October 1957 (Schmanke) was in Genesee Valley Park. (GNR) Another on 11 October 1964 (Kemnitzer) at Webster prompted the observation that this species is “very rare” except in spring. (KB 15:29, GOS December 1964)
Winter: “The other hawk usually remaining in this section the year around is the red-shouldered hawk,” Edson reported in January 1933, and, true to form, one made his list of species seen in Rochester early the following month. (“Sparrow Hawk Seen by Nature Students, Slandered by Name,” D&C, 30 January 1933; “Say Red-Shouldered Hawks Kills (sic) Vermin,” D&C, 13 February 1933)Two were at Scottsville (Raitz) on 30 January 1949. (GNR) Another on 31 December 1950 was tallied for the Rochester CBC. (GOS, September/December 1950) And two were at Genesee Valley Park (Nelson) on 18 February 1957. (Unpublished GOS noteworthy sightings) It may be more regular in winter than previously thought. Records have increased in recent years as birders spend more time afield in the winter. For example, Region 2 Kingbird reports show January or early February sightings of this species in only eight of 30 years from 1976 to 2005. However, that included the last five years in a row, as sightings accelerated with the push to accumulate Big January and Big February lists. David Tetlow and Mike Davids, in particular, have been successful in finding wintering birds. They include:
One on 4 February 1996 (Davids) at Letchworth SP. (LG, March 1996) One 21 January 1998 (D. Tetlow) at Dalton. (LG, March 1998) One on 28 January 2001 (Davids, D. Tetlow) at Carlton. (LG, March 2001) One on 25 January 2002 (D. Tetlow) at Rattlesnake Hill. (LG, March 2002) One on 26 January 2003 (D. Tetlow, Davids) at Parma. (KB53: 142) Two on 21 January 2004 (D. Tetlow) at Rattlesnake Hill. (KB54:149) One on 10 January 2005 (D. Tetlow, Davids) at Rattlesnake Hill. (KB55: 172) An immature on 21 January 2007 (D. Tetlow, Davids, Fox) at Rattlesnake Hill WMA and an adult on 28 January 2007 (D. Tetlow, Davids) at Avon. (LG, March 2007)Tetlow found a startling total of 10 at Parma and Canandaigua on 29-30 January 2006. (KB 56:151)
Fall: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 28 August to 29 September. Subsequently, two on 9 August 1998 (Ewald) at Braddock Bay were earlier “first of fall” arrivals. (GOS, October 1998) Also early: one on 10 August 1993 (McKinney) at Braddock Bay. (GOS, October 1993) In most years had departed by 29 October, with a late departure date of 16 November. Subsequently, one on 17 November 1991 (Czech) at Webster was later. (GOS, January 1992) See also winter records below.One on 15 October 1957 (Schmanke) was in Genesee Valley Park. (GNR) Another on 11 October 1964 (Kemnitzer) at Webster prompted the observation that this species is “very rare” except in spring. (KB 15:29, GOS December 1964)
Winter: “The other hawk usually remaining in this section the year around is the red-shouldered hawk,” Edson reported in January 1933, and, true to form, one made his list of species seen in Rochester early the following month. (“Sparrow Hawk Seen by Nature Students, Slandered by Name,” D&C, 30 January 1933; “Say Red-Shouldered Hawks Kills (sic) Vermin,” D&C, 13 February 1933)Two were at Scottsville (Raitz) on 30 January 1949. (GNR) Another on 31 December 1950 was tallied for the Rochester CBC. (GOS, September/December 1950) And two were at Genesee Valley Park (Nelson) on 18 February 1957. (Unpublished GOS noteworthy sightings) It may be more regular in winter than previously thought. Records have increased in recent years as birders spend more time afield in the winter. For example, Region 2 Kingbird reports show January or early February sightings of this species in only eight of 30 years from 1976 to 2005. However, that included the last five years in a row, as sightings accelerated with the push to accumulate Big January and Big February lists. David Tetlow and Mike Davids, in particular, have been successful in finding wintering birds. They include:
One on 4 February 1996 (Davids) at Letchworth SP. (LG, March 1996) One 21 January 1998 (D. Tetlow) at Dalton. (LG, March 1998) One on 28 January 2001 (Davids, D. Tetlow) at Carlton. (LG, March 2001) One on 25 January 2002 (D. Tetlow) at Rattlesnake Hill. (LG, March 2002) One on 26 January 2003 (D. Tetlow, Davids) at Parma. (KB53: 142) Two on 21 January 2004 (D. Tetlow) at Rattlesnake Hill. (KB54:149) One on 10 January 2005 (D. Tetlow, Davids) at Rattlesnake Hill. (KB55: 172) An immature on 21 January 2007 (D. Tetlow, Davids, Fox) at Rattlesnake Hill WMA and an adult on 28 January 2007 (D. Tetlow, Davids) at Avon. (LG, March 2007)Tetlow found a startling total of 10 at Parma and Canandaigua on 29-30 January 2006. (KB 56:151)
Broad-winged Hawk
Buteo platypterusBroad-winged Hawk
The forecast for 27 April 1987 was just what the hawkwatchers were waiting for. A classic low pressure system was passing north of Lake Ontario, setting up the warm southwest breezes that, in late April, bring Broad-winged Hawks streaming by the thousands over Braddock Bay. Heavy rains to the south, it was hoped, had blocked the raptors from passing around our region during the three previous days of unfavorable winds. “There was so much excitement about the upcoming day,” Jeff Dodge recalled, that he took the day off from work. Frank Nicoletti, chief observer that spring, was too excited to sleep. “He paced the whole night through,” Dodge recalled. Morning arrived. No southwest winds. “You couldn’t feel a breeze on your face,” Dodge related. By 7:45 a.m. only a couple of Sharp-shinned Hawks had passed by. And then, about 8 a.m., the wind started to kick in from the south. Dodge went for coffee, and by the time he returned “Frankie was clicking up a storm. I knew we had it nailed.” And how. On this day, 41,184 raptors flew past Braddock Bay, of which 34,818 were Broad-wingeds. “It was a day that kept Frank giggling for hours, it was a day that you just had to be there, and it was a day that you will never forget,” Dodge wrote. (GOS, June 1987)
Background
“Secretive while nesting but conspicuous in migration,” this small, stocky buteo is one of the few North American raptors that flocks during migration, forming spectacular “kettles” that can number in the hundreds, even thousands. It is one of the latest raptors to migrate in spring, probably because it relies heavily on cold-blooded prey. It breeds in forests across much of southern Canada and almost all of eastern U.S., wintering in Central and South America. Nesting pairs spend most of their time beneath the forest canopy, perch-hunting for insects, amphibians, reptiles, mammals and birds. Compared to Red-shouldered Hawks, prefers younger forests with more openings. Reforestation in the Northeast may have benefited Broad-wingeds. This species also may be expanding its range westward. Preservation of forest patches for roosting along major flyways, especially in southern Texas and eastern Mexico, may be vitally important for this species. (BNA 218: 1, 3, 5, 7, 17-18)
Local history
Long before the advent of the Braddock Bay Hawkwatch, birders knew of the spectacular “kettles” of migrating Broad-wingeds along the south lakeshore, peaking near the end of April. But they had only a glimpse of the sheer magnitude of the flights that are possible under the right conditions.For example, Eaton (1910) noted that “large flights” of migrants occurred “in the country immediately south of Lake Ontario” in late April and early October. But he listed this as only a common, rather than abundant migrant, in Monroe and Wayne counties. At that time it was a rare summer resident in both counties, also occurring in Livingston. (Eaton I: 87, county charts)R. E. Horsey, in his listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913 to 1936, indicated average counts of one to 20 birds, but a maximum count of 1,900 on one day in spring of 1933. His range of dates for the spring migration was 18 March through 13 May. He listed 16 August to 21 November for the range of dates in fall, with no more than two at a time being seen at that season. He gave no indication of it being a summer resident.When Leo Tanghe examined the returns from 1,665 outings by Genesee Ornithological Society members within a 50-miles radius of Rochester from 1951-1954, he found this species reported 92 times, with the vast majority of reports (74) occurring last half April through third week of May during the spring hawkflights. There were no summer reports and only six in fall. (KB 5: 69: 2A-2B) Tanghe indicated average counts of 500-700 during spring migration. Even larger tallies were being recorded, however. In 1951, the peak observed flight was 4,124 (Kemnitzer, Bieber) on 29 April (GOS, April/June 1951); four years later, 4,500 were tallied by Raetz, Wolf and Zimmer on 22 April (GOS, April-December 1955), then 8,000 on 25 April 1959 (Listman et al) at the hawk lookout. (GNR)During spring 1973 there were eight days with flights of 1,000 or more, including 5,000 on 2 May (mob) at Braddock Bay and 4,950 on 29 May (Czech) at Webster. (GNR) The following year Jerry Czech tallied 7,640 at Webster on 28 April, the same day that 5,162 were counted at Braddock Bay by participants on a Genesee Ornithological Society field trip. (GOS, June 1974) On 2 May 1975, Tom Tetlow’s tally at Braddock Bay reached 9,110. (GNR) All of these numbers, impressive as they are, pale next to the 34,818 tallied in a single day – or the 10,000 in 20 minutes – that make the Broad-winged flight the centerpiece of the spring hawk migration.
Status
Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a regular, abundant spring transient along the south shore of Lake Ontario; an irregular, rare summer resident; an irregular, uncommon fall transient, and a casual, rare winter visitant.Livingston County, Fox (1998) considered this a (presumably regular fairly common) spring transient and a regular uncommon summer resident.
Occurrence
Spring: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 13 March to 2 May, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 15 to 25 April. In most years had departed by 6 June, with a late departure date of 30 June.This is generally the last buteo to arrive here in peak numbers each spring, because it travels the farthest, migrating from wintering grounds as far away as Peru and Brazil, and because its relies heavily on cold blooded reptiles for prey. A very early migrant at Braddock Bay on 26 March 1986 may have been a bird that wintered farther north than normal. (KB36: 148)It is not unusual for good numbers to still be pushing through well into June. In 1953, for example, a small flight was reported as late as 26 June (KB 3:73); on 27 June 1979, Mike Davids tallied 15 moving along the west lakeshore. (LG, July 1979) A total of 3,413 were tallied that month at Braddock Bay. (KB 29: 216)It is also by far the most common migrating raptor in spring here, averaging 28,080 a year through 2004 at the Hawkwatch. With right weather patterns, staggering counts are possible, including that 34,818 on 27 April 1987 (GOS, June 1987) and those 10,000 in 20 minutes at Kendall (C. Cass, Spahn, Wood) on 25 April 1979. (GNR) See chart below. As many as 3,000 were in view at one time at Braddock Bay on 20 April 1963 during a “brief but very concentrated” early morning hawk flight that started about 6:45 a.m., John Brown reported. (BA, 25 April 1963)Another 5,000 passed the lookout in about an hour and a half on 2 May 1973. “A rain drove many of them down later and they were perched in trees all along the lakeshore,” Brown reported. (BA, 3 May 1973) Chip Perrigo had a similar experience on 25 April 1979 when an approaching frontal system pushed 4,000 over Hamlin Beach SP in a single hour. “One vortex (or ‘mega-kettle’) alone contained over 700 hawks, and by early evening the park woodlands were saturated with roosting Broad-wings,” he reported. (LG, May 1979)
Note that even when a record single-day flight doesn’t occur, large numbers can pass through in a very short span of days. For example, 11,114 on 20 April 2003 were followed by 9,872 the next day at Braddock Bay. (LG, June 2003) Summer/breeding status: Eaton said it was “almost unknown as a breeding species” in central and western New York – no doubt reflecting loss of the forested areas it prefers. (Eaton II: 87) More recent reforestation due to loss of farmland has no doubt benefited this species. (Andrle, p. 112) By 1970, birders “suspect, but cannot yet prove” breeding in the region after July sightings that year in the hills south of Rochester. (KB 20:187) Then, two nests were located at Letchworth SP in 1974. (KB24: 189) The BBA projects came up with fairly similar results: Most breeding records were from higher elevations in southern Livingston and Ontario Counties with only scattered evidence of breeding in the lake plain.
“When found on its nest, it often sits tight until the observer is quite close. Some individuals will even allow themselves to be lifted off the nest by hand,” Levine noted. (Andrle, p. 112)Occasionally turns up away from known breeding sites in mid summer. Listman, for example, saw one on 5 July 1959 along Payne Beach Road. (GNR) One was at Greece (J. and J. Dodge) on 4 July 1979 and another along the west lakeshore (N. Henderson) 12 days later. (GNR) Fall: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 10 August to 23 September, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 16 August to 1 September. Subsequently, 31 on 8 August 1999 (Ewald) at Braddock Bay were earlier “first of fall” arrivals (GNR). In most years had departed by 1 October, with a late departure date of 21 October. However, one on 26 October 1980 (Sherony) at Fairport was even later (GNR), as was one on 28 October 1984 (D. and D. Traver) at Webster (GNR) and one on 28 October 1995 (Griffith) at Durand-Eastman Park. (LG, November 1995)Good numbers can be seen during the dispersal flights of hawks past Braddock Bay in late summer, including 1,112 on 17 August 1991 when 2,218 Red-taileds also were tallied. (LG, October 1991) During 2001-2003, the annual late July to early September tallies were 451, 335 and 202, respectively. (Inside the Kettle, March 2004) Fall maxima: 275 on 9 August 1998 (Ewald) at Braddock Bay. (LG, October 1998) 1,112 on 17 August 1991 at Braddock Bay. (LG, October 1991)
Winter: Rarely seen in winter, when most have departed for South America. “In western New York I have never seen a winter specimen,” Eaton (1910) wrote. (Eaton I: 87) An immature that lingered at Flynn Road in Greece on 22 December 1963 (Listman) was the area’s first winter record. (KB14: 98) Another unaccountably wintered near the Castile entrance to Letchworth SP (D. Bassett) all January into February 1984 (GNR, KB34: 112), which was considered “very rare for this region and even North America at this season.” Misc.
Dark phase birds are occasionally reported, such as one on 28 April 1987 (C. Taylor) at Braddock Bay (LG, May 1987) and another on 14 June 2001 (D. Tetlow) at Parma. (LG, September 2001)
SIDEBAR: “ONE OF THE GREATEST SPECTACLES IN NATURE”
Fred Raetz was in the right place – Braddock Bay – at the right time – the morning of 22 April 1955. “In a virtually unbelievable half hour between 8 and 8:30 a.m. the air was filled with broad-winged hawks, many of them circling in very low. In those 30 minutes he counted approximately 3,000 of them and estimated there must have been a thousand more,” John Brown reported. (BA, 28 April 1955)Even that incredible tally has been exceeded. Brett Ewald, summarizing the spring 1991 hawkwatch, described a “gigantic wave of Broad-winged Hawks that inundated the hawkwatch” from 1 to 1:25 p.m. on 29 April. “These 25 minutes brought 8,376 raptors – a full 20 percent of the season total.” (LG, August 1991)On 12 May 1984, with a thunderstorm approaching from the west, Jeff Dodge tallied 2,906 Broadwings streaming by from 8 to 9 a.m. “in huge kettles of 397, 367, 296, 326, etc.” (GOS, July/August 1984) “In many places, hawk watching is the same thing as watching the Broad-winged Hawk,” Dunne, Sibley and Sutton note in their classic Hawks in Flight. “And why not? The annual spring and fall exodus of the Broad-winged must be one of the greatest spectacles in nature. Even veterans who have seen it for many seasons leave the lookout on the big day speechless with awe.” (Dunne, p. 32)The sight of hundreds, even thousands of Broad-wingeds circling within a thermal of warm air is usually called a kettle, but is also referred to as a “boil,” so startling is the resemblance to water bubbling on the stove. John Brown, watching a flight of Broad-wingeds spiraling almost out of sight, said the “Sky at times looked as though it had been lightly dusted with a huge pepper shaker.” (BA, 30 April 1959) This observer, seeing a large kettle over Island Cottage Wood immediately drew a less pleasant comparison: It reminded him of maggots crawling over a carcass.So what, exactly, is happening when these huge flights occur? As with other raptors migrating along our shoreline, flocks of Broad-winged Hawks take advantage of rising thermals of warm air off the earth’s surface to provide lift and help them conserve energy as they migrate north.“Adept at soaring in thermals; rarely resorts to flapping flight” notes the profile of this species in The Birds of North America series. “Typically soars up in a thermal, then glides to the next.”Migrating Broad-wings especially like warm southwest winds, Laura and Neill Moon noted in their summary of the first eight years of the Braddock Bay hawk watch. “A kettle of Broad-wings will find a strong thermal and climb in a spiral sometimes so close together that it looks like they might collide with one another. Often the number of Broad-wings in a kettle will continue to increase as other birds are attracted to the rising column of air. When they finally get high enough or the thermal runs out, they all peel off in a glide to the southeast. That is when we can count them best, but by that time they may also be very high. The kettle size can vary from five to 600 or more.” (KB 35: 26) However, even in late April/early May when peak flights of Broad-wingeds occur here, the water of Lake Ontario remains relatively cold. No thermals of warm air rise from its surface. So, as flocks of Broad-wings are pushed up against the south shore of the lake by the southwest winds, they “hang a right” and follow the lakeshore to the east. As the lakeshore curves sharply southeastward at the western part of Monroe County, the birds are funneled over Braddock Bay.How many Broad-wingeds might a single kettle hold? Carm Gumina recounted how participants in an RBA field trip gathered in the parking lot at Island Cottage Wood on 19 May 1996, preparatory to moving on to their next stop. “Someone said, ‘Hey, what kind of hawk is that?’ We looked up, and what was a small group of 5 Broad-Wings turned into an unbelievable kettle of over 1500!!! This number was later confirmed by Mike Lanzone at the Hawk-Watch.” (LG, June 1996)Unlike Turkey Vultures and Red-tailed Hawks, “Broad-winged Hawks will not migrate along the lakeshore in adverse conditions,” noted the BBRR report for spring 1988. (GOS, August/ September 1988) “They only migrate in good conditions wherever that may place them.”In other words, if onshore breezes begin pushing cooler lake air over the land immediately along the lakeshore, kettles may be kept farther inland. On 21 April 1985, for example, the southwest wind flowing into the Rochester area was “too weak to ‘hold its own’ at the lakeshore,” where breezes were still from the northeast, Laura and Neil Moon reported. Even spotters at inland stations at Frisbee Hill and Hilton Northwood Elementary school reported northeast breezes. However, the temperature was 7 to 12 degrees warmer at those locations. So that’s where the Broad-wingeds were found. There, and at Bailey Road, Parma, at the edge of the southwest air flow. Of 12,003 raptors tallied that day, only 891 were counted at the hawkwatch platform and the West Spit; the rest were inland. “Visitors to the hawk lookout reported Broadwings kettling inland as early as 8 a.m., and reports kept coming in all morning of Broadwings seen all the way south to Ridge Road and Ridgeway Avenue.” (GOS, June 1985)Moreover, variable conditions may produce widely different tallies at various points along the lakeshore. Consider what happened, for example, when Braddock Bay Raptor Research had observers not only at Braddock Bay but also at Sodus Bay in spring 1989. Peak flight at Braddock Bay was 4,247 on 21 May; Sodus Bay had a peak flight almost twice as large – 8,465 – on a different day, 26 April, according to BBRR’s summary report. (GOS, October 1989)Though this species is generally averse to flying into headwinds, flights do occasionally occur even when winds are unfavorable. For example, 6,000 were migrating along the west lakeshore 22 April 1965 on an “unfavorable flight day, with light northeast winds.” (KB15: 165)
Winter: Rarely seen in winter, when most have departed for South America. “In western New York I have never seen a winter specimen,” Eaton (1910) wrote. (Eaton I: 87) An immature that lingered at Flynn Road in Greece on 22 December 1963 (Listman) was the area’s first winter record. (KB14: 98) Another unaccountably wintered near the Castile entrance to Letchworth SP (D. Bassett) all January into February 1984 (GNR, KB34: 112), which was considered “very rare for this region and even North America at this season.” Misc.
Dark phase birds are occasionally reported, such as one on 28 April 1987 (C. Taylor) at Braddock Bay (LG, May 1987) and another on 14 June 2001 (D. Tetlow) at Parma. (LG, September 2001)
SIDEBAR: “ONE OF THE GREATEST SPECTACLES IN NATURE”
Fred Raetz was in the right place – Braddock Bay – at the right time – the morning of 22 April 1955. “In a virtually unbelievable half hour between 8 and 8:30 a.m. the air was filled with broad-winged hawks, many of them circling in very low. In those 30 minutes he counted approximately 3,000 of them and estimated there must have been a thousand more,” John Brown reported. (BA, 28 April 1955)Even that incredible tally has been exceeded. Brett Ewald, summarizing the spring 1991 hawkwatch, described a “gigantic wave of Broad-winged Hawks that inundated the hawkwatch” from 1 to 1:25 p.m. on 29 April. “These 25 minutes brought 8,376 raptors – a full 20 percent of the season total.” (LG, August 1991)On 12 May 1984, with a thunderstorm approaching from the west, Jeff Dodge tallied 2,906 Broadwings streaming by from 8 to 9 a.m. “in huge kettles of 397, 367, 296, 326, etc.” (GOS, July/August 1984) “In many places, hawk watching is the same thing as watching the Broad-winged Hawk,” Dunne, Sibley and Sutton note in their classic Hawks in Flight. “And why not? The annual spring and fall exodus of the Broad-winged must be one of the greatest spectacles in nature. Even veterans who have seen it for many seasons leave the lookout on the big day speechless with awe.” (Dunne, p. 32)The sight of hundreds, even thousands of Broad-wingeds circling within a thermal of warm air is usually called a kettle, but is also referred to as a “boil,” so startling is the resemblance to water bubbling on the stove. John Brown, watching a flight of Broad-wingeds spiraling almost out of sight, said the “Sky at times looked as though it had been lightly dusted with a huge pepper shaker.” (BA, 30 April 1959) This observer, seeing a large kettle over Island Cottage Wood immediately drew a less pleasant comparison: It reminded him of maggots crawling over a carcass.So what, exactly, is happening when these huge flights occur? As with other raptors migrating along our shoreline, flocks of Broad-winged Hawks take advantage of rising thermals of warm air off the earth’s surface to provide lift and help them conserve energy as they migrate north.“Adept at soaring in thermals; rarely resorts to flapping flight” notes the profile of this species in The Birds of North America series. “Typically soars up in a thermal, then glides to the next.”Migrating Broad-wings especially like warm southwest winds, Laura and Neill Moon noted in their summary of the first eight years of the Braddock Bay hawk watch. “A kettle of Broad-wings will find a strong thermal and climb in a spiral sometimes so close together that it looks like they might collide with one another. Often the number of Broad-wings in a kettle will continue to increase as other birds are attracted to the rising column of air. When they finally get high enough or the thermal runs out, they all peel off in a glide to the southeast. That is when we can count them best, but by that time they may also be very high. The kettle size can vary from five to 600 or more.” (KB 35: 26) However, even in late April/early May when peak flights of Broad-wingeds occur here, the water of Lake Ontario remains relatively cold. No thermals of warm air rise from its surface. So, as flocks of Broad-wings are pushed up against the south shore of the lake by the southwest winds, they “hang a right” and follow the lakeshore to the east. As the lakeshore curves sharply southeastward at the western part of Monroe County, the birds are funneled over Braddock Bay.How many Broad-wingeds might a single kettle hold? Carm Gumina recounted how participants in an RBA field trip gathered in the parking lot at Island Cottage Wood on 19 May 1996, preparatory to moving on to their next stop. “Someone said, ‘Hey, what kind of hawk is that?’ We looked up, and what was a small group of 5 Broad-Wings turned into an unbelievable kettle of over 1500!!! This number was later confirmed by Mike Lanzone at the Hawk-Watch.” (LG, June 1996)Unlike Turkey Vultures and Red-tailed Hawks, “Broad-winged Hawks will not migrate along the lakeshore in adverse conditions,” noted the BBRR report for spring 1988. (GOS, August/ September 1988) “They only migrate in good conditions wherever that may place them.”In other words, if onshore breezes begin pushing cooler lake air over the land immediately along the lakeshore, kettles may be kept farther inland. On 21 April 1985, for example, the southwest wind flowing into the Rochester area was “too weak to ‘hold its own’ at the lakeshore,” where breezes were still from the northeast, Laura and Neil Moon reported. Even spotters at inland stations at Frisbee Hill and Hilton Northwood Elementary school reported northeast breezes. However, the temperature was 7 to 12 degrees warmer at those locations. So that’s where the Broad-wingeds were found. There, and at Bailey Road, Parma, at the edge of the southwest air flow. Of 12,003 raptors tallied that day, only 891 were counted at the hawkwatch platform and the West Spit; the rest were inland. “Visitors to the hawk lookout reported Broadwings kettling inland as early as 8 a.m., and reports kept coming in all morning of Broadwings seen all the way south to Ridge Road and Ridgeway Avenue.” (GOS, June 1985)Moreover, variable conditions may produce widely different tallies at various points along the lakeshore. Consider what happened, for example, when Braddock Bay Raptor Research had observers not only at Braddock Bay but also at Sodus Bay in spring 1989. Peak flight at Braddock Bay was 4,247 on 21 May; Sodus Bay had a peak flight almost twice as large – 8,465 – on a different day, 26 April, according to BBRR’s summary report. (GOS, October 1989)Though this species is generally averse to flying into headwinds, flights do occasionally occur even when winds are unfavorable. For example, 6,000 were migrating along the west lakeshore 22 April 1965 on an “unfavorable flight day, with light northeast winds.” (KB15: 165)
Swainson’s Hawk
Buteo swainsoniSwainson’s Hawk
One of these rare, but now regular stragglers from the west offered an interesting insight into the mechanics and pace of the spring hawkflights along the south shore of the lake. At 3:15 p.m. on 20 April 1992, an immature light phase Swainson’s Hawk was discovered flying past Braddock Bay by Bill Clark, and seen by several other observers. “The bird had several feathers missing in one wing. The next day at about noon, an immature Swainson’s with the same missing feathers passed by Derby Hill at the east end of the lake.” (LG, May 1992) Derby Hill is about 82 miles (about 130 km) east of Braddock Bay – as a Swainson’s Hawk would fly. Assuming that the Swainson’s probably put down to roost not long after passing Braddock Bay, it would still be no problem to reach Derby Hill the next day. After all, these hawks cover an average of 194 km per day during migration, and have been known to cover as much as 565 km in a day. (BNA 265:5) Background
The migration of this species through Central America, to and from its breeding grounds in western Canada, U.S. and Mexico and its wintering grounds in South America, has been described as among “the most impressive avian gatherings in North America, since the demise of the Passenger Pigeon.” Nearly 350,000 have passed over a single point in Panama City in October and November; up to 845,000 have been counted in a single autumn in Veracruz, Mexico. When not breeding, this species feeds almost exclusively on insects, not typical of a buteo. Though it has adjusted to agriculture in many parts of its range, its numbers have declined significantly in parts of the western U.S., and satellite telemetry in 1995 showed that thousands were dying on their Argentina wintering grounds because of pesticides. Despite this, observations in the eastern U.S. have increased since the 1970s, especially in the fall; it is not clear if these are simply wind-borne birds, or perhaps ones migrating to a small wintering area at the southern tip of Florida. (BNA 265: 1-2, 5)
Local history
Our first record of this species allegedly dates to a specimen taken at Brockport on 1 October 1889. (Eaton II:86) Though accepted by Eaton and by Beardslee and Mitchell, Bull in 1974 was skeptical, noting the immature, which had been caught in a trap, had not been seen by an ornithologist, and no specimen remained for examination. (Bull, p. 189) First accepted record here was one on 2 May 1975 (Lloyd, Sprague) at Webster (KB 25:153-4) – after two reportedly seen the previous spring had not been formally submitted. Two more birds were reported in May 1979 at Braddock Bay, followed by another the following April in Kendall. (KB 29:146; 30: 166)Starting in 1986 seen almost annually, usually from the hawkwatch platform at Braddock Bay.
Status
Now a rare but regular spring visitant.
Occurrence
More than 41 sightings, all in April and May, on dates ranging from 7 April (1986) to 30 May (1989). Usually only one or two birds at a time, and only one or two sightings a season.However three were seen at Braddock Bay on 26 April 1996, during a record spring flight when a total of 13 were tallied. (KB 46:233) “Records of Swainson’s Hawk are becoming increasingly frequent in New York and eastern North America as a whole,” NYSARC noted in 2003. “Whether the increase in reports is due to a range expansion, increased vigilance (such as more hawkwatches or improved knowledge on the part of field observers) is unclear.” (KB53: 286)From NYSARC’s 2002 annual report: “Key identification features presented in the descriptions were whitish bodies, underwing coverts and axillaries, dark flight feathers and solid dark breasts. The long, pointed wings further distinguished these birds from Red-tailed (B. jamaicensis) and Rough-legged Hawks (B. lagopus). . . . Spring hawk watches along the eastern shores of Lake Erie and southern shore of Lake Ontario remain the most likely places in the state to encounter this western prairie (and open farmland) specialist.” (KB 54:290)
Misc.
A dark-phase bird, rare in the east, flew by Braddock Bay on 8 April 2001 (Sherony, M. and J. Tetlow) and also passed by Derby Hill near the east end of the lake. (LG, June 2001) An immature dark morph on 11 May 2007 (D. Tetlow) was also at Braddock Bay. (LG, July/August 2007)
Red-tailed Hawk
Buteo jamaicensisRed-tailed Hawk
For two weeks in 1980, it was a risky business crossing the Veterans Memorial Bridge on foot or bicycle. A nest containing two baby Red-tailed Hawks was located beneath the structure, and the parent birds had been protecting them “by swooping down on joggers, other pedestrians and bicycle riders crossing the bridge,” the Times-Union reported. Several injuries had been reported. And yet, just as state employees were being lowered in a bucket to “snatch” the babies away, a court order obtained by the Burroughs Audubon Nature Club arrived stopping them from doing so. (“Judge orders: Don’t move hawks,” TU, 22 May 1980) Several Kodak employees who used the bridge applauded the court’s action. One engineer said crossing the bridge had become “sort of an adventure rather than a mortal peril.” Bicyclist Bill Stear added: “I’m sorry to see them (trying to) take the hawks. They’re only doing their thing – protecting their family. You’d do the same thing.” Quite a different attitude from the days not too long ago when the only good hawk was a dead one!
Background
This widespread, familiar hawk “occupies a broad range of habitats from central Alaska south to Panama and east to the Virgin Islands,” preferring open areas interspersed with patches of trees. This “sit and wait” predator expanded its range in the eastern U.S. with the clearing of forests, and in the western U.S. with increased fire suppression. “Both practices tend to encourage a patchwork of woodland and large open areas favored by Red-tails.” In the process it has largely replaced Red-shouldered Hawk in partially cleared bottomland forest through much of the eastern and Midwestern U.S., and Swainson’s and Ferruginous Hawks in parts of the Great Plains. Migration is complex and “annually variable with weather” but usually only birds in the northern parts of the range move south for winter. These are opportunistic predators, “focusing on the largest prey (up to jackrabbit size) that is readily available,” notes the profile of this species in The Birds of North America series. Populations are increasing in much of North America, “apparently in response to the widespread establishment of open, wooded parkland in place of grassland or dense forest.” (BNA 52: 1-2, 4, 7, 15)
Local history
Eaton (1914) found it breeding in all portions of the state, and wintering “sparingly in the warmer counties.” During March and October, large numbers of migrants were observed, “often being seen in numbers near Rochester, at least, after the summer residents have eggs well advanced in incubation.” Summer residents in western New York seemed to “prefer upland or hilly country, leaving the swamps more exclusively to the Red-shouldered Hawk,” he wrote. He listed this as a common resident in Livingston and Wayne counties, and fairly common in Monroe, where it was common as a migrant. (Eaton II: 81-2, I: county charts) R. E. Horsey, in his listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913 to 1936, indicated this was both a resident and migrant species, with single birds the norm, but a maximum count of 40. “Sometimes not reported in winter,” he added.That has clearly changed. When Leo Tanghe examined the returns from 1,665 outings by Genesee Ornithological Society members within a 50-miles radius of Rochester from 1951-1954, he found this species reported 513 times, more often than any other buteo. That included 61 sightings in January and February. Average counts of 20 to 30 were tallied during peak spring flights. (KB 5: 69: 2A-2B)The Red-tailed remains our most common resident buteo at all seasons, often seen hunched along our interstates and other divided highways where wide-open medians provide prime hunting for small rodents. It has adapted to a wide variety of breeding habitats, Gerald Smith notes, “from large city parks and cemeteries to woodlots mixed with agriculture to heavy forests with some open areas . . . Some modification of habitat, including increased forest fragmentation and agriculture, apparently even benefits this species by providing additional nesting habitat and permitting access to areas previously better suited to other raptor species.” (Andrle, p. 114)Another downtown breeding site was discovered in 1991 when a pair nested on a ledge along the Genesee River near the old Platt Street Bridge in the High Falls area of downtown Rochester. (Birds, 30 June 1991)
Status
Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a fairly common permanent resident; a regular, common to very common spring transient and a regular, common fall transient. Livingston County, Fox (1998) considered this a regular common summer resident and winter visitant, and a (presumably regular fairly common) spring and fall transient.
Occurrence
Spring: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 20 February to 8 April, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 10 to 28 March. In most years migrants had departed by 16 May, with a late departure date of 11 June.Many of the Red-taileds in our region are year-round residents. However, birds also come down from the north to winter, and it is an abundant spring migrant here – when resident birds are already on the nest. Not surprisingly, this is one of the earliest raptors to begin migrating in good numbers. Seventy-two, for example, were tallied by the end of February 1981 at Braddock Bay. (KB 31:91)Average tally at the Braddock Bay hawkwatch was 4,677 per spring through 2004, but 11,412 flew by in 1986.
Along with Turkey Vulture, this species will “persistently migrate along the lakeshore even under adverse conditions.” (GOS, August/September 1988) However, as with other migrating raptors, weather is a key factor in determining when peak flights occur. Note, for example, this description of the weather leading up to two 1,000+ flights in three days in March 1987, when 1,022 Red-tailed Hawks were part of a flight of 1,497 raptors on the 24th, and another 1,625 were part of a 3,313-raptor movement two days later: “The flight of 3/26 finished off an interesting series of weather events,” explained Jeffery Dodge, Clayton Taylor and Frank Nicoletti in a monthly report in the Goshawk. “A series of high pressure systems were stuck just below Rochester in Pennsylvania from 3/10-3/22. On the 24th and 25th the high moved south and east, producing SE winds and warm temperatures from the Gulf of Mexico. It also brought flights of 1497 (total raptors) and 207 respectively. A classic low pressure system passed to the north of us the next morning and produced the magnificent flight of the 26th. It is important to note that the passage of the front occurred in mid to late morning. Temperature never was significant, though winds were strong. The flight started at 6:30 a.m., which is very, very early for a buteo movement, and slowed significantly at 11:00 a.m. There were 212 Red-shouldered Hawks between 7-8 a.m. and 868 Red-tailed Hawks by 10 a.m.” (GOS, May 1987)
Summer/breeding status: Both BBA projects found evidence of breeding in almost every block of our region, even coming up with an identical number of blocks in which breeding was confirmed.
Summer/breeding status: Both BBA projects found evidence of breeding in almost every block of our region, even coming up with an identical number of blocks in which breeding was confirmed.
Fall: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 11 August to 19 September, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 16 to 30 August. In most years transients had departed by 5 November, with a late departure date of 10 November. “There is also speculation as to the size and extent of the hawk movement at Rochester in August,” the Goshawk editors reported in August 1955. “In late summer numbers of Red-tails apparently wander up to the lakeshore from nesting areas to the south. They then drift east along the shore and resemble in a small way the spring migration.” (GOS, April/December 1955) Forty-five were tallied by Listman, O’Hara and Starling along with three Broad-winged Hawks from Braddock Bay to Shore Acres on 30 August 1958. (GNR) Eighty-three, 263 and 267 were tallied at Braddock Bay on, respectively, 16, 17 and 19 August 1978, “nearly all of these being immatures.” (KB28: 239) The Dobsons tallied 514 in just two hours there on 31 August 1980 (GNR); Laura Moon and C. Bennem counted another 240 in two hours on 11 August 1981 at Durand Eastman Park. Another 303 were tallied the 15th and 16th at Braddock Bay by Jeff Dodge. (GNR) These northbound flights “take place on warmer days with southwest winds between the third week of July and first week of September,” and are “probably related to dispersal” of post-natal migrants – birds fledged earlier the same year – which constitute 99 percent of the birds observed. (LG, December 2003)An interesting two-direction traffic flow was observed on 13 August 1977, when 317 immatures (Symonds) were headed west over Kendall, and 74 immatures (J. Skelly) were headed east over Braddock Bay. “This incredible paradox of anti-directional movements only a dozen miles apart has caused occasional arguments and appropriate disbelief, but it has prospered our knowledge of one undeniable fact – we have much to learn about the complexities of a Fall hawk migration,” Chip Perrigo concluded. (LG, September 1977)Much larger numbers have been tallied thanks to more systematic late-summer watches.Truly remarkable, for example, was a flight of 2,218 on 17 August 1991. As Jeff Dodge noted, this was “more redtails than have ever been seen in any single day in spring at Braddock Bay and more Redtails than any other site has seen in a single day, anytime – spring or fall!” And that was likely only a part of the flight. “The air was very humid and hazy,” Dodge noted. “As a result, visibility was very poor. On several trips up and down Manitou Beach Road, a distance of over two miles, Redtails were seen in every direction, at all altitudes, for as far as the observers could see. It is estimated that over 5,000 Red-tailed Hawks moved through the area.” (LG, October 1991)Late summer totals for 2001-2003 were 4,322; 6,747, and 4,399. (Inside the Kettle, March 2004) Another 4,264 were tallied at Braddock Bay by Dave Tetlow during August 2004. (LG, October 2004)
Fall maxima: 1,428 on 9 August 1998 (Ewald) at Braddock Bay. (LG, October 1998) 1,130 on 11 August 2002 (D. Tetlow) at Braddock Bay. (LG, October 2002) 1,035 on 13 August 2002 (D. Tetlow) at Braddock Bay. (LG, October 2002) 1,175 on 14 August 2002 (D. Tetlow) at Braddock Bay. (LG, October 2002) 2,218 on 17 August 1991 at Braddock Bay. (LG, October 1991) 1,389 on 25 August 2007 (D. Tetlow) at Braddock Bay. (LG, October 2007)
Winter: Particularly interesting was the behavior of one adult wintering in the Cobb’s Hill Park area in 1992/93. “The bird would sail along low over the barren tree tops, suddenly plummeting and landing with great force atop grey squirrel nests.” This was almost certainly a learned behavior, Jeff Bouton suggested, apparently an attempt to flush the squirrels from their nests. (The Raptor Researcher 7/1:14)
Winter maxima: 40 on 22 December 1968 (mob) Little Lakes CBC. (GNR) 13 on 25 December 1971 (Perrigo) at Mendon Ponds. (GOS, February 1972) 22 on 24 January 1971 (Tetlows) from Scottsville to Perry. (GNR) 17 on 11 February 1962 (Foster, T. Tetlow) Reed Road area. (GNR) 21 on 19 February 1978 (Genesee Ornithological Society hike) at Avon. (GNR) 15 on 27 February 1954 (McKinney) at Scottsville. (GOS, January-February 1954) 21 on 29 February 1968 (Maley) Little Lakes area. (GNR)
Misc.
“Calurus” and “Krieder’s” Red-tailed Hawks, western subspecies, are regularly reported here in spring in small numbers. During spring 1986, for example, an adult and an immature Calurus and two adult and three immature Krieder’s were tallied by Braddock Bay Raptor research, including one Krieder’s banded. (GOS, December 1986) Two Calurus and four Krieder’s were tallied in April 1992. (GOS, July/August 1992)However, they are “very unusual” in fall. A “Kreider’s” was at Hamlin (D. Tetlow) on 15 November 2004. Calurus Red-taileds were reported on the 6th (D. Tetlow) and 23rd (D. Daniels) of that month at Kendall and Pultneyville. (LG, January 2005) Another western subspecies, Harlan’s, was reported on 6 May 1984 (D. Sherony) at Webster. (GNR)Banded birds: A dispersing immature banded near Braddock Bay in August 1989 was trapped again on North Hamlin Road on 19 March 1993 in excellent physical condition. “When released, the bird flew immediately to join another larger red-tailed sitting nearby and copulated with her.” At that time it was the only known Red-tail of nearly 1,500 banded here in August to return to breed locally as an adult. (The Raptor Researcher, 7/1:14)
Fall maxima: 1,428 on 9 August 1998 (Ewald) at Braddock Bay. (LG, October 1998) 1,130 on 11 August 2002 (D. Tetlow) at Braddock Bay. (LG, October 2002) 1,035 on 13 August 2002 (D. Tetlow) at Braddock Bay. (LG, October 2002) 1,175 on 14 August 2002 (D. Tetlow) at Braddock Bay. (LG, October 2002) 2,218 on 17 August 1991 at Braddock Bay. (LG, October 1991) 1,389 on 25 August 2007 (D. Tetlow) at Braddock Bay. (LG, October 2007)
Winter: Particularly interesting was the behavior of one adult wintering in the Cobb’s Hill Park area in 1992/93. “The bird would sail along low over the barren tree tops, suddenly plummeting and landing with great force atop grey squirrel nests.” This was almost certainly a learned behavior, Jeff Bouton suggested, apparently an attempt to flush the squirrels from their nests. (The Raptor Researcher 7/1:14)
Winter maxima: 40 on 22 December 1968 (mob) Little Lakes CBC. (GNR) 13 on 25 December 1971 (Perrigo) at Mendon Ponds. (GOS, February 1972) 22 on 24 January 1971 (Tetlows) from Scottsville to Perry. (GNR) 17 on 11 February 1962 (Foster, T. Tetlow) Reed Road area. (GNR) 21 on 19 February 1978 (Genesee Ornithological Society hike) at Avon. (GNR) 15 on 27 February 1954 (McKinney) at Scottsville. (GOS, January-February 1954) 21 on 29 February 1968 (Maley) Little Lakes area. (GNR)
Misc.
“Calurus” and “Krieder’s” Red-tailed Hawks, western subspecies, are regularly reported here in spring in small numbers. During spring 1986, for example, an adult and an immature Calurus and two adult and three immature Krieder’s were tallied by Braddock Bay Raptor research, including one Krieder’s banded. (GOS, December 1986) Two Calurus and four Krieder’s were tallied in April 1992. (GOS, July/August 1992)However, they are “very unusual” in fall. A “Kreider’s” was at Hamlin (D. Tetlow) on 15 November 2004. Calurus Red-taileds were reported on the 6th (D. Tetlow) and 23rd (D. Daniels) of that month at Kendall and Pultneyville. (LG, January 2005) Another western subspecies, Harlan’s, was reported on 6 May 1984 (D. Sherony) at Webster. (GNR)Banded birds: A dispersing immature banded near Braddock Bay in August 1989 was trapped again on North Hamlin Road on 19 March 1993 in excellent physical condition. “When released, the bird flew immediately to join another larger red-tailed sitting nearby and copulated with her.” At that time it was the only known Red-tail of nearly 1,500 banded here in August to return to breed locally as an adult. (The Raptor Researcher, 7/1:14)
Rough-legged Hawk
Buteo lagopusRough-legged Hawk
A light breeze rustled the dried vegetation of a broad, grassy field in the late fall of 1985. A very dark raptor hovered overhead, facing into the breeze, “almost motionless at times,” no more than 40 feet above the ground, Frank Dobson related. “Its head turned from side to side, watching, ever watching. Then the tail angle would change, wings would flatten to shallow dihedral, and it would glide ahead a few yards. Finally, a slight motion caught its eye. Forward motion ceased abruptly and wings moved just enough to hold a steady position. Ready for action, the sharp-eyed hunter stretched its feathered legs, flexed its talons and drew back again. It shifted its sight-line ever so slightly, cocked its head and then instantly, the wings folded and the hawk dropped like a rock, disappearing in the tall weeds. Then, wings lifting strongly, up it rose, with legs outstretched and an unlucky mouse clutched in the left talons.” A Rough-legged Hawk visiting our area had once again found its prey. (Birds, 15 December 1985) Background
In its light phase, this is one of our handsomest buteos, showing a distinctive “three-point” pattern of dark patches underneath, one on each wing, and one on the belly. This cliff-nesting species of the tundra and tiaga breeds from Alaska across northern Canada, and northern Scandinavia east across Siberia. In North America, these raptors winter in southern Canada and much of the United States in open areas “reminiscent of their tundra summer haunts,” including pastures, marshy areas and wet meadows. Wintering populations fluctuate regionally, depending on availability of prey. Plumages vary dramatically from extremely dark individuals to distinctively patterned “light morphs.” They hunt lemmings, voles and other small rodents, often “from the wing,” hovering in the breeze or in updrafts above hills and cliffs. No evidence of any change in North American breeding populations. (BNA 641: 1, 2, 21)
Local history
Even in the days when avid ornithologists put Northern Goshawks and other raptors on black lists, this mouse-eating winter visitor was regarded “as the most beneficial of all our Raptors” by Eaton (1914). He urged the farmer to “distinguish it carefully from such injurious species as Goshawk, and protect it as one of his most valued allies.” Eaton identified the Genesee Valley and the extensive farmlands south of Lake Ontario as prime areas for viewing this species, which at “intervals of a few years” would appear in large flights. During the winter of 1905-06, for example, Rough-legs were “fairly abundant about Canandaigua, Geneseo, Cayuga and many other localities,” he reported. Even so, in 1910 he listed it as an irregular winter visitor in Monroe and Wayne counties, with no indication of occurrence in Livingston. (Eaton II: 89, I: county charts)R. E. Horsey, in his listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913 to 1936, indicated single birds were the norm, with a maximum count of 50, on dates ranging from 3 November to 10 May.When Leo Tanghe examined the returns from 1,665 outings by Genesee Ornithological Society members within a 50-miles radius of Rochester from 1951-1954, he found this species reported 114 times – 73 as a fall and winter visitor and 41 as a spring migrant, with average counts of 7-10 during migration. (KB 5: 69: 2A-2B)
Status
Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a regular, common spring transient, and a regular, uncommon winter visitant.Livingston County, Fox (1998) considered this a regular fairly common to rare winter visitant.
Occurrence
Fall/winter: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 31 August to 1 December, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 9 October to 9 November. The early date apparently refers to one on 31 August 1980 (Lloyd, Bounds, J. Taylor) at Braddock Bay. (GNR) In most years had departed by 27 February, with a late departure date of 23 March.“Some years it is seen here all winter in considerable numbers, other winters very few are seen,” Edson noted in 1957. (WBR, 28 October 1957) The pattern still holds for this visitor from the north. The light morph, or color phase, is more common and is particularly striking in appearance. Wintering birds can often be found hunting the open fields along Nations Road and near Retsof.
Fall/winter maxima: 35+ between 10:30 and 11: 30 a.m. on 9 November 1980 (Kemnitzer, Davids, Symonds) migrating past Hamlin Beach SP. “A continuous migration of Rough-legs occurred all day.” (LG, December 1980) 25 on 11 November 1959 (Kemnitzer, mob) migrating at Braddock Bay. (KB 9:161) 27 were seen 28-29 November 1980 (F. Dobson, Mather) along Church Road between the Lake Road forks. (GNR: BA, 11 December 1980) 24 on 24 December 1967 Little Lakes CBC. (GOS, February 1968) 17-21 on 1-2 January 1978 (R. and F. Dobson) west lakeshore. (GOS, March 1978) 32+ on 16 February 1975 (J. Johnson) west lakeshore. (GOS, April 1975) 22 on 24 February 1988 (A. Clarridge, F. Dobson) near Retsof and Avon. (Fox, p. 40) Spring: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 18 February to 29 April, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 30 March to 26 April. In most years had departed by 21 May, with a late departure date of 4 July – apparently the dark-phase bird Mike Davids found on the west lakeshore on 4 July 1984. (KB34: 243) This raptor is often one the earliest migrants to be tallied in significant numbers at Braddock Bay. For example, 128 were tallied there on 27 February 2000 (mob) and 81 on 23 or 24 February 1996 (B. Sullivan). (LG, March 1996, May 2000; GOS, April 1996)That made it all the more unusual in 1988 when 243 waited until the first 10 days of May to migrate past the hawk lookout at Braddock Bay. “The poor weather at the end of April must have stalled this wave of mostly immatures,” Jeffrey Dodge commented. “Some adults were observed during this period which is very late for adults.” (GOS, August/September 1988)Those February tallies, by the way, exceeded the 75 on 3 April 1960 (Bieber, Foley, Listman, Kemnitzer) that was considered an “unprecedented” number by Bull (1974). (GOS, March/July 1960; Bull, p. 189) Braddock Bay Hawkwatch averaged 422 migrants a spring through 2004, with a record 1,815 tallied in 1996.
Other spring maxima: 133 on 25 March 1996, Braddock Bay. (KB 46:233) 120 on 16 April 1996, Braddock Bay. (KB 46:233) 171 on 19 April 1996, Braddock Bay. (KB 46:233) 111 on 20 April 1992, Braddock Bay. (LG, May 1992)
Summer: A light morph on 13 August 1997 (P. Spindler) was at Ontario, Wayne County. (GOS, October 1997)
Misc.
The Dobson brothers were surprised to find one “splashing awkwardly” in the lake about 100 yards off Parking Lot 4 at Hamlin Beach SP on 24 October 1982. Was it injured? No. “After a few minutes, with wings beating furiously” the dark phase rough-leg rose from the water and headed for shore. “It was obviously only taking a bath and was last seen winging happily inland.” (Birds, 2 October 1988; GOS, December 1982)On 22 March 1984, twelve were tallied “in the 3 o’clock hour” at Braddock Bay despite light snowfall, Laura and Neil Moon recounted.“Because of the drizzle and snow, they were flying very low that day, sometimes just skimming over the cattails in the marsh, along with No. Harriers. At times, when the snow became heavier, they went down and sat in the marsh . . . They must have been sitting on muskrat houses, because they were slightly elevated and could be seen quite easily through the falling snow.” (KB 35:27)
Summer: A light morph on 13 August 1997 (P. Spindler) was at Ontario, Wayne County. (GOS, October 1997)
Misc.
The Dobson brothers were surprised to find one “splashing awkwardly” in the lake about 100 yards off Parking Lot 4 at Hamlin Beach SP on 24 October 1982. Was it injured? No. “After a few minutes, with wings beating furiously” the dark phase rough-leg rose from the water and headed for shore. “It was obviously only taking a bath and was last seen winging happily inland.” (Birds, 2 October 1988; GOS, December 1982)On 22 March 1984, twelve were tallied “in the 3 o’clock hour” at Braddock Bay despite light snowfall, Laura and Neil Moon recounted.“Because of the drizzle and snow, they were flying very low that day, sometimes just skimming over the cattails in the marsh, along with No. Harriers. At times, when the snow became heavier, they went down and sat in the marsh . . . They must have been sitting on muskrat houses, because they were slightly elevated and could be seen quite easily through the falling snow.” (KB 35:27)
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