View from FIRE hawkwatch

We look to the East and search for hawks near the Fire Island Light House.

***     FIRE Luncheon     ***
Sunday,   Dec 2nd,  12:00-3:00pm
Celebrate our hawks!  Celebrate our Watchers!
***  Information & Registration      Join Us!  ***    

2012 Daily Counts
This year has started off with a big bang!  A cold front on the
first day of regular coverage.  And an "echo flight" on north winds
the following day.
   9/10   9/11
OS       92* 20
NH       23* 15
SS             5*    3
CH           1 *   1
AK        234  45
ML             98 49
PG    2 0
U       1 1
TH      456  134
* Species record for date.

 The bad news is that Wed (5 TH-all falcons) and Thurs (12 TH) were
much slower with unrelenting sun.

I am looking forward to a good season.  We and many other hawkwatches are counting good numbers of Kestrels.  I suspect that the low count we had last year was just a fluke of the weather - lack of cold fronts.  But this years seems to much more normal and I'm looking forward to a Kestrel count at least as good as we had in 2010.

Drew

*** Our Hawk Watchers Celebrate ***
30 Years and Counting...
 Pictures from the Luncheon:  Fun for All!

*** Merlin has Breakfast ***

We are an all volunteer organization in operation Sep 10-Nov 10 for 29 years. Location

                                                     2009             2010 Data              NEHW Silhouette Guide                    Web updated: 11/15/2012

Panko Press, 9/14/2011

The 2011 Season Begins   The Fire Island hawk watch began every day coverage on 9/10.

Spectacular 2010 Season.  We had a spectacular year last year. We set yearly records for four species - OS(557), NH (523), ML(2119), and PG(326). AND we also saw a marked resurgence in the species that had been declining for more than 10 years: SSs(543) and AKs(1645)!

8,000th Osprey counted at FIRE, 5,000th Peregrine still to come.  In early August coverage this year Bobby Kurtz counted the 8,000th OS we've seen since '82. And if we can manage to get 2 more PGs in "11 than in '10, it will bring our total PGs counted since '82 to 5,000!

For all the facts and figures check out the stats and graphs, beginning with the yearly summary, dailies, and species information.

We still need help covering all the days from 9/10-11/13. Won't you consider spending a day helping us out down at the beach. Coverage still needed for Saturdays 10/22,  11/12 and Sunday 11/13.  If you can help us out on one or more of these days, just let me know.

Hope to see you down at the beach.

 
  Drew
 
 Bobby Kurtz counted our 8,000th Osprey in Aug 2011

Drew's Panko Press:  2010 was a GREAT year!
►return of the Kestrel   ►new records for OS, NH, & ML!
 2010 data
 
This Short-eared Owl sat nervously in the cedars as the wind whipped through the branches and a Merlin sat behind it to the left.

Short-eared Owl at Fire, Oct 16, 2010

Short-eared Videos:  This Owl at FIRE,  On Winter Territory

  PG videos:
1. From the dunes 2. Down the pike 3. Past the bridge 4. Around the owl

 Trends by Video!  Check out our 4 videos showing the Fire Island Hawk Watch, and Trends for Peregrines, Merlins, and Kestrels! Look for photos of you, photos of the hawks, and videos of the hawks. Also, check out the trends. Are you correct to think that the PGs are increasing? What about the Merlins? Are the Kestrels really declining? If so, why? Here we discuss the trends relative to ecology. 
Merlins speed past the watch site. Don't miss them!

Merlins everywhere! on perch, overhead, all around
 


Come join us.
 Watch with us, count with
us, and enjoy the fun!

  
Merlins often stop for lunch near the Fire Island Hawk Watch. This ML is dining on a Yellow-rumped Warbler.
Robert Moses Bridge board walk
Experience Fire Island 

Report Form:  Excel, HMANA pdf

We average 180
Peregrines a year! 

Come help us
count them!

FIRE News

Hawkwatch:  FIRE (Fire Island Raptor Enumerators)
 

Panko Press, 11/04/10 edition

Sep 2010 edition
 

  
                              Summary:  It's been a GREAT year!
♦ AKs are coming through in numbers not seen for 15 years (since 1994)!
♦ OS, NH, & PG are all 80% and more above average.
♦ The Sharpies and Kestrels are both less than 10% below average. We have not seen this many SS in 9 years and this number of AKs in 16 years.
♦ We have set new yearly records for OS, NH, & ML!
♦ We need only 5 more PG to tie its record.  
♦ The large increases in the SSs and AKs this year over recent years, plus a RL, and 2 Short-eared Owls, amount to an incredible year - and it is not over yet!

 

Notable days to date(10/1/10-11/2/10)

                Dev. from 27 Yr Ave
  Oct 3 Oct 9 Oct 12 Oct 16 Oct 22 Oct 29 TD
OS 86 20 27 5 4 3 554 82%
BE 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 avg is 2.7
NH 53 23 28 9 4 28 486 +103%
SS 8 22 14 16 34 56 519 -6.3%
CH 1 1 0 3 0 4 41 +59%
NG 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  
RS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  
BW 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  
RT 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  
RL 0 0 0 0 0 0 1  
AK 43 52 4 4 29 87 1664 -1.6%
ML 60 121 50 63 64 59 2090 +55%
PG 4 23 55 25 6 6 315 +88%
U 1 0 0 1 0 0 17  
TOT 257 263 178 126 141 243 5663 +29%

(numbers are tentative until final reports are submitted)
The last column is the deviation from our 27-year average.
TD is the total, To Date, for all days covered.
  

This year continues to go like gang busters! 
 
Led by AKs and MLs, we are well above our 27 year average.  The early AKs should be all hatching year birds, suggesting a good breeding year.  The numbers will have to be looked at carefully but the strong showing of AKs late in the year suggests good numbers of adults, and therefore better than average over- wintering survival last year. They will wind up less than 10% below average - compared to 60% - 70% below in the last few years.

The ML numbers are also extraordinary!  Their numbers have been good but dropping over the last 4 years, but this year reverses that trend in a big way!

   Moments after this photo, this Bluejack used this perch to dine on Golden-crowned Kinglet
   

Adult Merlin, "BlueJack"
 
Sharp-shinned Hawk flies overhead.   The OS climbed to a new yearly high - they are now at 554, old record 508 - with steady day to day numbers.
  
The NH also have set a new record with 486 so far and still going strong (old record 434).
  
SSs are over 500 for the first time since 2001, and less than 10% below average.
  
CHs are a little low compared to their average over the last 5 years, but still very high compared to our 27 year average.
  
The single RL seen so far is the first in 8 years.

The PG flight has been late but strong.  We are currently 5 PGs shy of the record of 320 set in 2008.  Will we break it?  We have a week to go and good winds coming for the weekend.
     
We are 1200 total hawks above the average.  The high numbers of total hawks (TH) reflects the great flights of AKs & MLs.

I can't close without noting the extraordinary flights of 10/29 - 11/2.  22 (of 40) daily records were broken.  Every day the all time daily high of AKs was broken and on 4 of the 5 days the record highs of THs were broken.  Truly an exceptional 5 days.

 
  Drew

Panko Press, 9/30/10 edition
 


Summary:  It's been a GREAT September!
AKs are coming through in numbers not seen for 15 years (since 1994)!
OS, ML, & NH are all 90% and more above average.
The Sharpies are lagging 23% below average,
but that is still well above the last several years.
CH are doing well - but it is not significant yet -
the main flight has yet to arrive.
And the PGs are slightly below average - but again not significantly so
because it is too early in the season for the main flight.

  
 

Notable days to date(9/30/10)

                Dev. from 27 Yr Ave
  9-Sep 10-Sep 15-Sep 17-Sep 20-Sep 26-Sep TD
OS 31 76 24 9 108 24 388 +108%
BE 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 avg is .71
NH 3 8 12 10 38 17 142 +90%
SS 0 3 4 8 66 2 106 -23%
CH 1 0 3 0 1 0 10 +178%
NG 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  
RS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  
BW 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  
RT 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  
RL 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  
AK 73 37 262 26 722 37 1211 +40%
ML 38 84 264 161 226 37 1154 +87%
PG 1 0 0 1 0 16 25 -22%
U 0 0 0 1 3 2 7  
TOT 21 73 94 161 442 92 3005 +56%

(numbers are tentative until final reports are submitted)
The last column is the deviation from our 27-year average, for the most common species.
The next to last column - labeled TD - is the total, To Date, for all days covered.
 
This year is going like gang busters! Led by AKs, and MLs we are well above our 27 year average. The early AKs should be all hatching year birds, which is great. They must have had a good breeding year. We should expect a drop off in AKs as the adults start coming through - however, if we don't, that will indicate that it wasn't such a good breeding year, but that a extraordinary number of last year's hatch birds survived the winter and both the north and south migration to breed this past spring.
  American Kestrel stages a comeback!
   

American Kestrel at FIRE
Merlins are 90% above their average numbers by Sep 30th!
 
 The ML numbers are even more extraordinary! Almost 90% above average and about 50% through their migration window. As with the AKs these have been hatching year birds and we'll see how the adults do as the season progresses. 

The SS numbers are a little low - but it is still too early to tell, barely 20% of their season is past and their numbers are improved over what they've been the last 15 years. The OS numbers are very high, but this may be a weather effect - we only get a small percentage of all the OS that pass inland and if the wind/weather are such that a slightly higher percentage of OS come out to the barrier beach then we'll have a good year, while the total regional count is still just average.

Merlin at FIRE
 
  
It is really too early to evaluate how the PGs (-22%), NHs (+90%) and CHs (+178%)
are doing because, as with the SSs, we are too early in the season - less than 20%
of the season has passed for these birds.
 
The high numbers of total hawks (TH) reflects the great flights of AKs & MLs.
 
Be on the lookout for the next cold front. We're in Peregrine season!
 
Check out the trend analysis for the falcons: http://www.battaly.com/fire/trends/
Let's hope that 2010 is the year of the return of the American Kestrel!
  
 
  Drew
 
 

2009 Data

Panko Press, 2009 Season Summary

Peregrine Falcon flying over the Fire Island Hawk Watch
Click for 2009 PG videos

  Summary:

After a very slow September,
the PGs show up and steal the show!
CH are above average and ML at their 20 year average. 

OS and NH numbers are below average, but nowhere as low as the SS & AK numbers.
Both SS & AK numbers are so low as to be
very worrisome and worthy of further study on their breeding grounds.

2009 Compared to the 20-yr Average

  2009 Total 20 YR AVG Deviation fr 20-yr ave
OS 264 305 -16%
BE 1 3

****
NH 181 230 -21%
SS 291 455 -36%
CH 47 28 +70%
NG 1 2

****
RS 0 0

****
BW 0 0

****
RT 1 1

****
RL 0 0
   
   

Location:

On a barrier beach, off the south shore of Long Island, NY. We're about midway along Long Island, slightly west of due south from New Haven CT.

Driving directions: Proceed south on Robert Moses Parkway, over the bridge to Robert Moses State Park. From the water tower circle (check for PG), proceed East to parking lot #5. From the NE corner of the lot, walk east toward the lighthouse. We watch from the highest point near the road barriers.

Link up to one of the following:


Hawks

Birds and Butts

Weather and Tides

Other Weather

Webmaster: Trudy Battaly merlin@pipeline.com or BAT'S BYTES

Updated: 11/15/12 09:14 PM

Videos!  Check out our 4 new videos showing the Fire Island Hawk Watch, and Trends for Peregrines, Merlins, and Kestrels! Look for photos of you, photos of the hawks, and videos of the hawks. Also, check out the trends. Are you correct to think that the PGs are increasing? What about the Merlins? Are the Kestrels really declining? If so, why? Here we discuss the trends relative to ecology!