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Date: Tue, 14 Sep 1999 21:32:49 -0700
From: Don Baccus <dhogaza at pacifier.com>

At 09:10 PM 9/14/99 -0700, Constance J. Smith wrote:

> I would like some advice in finding hawk migration
> ridges. One of the local birders climbed to the top of
> Abercrombie last week with his scope and only saw crows,
> this is the highest point near Sullivan Lake, over 7,000
> feet. I have climbed along the Columbia Mtn lookout
> trail and only seen 2 hawks at this time of year. These
> are 3 hour hikes at least one way, not a quick trip.
> I'm wondering if it isn't better to go south to where
> these mountain ranges run into the Palouse or narrow
> down and look for hawks at the south end, rather than
> spend time on the backbone of mountains that stretch
> from the Columbia and Spokane Rivers into Canada.

To some degree, you're on the right track. Generally, the
further south you go, the more hawks you're likely to see
migrate - the ones to the south don't fly north then turn
around after they pass by you, for instance. In other
words, the greater the population is that is to the north of
you, the more potential there is.

Also keep in mind that from the cascade ridge east it
appears that a majority of the birds are drifting
southeastward in their flight to Mexico or the southern US
or Central America. Intermountain West sharpies anc Coops
mostly seem to winter in Sinaloa and Sonora, for instance.
Look at a map - you'll see these lands are far east, as well
as south, of the PNW.

On the other hand, there's a steady flight down the coast
ranges apparently, and some migration down the Cascades.
Unfortunately, forests aren't conducive to good lookouts as
the trees get in the way. That's my personal reason for
thinking that broadwings aren't seen in the Oregon coast
range despite appearing in reasonable number at the (open,
non-forested) concentration point in the Marin Headlands
north of San Francisco (reasonable number meaning a couple
of dozen a season).

Bonney Butte in Oregon is reasonably good, I've seen 60
sharpies in one day there (50 of them adults, unusual).

Chelan Ridge is good, too.

Key in on long north-south stretches of ridge bordered by a
valley. Bonney Butte, for instance, is on a ridge about six
miles long due south of Mt. Hood. Most of the cascades are
too irregular to present that kind of physical structure
with uplift to hawks, that's a major reason why we don't see
more concentrations (along with the tendency to just run
southeast - all this is speculation based on count levels,
though, not something precise like lots of satellite data).

> There are a lot of choices for soaring hawks the farther
> north you go,

And fewer hawks...

> but fewer good ridges as the wheat fields approach.
> Could there be a "Cape May point" before the wheat
> fields or the Columbia? Thoughts?

No, there couldn't. Not enough hawks. Even at the
Goshutes, the premier site in the west, we only get about
1/3 the numbers that are seen at Cape May. Most of our
count sites get at best 1/10th (the Wellesvilles of Utah and
the Monzanos of New Mexico) or 1/20th (Bonney Butte) the
numbers at Cape May.

Much of the west is dry and open country, not suitable to
accipiters, which are the genus most likely found on ridges.
Buteos make use of ridges, but are less tied to them as
they're better soarers.

Cape May isn't a ridge site, but rather a water barrier, so
buteos and falcons and accipiters all bottle up there
(peregrines and merlins are actually on the coast as much to
hunt as anything, though, as they move south munching on
ruffs and the like).

The picture to the south east is more mysterious. Where do
hawks go after leaving the Goshutes of Nevada? We know
where they end up (Sharpies and Coops in Sinaloa/Sonora
mostly) but not how they travel in-between. There are steep
and isolated mountains south and southeast of the Goshutes,
which themselves are relatively isolated (but not as much so
as those others, the Deep Creeks, the Schells, the Snake,
etc).

We've parked folks on those mountains, with minimal results.
They can't all just fly by the Goshutes and disappear!

We have 10 satellite tranceivers this year, but will use
them mostly on Goshawks, to answer dispersal questions to
some degree (they don't really migrate south, moving north,
east, west or wherever in search of mountain territories).
It's my #1 question for "our" hawks, but doesn't help with
the intriguing question of "just how do smaller hawks fly
from the Goshutes to Mexico?"

> >-- >Connie Smith >Kettle
Falls, WA >(northeast WA, Stevens County) > > > >

- Don Baccus, Portland OR <dhogaza at pacifier.com>
Nature photos, on-line guides, Pacific Northwest
Rare Bird Alert Service and other goodies at
http://donb.photo.net.