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November 2020 HawkWatch Report

Posted on 12/11/2020
by Earl Johnson, Hawk Counter
Find out what was flying during our last full month of the 2020 HawkWatch season.

It was another great month on the tower for the Hitchcock HawkWatch! Our top 3 days saw totals of 131, 68, and 48 birds, mostly Bald Eagles and Red-tailed Hawks lately but there's always hope for Rough-legged or Ferruginous, Northern Goshawks, Golden Eagles, Prairie Falcon or maybe even a Gyrfalcon! Who knows what the next 2 weeks of the season will bring!

Turkey Vulture: 0 were spotted in November but we have a current count of 3,468 for the season which is above average!

Osprey: 1 spotted in November, late bird but not unprecedented. Current total is 93 for the season so far. Not too far below the average of 118.

Photo by Earl Johnson

Northern Harrier: 12 spotted in November, current total is 88 for the season so far, well below the average of 222. We should continue to see this species come through in the next two weeks.

Sharp-shinned Hawk: 15 spotted in November which is low but is the highest November count in the last 4 years. Current total of 237 for the season so far. This total is way below the average of 843. Might have a few more of these in the next couple of weeks but not counting on many.

Coopers Hawk: We spotted 10 in November, which is a good amount for this late in the season. Current count is 169 for the season, below the average of 238. Might have a few more of these in the next couple of weeks but not counting on many.

Northern Goshawk: We spotted 0 in November, not terribly surprising as we see so few of these. We've only seen 2 this season so far, below our usual average of 5. Hoping to see a few more of these before the end of the season!

Red-shouldered Hawk: We spotted 0 in November & 3 for the season so far, below the average of 5.

Broad-winged Hawk: HawkWatchers spotted 0 in November & we have a total of 398 for the season, below our average of 741.

Red-tailed Hawk: We spotted 211 this much which is low for November. We have a total of 810 for the season so far which is way below our typical average of 2535. Would be very surprising if 2020 wasn't an all time low for this species. Probably a combination of factors contributing to this lower total. Very interesting data!

Rough-legged Hawk: We've spotted 7 specimens during the month of November, bringing us to a total of 9 for the season so far. This is below the average of 26. We are likely to keep seeing these birds over the next couple of weeks.

Swainsons Hawk: 0 were spotted in November & a total of 206 for the season. Well below the average of 969.

Ferruginous Hawk: We spotted 0 in November which isn't terribly surprising as we see so few of these annually. We have a total of 4 for the season so far which is a record high!

Bald Eagle: We spotted 291 November. This is a little lower than we would like but it is still the highest total in the last 5 years. We have a total of 496 for the season so far which is below average of 779 but this number should continue increasing for the remainder of the count.

Golden Eagle: We spotted 2 in November which is the lowest November total ever at our HawkWatch for this species. We have a total of 7 for the season so far but this species should continue to move in the next two weeks. Currently this is an all time low number for our HawkWatch.

Photo by Earl Johnson

American Kestrel: 0 were spotted in November & we have a total of 90 for the season. Just below our average of 101 and highest total for this species since 2013.

Merlin: We spotted 3 in November & 28 for the season. This is below our average of 42.

Peregrine Falcon: Only 1 was spotted in November. We currently have a total of 31 for the season, below our average of 53. 

Prairie Falcon: 0 were spotted in November, 1 for the season. Currently this is an all time low but just one more bird could turn that around. Definitely possible!

Mississippi Kite: We spotted 0 in November, 3 have been spotted this season. This is below our season average of 7.

November total: 555 Birds

Season total: 6180 Birds

Thanks for reading and thank you to everyone who's come up and helped!

Happy Hawkwatching!

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