Yesterday was an excellent day at Mount Pete. The flight was steady and and on the low side, with most birds being able to be seen naked-eye. The highlight of the day, however, came pretty early, during the first hour of the watch. I spotted an eagle just over the treetops to the north of the platform. I got the bird in the scope, in perfect light, and sure enough it was a GOLDEN EAGLE! I was flipping out, and of course that early I was up there all alone. I made an adjustment to my scope, and when I tried to relocate the bird, it was gone! It presumably had dropped below the tree line; I looked for was seemed like ages right and left to see if I could catch the bird passing through, but I had no luck. I was disappointed – I was really thinking I’d get better looks at this bird! Nearly ten minutes passed, and I picked up another eagle rising up north of the watch – sure enough it was the Golden, and it eventually passed relatively high up and west of the platform, allowing for documentary pics and the extended look that I was hoping for:
The rest of the day was less exciting, but still good. The flight was relatively low and consisted mostly Sharp-shinned Hawks but also had good variety – of the expected species we missed only Broad-winged Hawk and Northern Goshawk. As usual, I’m including my Hawkcount.org report at the bottom of this post. Today (Sunday) could be a good day for hawk watching, so if you are so inclined, head out to your local hawkwatch.
