{"id":6459,"date":"2016-10-30T18:00:21","date_gmt":"2016-10-30T22:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/?p=6459"},"modified":"2016-10-30T18:00:21","modified_gmt":"2016-10-30T22:00:21","slug":"mount-peter-hawkwatch-102916","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/?p=6459","title":{"rendered":"Mount Peter Hawkwatch, 10\/29\/16"},"content":{"rendered":"
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~GOLDEN EAGLE at Mount Peter Hawkwatch, 10\/29\/16.~\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I was pretty sure that hawkwatch would be a dud this past Saturday. Southwest winds were in the forecast and the previous day’s count was on the low side (with a northwest wind!). Early on, it seemed like I was right; the watch got off to a very slow start, and I have to say, I was super cranky about it. I did not have a raptor of any sort for the first two hours and fifteen minutes, when I finally had a local Red-tailed Hawk hunting over the valley. Migrating birds started to trickle through shortly after that, but really, it was a slow day.<\/p>\n

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~GOEA at Mt. Pete, 10\/29\/16.~\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Things started looking up when I got a visit from Gerhard and Tracy Patsch. We had some interesting\u00a0conversations, and they seemed to have brought one of the local Red-tails along with them. It was the first time that I’ve had a local “tail” perch and hunt in the viewing platform area. And then bird put on a final show for us, hanging in the air directly above the platform and not very high up. The three of us\u00a0really enjoyed great looks and I took many photos.<\/p>\n

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~Golden Eagle, apparently looking right at me? \u00a0Mount Peter Hawkwatch, 10\/29\/16.~<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The highlight of the day came at 3:45 pm, when I counted just my 20th migrating raptor of the day, which was the GOLDEN EAGLE. I picked it up due north of the platform;\u00a0it was distant but I knew immediately that it was an eagle and very shortly after that, that it was a Golden. As luck would have it, the bird flew slowly closer and passed at a nice easy pace right over the platform, circling several times before continuing due south. What a thrill it was, I am still freaking out about it a day later. The Golden Eagle is the 209th bird that I’ve had in Orange County this year. Here’s my report for the day:<\/p>\n

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Official Counter:<\/strong> Matt Zeitler<\/p>\n

Visitors:\u00a0<\/strong>Gerhard and Tracy Patsch, Tricia Zeitler, Carrie and Cruz Craigmyle, Bill, Carolyn, Cameron, and Mackenzie Martocci.<\/p>\n

Weather:\u00a0<\/strong>Partly cloudy with a southwest wind. Temperatures ranged from 4 to 18 degrees Celsius.<\/p>\n

Raptor Observations:\u00a0<\/strong>It was a slow start; the first raptor observed was a local Red-tailed Hawk over 2 hours and 15 minutes into the watch. One female Northern Harrier and at 3:45 one immature Golden Eagle passed through, circling right over the view platform, giving amazing views.<\/p>\n

Non Raptor Species:<\/strong> American Crow (28), Blue Jay (24), White-breasted Nuthatch (2), Black-capped Chickadee (9), American Robin (32), Common Raven (2), Cedar Waxwing (25), Tufted Titmouse (1), Downy Woodpecker (1), Pileated Woodpecker (1), Ring-billed Gull (1), Red-bellied Woodpecker (1), Eastern Bluebird (5), Canada Goose (6), European Starling (20).<\/p>\n

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~GOEA at Mt. Pete Hawkwatch, 10\/29\/16.~<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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~I know, a lot of Golden Eagle shots, but when will I get this opportunity again? GOEA at Mt. Peter Hawkwatch, 10\/29\/16.~\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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~This young Red-tailed Hawk put on quite a show. Mt. Peter Hawkwatch, 10\/29\/16.~\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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~Going in for the kill, RTHA at Mount Peter Hawkwatch, 10\/29\/16. Unfortunately the bird came up empty on this attempt.\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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~Local Red-tailed Hawk cruising by, Mt. Pete Hawkwatch, 10\/29\/16.~\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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~And, the local Tail checking out the situation from directly above the platform, Mt. Peter Hawkwatch, 10\/29\/16.~\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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~RTHA at Mt. Pete 10\/29\/16.~\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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And, finally, the obligatory Turkey Vulture photo. Even the vultures were sparse on this day at Mt. Pete, 10\/29\/16.~<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was pretty sure that hawkwatch would be a dud this past Saturday. Southwest winds were in the forecast and the previous day’s count was on the low side (with a northwest wind!). Early on, it seemed like I was right; the watch got off to a very slow start, and I have to say, … Continue reading “Mount Peter Hawkwatch, 10\/29\/16”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[25,6,12,15,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-york-state","category-orangecounty","category-raptors","category-rarities","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5i3kT-1Gb","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6459"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6477,"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6459\/revisions\/6477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}