Red oak - 10/31/26
On these final days of October with the foliage in the most vibrant hues we’ve had in years, we head up to the Bear Mountain Hawkwatch via Perkins Memorial Drive in the hopes of finding some late season migrants. The ride up the mountain is a sight to behold with views of the Hudson Valley and distant views of New York City and Connecticut.
At the end of this short clip, you see several cars overlooking the Hudson. This is the site of our watch. Today, the weather was ideal and the company of our fellow hawk watchers and visitors made the day all the more special. Hawks were not exactly prolific, but at this time of year, we do not expect huge numbers. The mass migration takes place earlier in the season, but we do get Red-shouldered hawks, Red-tailed hawks, a few Coopers and Sharpies can be found. There is always the hope that the “holy grail” of hawk watches here in the valley, the Golden eagle, may make an appearance. No goldens today, but we did get several nice Red-shouldered hawks flying in close.
Close fly-by of a Red-shouldered hawk - Bear Mountain Hawkwatch - 10/30/26
Another Red-shoulder passes by on its way south - Bear Mountain Hawkwatch - 10/30/26
The other expected migrating hawk at this time of year is the Red-tailed hawk. We do have these raptors visiting the watch site during the earlier months, but most of those have not yet begun their journey south in September and early October and tend to stay around our site in Bear Mountain. Now, however, we see these handsome hawks come by, riding the thermals to high elevations and then peeling off, making a bee-line for points south.
Red-tailed hawk over Bear Mountain
There are still plenty of “LBJ”s (short for Little Brown Jobs) that will stick around for much if not all of the winter and photographing these as the sun filters through the colorful foliage can make for some captivating shots. Such was the case today as this White-breasted nuthatch perched in a nicely backlit location.
White-breasted nuthatch - Mine Road - 10/31/26
Heading into November, we hope to find a Golden eagle or two soaring over Bear Mountain. November is their time to shine regarding migration south. They are a hard find, however, so we will have to rely on a fair amount of luck and good timing to get good looks and decent photo-ops of these birds. With the passing of October, those gorgeous autumn hues will also fade. But, every cloud has a silver lining as they say, and the leaves falling from the trees make for much easier spotting and photographing of the birds that remain behind here in the north. Ah, autumn. A Season of Change…..
