They are on the Move!

As August wraps up and our first field season is behind us, we anxiously await that special time in mid-September when those of us here and near Hawk Mountain Sanctuary witness the large kettles of broad-winged hawks swirling above the mountain slopes. The peak of broadwing migration through Pennsylvania is during the period from September 13th to 20th. We are especially excited because our four tagged broadwings are already on the move and we cannot wait to see where they end up. Already we can see our two nestmates are not traveling together.

The Broadwing Project webpage is almost finished (to access go to www.hawkmountain.org; click on the Science tab and then Research Programs, and select New for 2014!! Broadwing Study or just search for "broadwing"). We are working with web programmers to have the telemetry mapping occur automatically so keep checking back as we hope that will be working in next week. In the interim, we will be posting updates twice a week. Our transmitters collect location data every two days and may obtain several locations on days they transmit.

Below are the movements of the four tagged Broadwings for the period from mid-July until August 25th. The fifth map shows the movements of all of the birds together on a larger scale. All four birds have moved either north or west with the adult bird returning to a site she settled in soon after leaving her nest area in mid July.
**Click on each map to enlarge the image**

America, one of the nestlings tagged at Hawk Mountain (locations in red).

America moved north in mid-August, settled near Wilkes Barre then moved west into Centre County in the last week.

HawkEye was tagged from the same nest as America at Hawk Mountain (pink dots).  

HawkEye moved north and west to a site near Pottsville on 8/12 and stayed until 8/17. Then  she flew west to the mountains of Franklin County in the last week.

Kit, the nestling from the Shartlesville nest and the third juvenile Broadwing tagged (purple dots).

Kit flew west along the Kittatinny Ridge then moved north  and crossed the Susquahanna River then flew west into Juniata County.

Abbo, the adult female tagged at the New Ringgold nest site (orange dots).  

Abbo started moving west just a week after her young fledged. She moved south of Shamokin on 7/23, then by 8/10 she was in the southwestern portion of Union County. She then moved up towards Bloomsburg on 8/12-8/15 and back to Shamokin on 8/20. She must like it there!

A map of Pennsylvania showing the range of the four tagged Broadwings (as of 8/21) from the 2014 field season!