Back to the Mountain
Bear Mt Hawkwatch - 9/14/26
It’s a little later in September than we normally ge started up on Bear Mountain in our hawk watching endeavors, but it’s better late than never! This is generally peak time for Broadwinged hawks to be moving through the northeast in their journey south, and it is always with eager anticipation that we convene on the eastern side of Bear Mountain to watch for , count and photograph the hoped for birds as they move through.
Turkey vulture - Bear Mt Hawkwatch - 9/14/26
AS is always the case up here, the first birds to take occupy the skies are the vultures. Today, the dominant species is the Turkey vulture distinguished by its silvery plumage on the trailing edge of the wings. If you get past the face, this is a beautiful flier and always a marvel to watch as it plies the skies simply because it can! But we’re after migratory raptors and these are local residents, so they don’t warrant a check on the list.
The target bird that shows up first is the American kestrel. This little speedster showed up several times this afternoon, with both the gray mantled males and the chestnut brown females making an appearance. We had half a dozen of these little falcons pass by and one was obliging enough to perch in a nearby tree to make for a nice documentary photo op.
American kestrel - Bear Mt Hawkwatch - 9/14/26
American Kestrel - Bear Mt Hawkwatch - 9/14/26
As if too often the case, the gem that we were looking for did show up but kept its distance…..too distant for any shot at capturing images with the camera. A total of 21 Broadwinged hawks appeared over the moutain ridge to east far across the Hudson. While not accommodating as far as photos are concerned, this is our first sightings of the leading edge to this hawkwatch season. Below is a photo taken last year, so you’ll know what it is that we are hoping for. At this time of year, if you are in the right place at the right time, it might be possible to see hundreds or even thousands of these hawks moving through the area in a single day!
Archival shot of Broadwinged hawk over Bear Mountain - 2024
A couple of distant American Bald eagles and a nice close fly-by of a Red-tailed hawk also added to the day’s sightings. This promises to be an exciting couple of weeks and we hope to have many more images and anecdotes to report back to you in the near future.
Unfortunately, we’ve had a couple of health issues which have kept us away from our normal birding/nature photography activities. We hope to be able to get back to a more normal schedule in the near future. So until then, please bear with us and hope for the best!
