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Posts Tagged "watch"

Wind, climate change and raptor migration

Posted on Oct 4, 2014

Wind, climate change and raptor migration

Earth’s climate and weather play a direct and constant role in the lives of birds. At no point is this impact from mother nature more widely observable than during migration. Global winds shape the timing and track of bird movements across the continents and the sea. In this case I wanted to take a look at September 2014 and how it seems to have been a climatic “throwback” in the Northeast for our birds. If you talk to folks in many portions of New England the Mid-Atlantic about the weather in 2014 you often hear how it was very average in terms of temperature and...

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Fall hawk watching is on!

Posted on Sep 11, 2014

Fall hawk watching is on!

Labor Day and the beginning of September are often seen as the beginning of the fall season despite the fact the autumnal equinox is not until weeks later (September 23 this year). However, many of our birds agree with this assessment as well. You can find migrant passerines beginning to disperse and even some moving south in July. Shorebirds can be found on the way to wintering quarters in terrific numbers in “fall” migration in the middle of what we think of as a hot summer day. Raptors including many species of hawks, accipiters, falcons, eagles, vultures and more start to...

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Hawk watching and HMANA

Posted on Mar 2, 2014

Hawk watching and HMANA

Now that we have entered March we are about to hit the beginning of hawk watch season. This year in particular such a statement seems almost absurd considering our weather. On Monday, March 3, we should be seeing nighttime lows plunging to the double digits below zero across Western New York…yet again. The continual arctic intrusion and repeated snowfall events will mean the season will be starting off slowly but birds are beginning to move with a Turkey Vulture or two seen coming up into our area and birds like the Osprey already in multiple locations on the New England Atlantic...

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