As expected, numbers were well below average, most likely due to the
late spring and resulting lower reproductive success rate of two of
the three species most common at our site - Sharpshinned and Cooper's
hawks.

Observation and banding efforts were also hampered by exceptionally
fair weather, with few fronts moving in from the northwest (I assume
Seattle had an exceptionally fine September). We had no true "peak"
day of movement by Sharpshinned immatures, but rather saw day after day
of observation counts of 200-300 (in contrast, in 1994 we had three
days in a row of BANDING 300, with observation counts on those days
being in the neighborhood of 800-900).

Kestrel counts were also low, but our Redtailed Hawk counts and banding
totals were higher than average for September - though lower than 1994's
record year. Other buteo numbers seemed normal, but our average count
of species like Swainson's Hawk (which tend to move in flocks, often
in agricultural valleys rather than along ridgetops) and Broadwinged
Hawk (which is simply rare in the west) are too low to really attach
any importance to our data.

As of September 21, we'd banded about 1600 birds - the equivalent number
in 1994 was roughly twice that. Only about 6,000 hawks had been observed
as of that date, again in the neighborhood of 1/2 of 1995's record total
(and perhaps 2/3 of our average during the several years we've used the
current observation methodolgy of two full-time observers plus a data
recorder).

For the second year in a row, we recorded a Red-shouldered Hawk at
nearby Ferguson Springs. This year we were fortunate to record this
immature on our life, rather than death list (if you've read "Flattened
Fauna"...) as the red-shouldered we found last year had been shot, with
the feet removed. Red-shouldered hawks are exceedingly rare in Nevada,
and I believe we own all state records for them (three - we observed
one passing south over the ridge several years ago). Seeing two in
successive years in the same spring on the Nevada/Utah border is
exciting. At least the fact that 1994's bird was found dead proves
that they were separate individuals (actually, the fact that they were
both immatures would've been sufficient). The spring is at an old, abandoned
ranch which was converted to a highway maintenance station years ago, and
consists of perhaps a half-acre of marsh, guzzler, pond and surrounding
cottonwoods and willows. Doesn't seem much like the typical red-shouldered
habitat I'm used to, farm fields surrounded by thick woods in northern CA
and southern OR and thick woods in Florida (the two areas that I
have personal experience with this species). Though there are plenty
of trees, it is pretty much open and of course surrounded by sage.

Perhaps the strangest experience - other than having lightning strike
a couple hundred yards away several times during one memorable series
of storms - was my capture of a one-legged, ASY (after second year, i.e.
at least three years old) Red-tailed Hawk. "Stumpy", as I promptly
dubbed it, must've had a painful experience with a leg-hold trap, or
at least I can't think of any other device which would've sliced through
the bird's tarsus so cleanly. It was a recent cut, scabbed over but
with no scar tissue (the bird scrapped its stump on the ground when
coming onto the lure, and it bled slightly). No dangling tendons,
bone fragments, etc - a clean cut. Red-tailed hawks have a fairly
robust tarsus, so whatever cut it had to have some "oomph" behind
it. Any tweet have an alternate idea to a leg-hold trap causing the
injury? Some folks still use them instead of "coyote-gitters"...

Unfortunately, this bird has little chance of surviving long in the
wild. We banded it (all sorts of Stumpy jokes about rookies - "the
rookie couldn't figure out why the band kept falling off", etc) and
let it go. Not only are we a long ways from rehab facilities, but
injured Red-tails are so common that it is difficult to place birds
in facilities with the proper educational permit, and one-legged
hawks are particularly susceptible to bumble-foot. Perhaps it will
make it, who knows?

We had some excellent views of adult Broad-wing hawks one morning, in
a small flock which also contained Red-tailed and Swainson's hawks for
comparison. Three adults at once is a record for our site, as far as
I know, though all were light-morph (dark-morph Broad-wings are
extremely rare, and I consider myself fortunate to have seen the
one and only dark-morph adult recorded by the project a few years
ago - all dark buteo with a bright white "flag" in the tail, backlit
even).

For those of you interested in broad-winged hawks in the West, our
Cape Flattery effort also recorded a broad-wing this spring - I don't
know if this was passed on to WOS rare-bird types or not (I wasn't
the observer). We also recorded one at the Bonny Butte site on Mt.
Hood last fall, I'll be curious to see if one is seen this year. They
should be visible each year during migration, as they pass over
San Francisco in fairly good numbers ("tens", not "hundreds" or
"thousands").


- Don Baccus, Portland OR <donb at rational.com>