Pennsylvania Game News - November 2010 - 55

A SAW-WHET OWL decoy was used at night to call in the smaller owls.

Bruce Bonta

day because when the wind is out of the east in November, as it was that day, adult golden eagles are numerous. Below us, we could see the field where Trish Miller and Mike Lanzone, of the Powdermill Nature Reserve and Todd Katzner of the Aviary, had live-trapped and radio tagged two golden eagles for the first time in 2006. Since our mountain — the westernmost ridge in the Ridge-and-Valley Province — is the alternate migration corridor for golden eagles in the fall, and where Trish Miller trapped and radio tagged another golden eagle in 2007, we had wanted to see this particular hawk watch on the eastern edge of the Allegheny Plateau. In quick succession, at 10:20, 10:21 and 10:38, three adult golden eagles soared past overhead, their golden crowns and napes visible on their mostly dark bodies. And that was it for us, but altogether nine golden eagles passed the hawk watch that day. Not an outstanding day for golden eagles at this hawk watch, which had as many as 51 on November 23, 2003, but with a seasonal average of 217, the chances of seeing at least a few on a November day are excellent. After all, as Tom Dick, the property owner, has said, “the golden eagle is the whole reason for the Allegheny Front Hawk Watch.” Probably the “best” bird we saw was a northern goshawk that swept past at 12:30,
NOVEMBER 2010

its dark hood and white eyebrow line making it unmistakable. “Oh, that’s a good bird,” Randy said, probably knowing that of the yearly average of 13 birds at this site, most are seen during spring migration in March and April, and even then, four were the most seen on a day, back on April 14, 2003. I was also pleased to have beautiful views of three of the 12 red-shouldered hawks that flew past during the day. The first accompanied several red-tailed hawks, and all were lit up by the sun. The second was high in the sky, its wings flapping, its neck craning. But the third flew low and directly overhead, displaying its rufous belly and black and white tail. As with other species we saw (two northern harriers and a sharp-shinned hawk), October is their peak month with 82 for red-shoulders on October 26, 2004. That day must have been a marvel for those watching because it was also the one that had the highest red-tailed hawk count (1,156). We didn’t see that many redtails during our visit, but it was a red-tailed hawk day. In fact, it was the first bird we saw when we arrived, as one dove and screamed at the carved owl decoy displaying a couple ruffed grouse feathers atop a pole stuck in the grass. I lost count of redtails after 30 because often there were three to five at a time in the sky, coming in from every direction. We saw the larger females and smaller males, dark phase and light phase, most with white breasts and black streaks across their light bellies except for the dark phase with its dark brown breast and belly — 113 in all for us and 148 for the day.
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Pennsylvania Game News - November 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - November 2010