Girls Day Out at Hawk Mountain

Recently, my girls treated me to a 'Girls Day Out'.  They let me pick, so... off to Hawk Mountain we went!  Though there was some talk during the day (after we'd been sitting on cold rocks for several hours) about how nice a massage would feel, or maybe a pedicure (especially the idea of soaking our feet in hot water!), I thoroughly enjoyed what probably would be considered a little strange by many 'girls'.  I'm very pleased that 'my girls' enjoyed it, too!

Hawk Mountain a beautiful place where you can hike up a mountain to watch migrating hawks.  From August thru December, thousands of hawks stream by the mountain on their way to their winter homes.  Here's a link to the Hawk Mountain website, where you can find lots more information about it.

 We picked the date well in advance to fit in our schedules, and we were blessed with wonderful weather... plenty of sunshine and blue sky.  The weather has a big effect on when the birds fly.  The passage of a cold front, accompanied by northwesterly winds brings the best hawk-watching days.  Species of hawks also pass by mainly at certain times during the fall... such as huge numbers of Broad-winged Hawks in September, and the peak of Sharp-shinned Hawk migration in October.

Sharp-shinned Hawks were the most numerous birds we saw the day we visited.  Most of them passed by on our left, like this one.

 Several of them even swooped in to 'attack' the fake owl on the pole (put there just for that purpose).

The owl seems to have gotten a little more realistic-looking than I remember it being in past years.  It has feathers on it now.  My memory may not serve me correctly, but it seems like the owl used to be just a plastic one.

We choose our seats on the rocks behind the pole. We got 'comfy', well, as comfortable as possible!  Of course, we had snacks, too.

 Binoculars up... scanning the sky!

The landmarks are named, so that when a hawk or other bird is sighted, people call out where it is.  Hawk Mountain has interns from around the world, and local people, too, who man the lookout all during migration season.  

Besides many Sharp-shinned Hawks, we saw 3 Bald Eagles, a few Cooper's Hawks, Merlins, and Red-tailed Hawks.  I was just relaxing and enjoying the day more than trying to photograph the birds, but here is one immature Red-tail I managed to catch as it went by.

We saw a number of Black Vultures.

And so got to work on telling them apart from the more common Turkey Vultures.

I'm afraid Turkey Vultures don't get much 'respect' at Hawk Mountain (or anywhere else for that matter).  There are more of them in that one photograph than were listed in the Hawk Mountain count for the day.

They must have seen that Golden Eagle after we left... too bad!  But, we can't complain because we saw most of the others listed.

We enjoy the hike up and down the mountain when we go, which takes about 25 - 30 minutes each way.  On the way, you can stop to learn about the birds you might see.

 For us, a trip to Hawk Mountain always includes a look around in the visitor's center.

They have some really nice displays.

Of course, we had to push all the buttons to see where the hawks migrate "to" and "from".  Sharpies, the ones we saw the most of, don't go all that far... (see the green lighted path)

  ... at least, not compared to Peregrine Falcons.

I'm glad that back in 1934,  a group of early conservationists founded Hawk Mountain Sanctuary-- to change it from a place where hawks were shot in large numbers (as shown in this old photo on display in the visitors center)...

 ...to a place where they are loved and appreciated.

The entrance to the trail and below, a close-up, showing the hawk silhouettes.

It's a wonderful place to visit, and I want to say 'thank you' again to my girls for a great day!  

Although-- you can see hawks and eagles anywhere, if you keep your eyes open.  The very next day at home I saw two Bald Eagles, high in the sky!

Bald Eagles require 4 - 6 years to have the complete white head and tail.