The Migration Begins

Broadwing hawk - Bear Mt Hawkwatch - 9/17/26

We’ll dedicate more space in today’s post to images than to text. The hawk migration has begun in earnest and the first week has produced more than 600 migration hawks passing over our monitoring site here on Bear Mountain. The most predominant species is generally considered to be the “leading edge” of the fall migration. They are indeed the most impressive of those passing through as they often travel in huge groups called kettles which pass overhead. The shot below is just a tiny section of some of the kettles we’ve had this week.

A “Kettle” of Broad-winged hawks - 9/18/26

One kettle viewed through our scopes at a considerable distance held over three hundred hawks as counted by the nine viewers we had on site that day.

American kestrel - Bear Mt Hawkwatch - 9/15/26

American kestrel - Bear Bt Hawkwatch - 9/15/26

Earlier in the week, some of the first migrating hawks were a group of American kestrels. Our smallest falcon, these are fast fliers and masters of the sky. Great to watch them as they come through our area heading for points south.

Cooper’s hawk - Bear Mt Hawkwatch - 9/17/26

Another group of hawks migrating through in smaller numbers right now are the “acceptors “. The two species of accipitor that we find passing through are the Cooper’s hawk seen above the relatively smaller Sharp-shinned hawk. The Cooper’s is identified by its rounded long tail and its fairly large head. The accipitors are built for maneuverability as they speed through forested terrain pursuing smaller song birds. These will gradually increase in number as the season progresses..

Some of the hawks we see are not yet migrating. There is a pretty large resident population of Red-tailed hawks which will stick around until later in the season.

Red-tailed hawk - Bear Mt Hawkwatch - 9/18/26

Northern harrier - Bear Mt Hawkwatch - 9/20/26

One of my personal favorite hawks is the Northern harrier. This was a young female bird as denoted by here reddish brown plumage. The bright white patch on her rump is a classic field mark helping us to quickly identify this bird at a distance. Fortunately, this bird flew by in close proximity making for a nice photo-op. This is a bit early in the season for this birds, and we were thrilled to have such a close fly-by.

Great to have a nice beginning to our hawk migration season. We’ll be manning our posts for the next several months as the parade begins to take shape. Another week or so and the numbers of Broadwings will sharply decline only to be replaced by later migrants. Next on the expected list of participants will be the Sharp-shinned, the Cooper’s, Ospreys and Bald eagles. Stay tuned ……