As the peak timing for Broadwing migration here at Hawk Mountain comes to an end, the birds are continuing their journey south and making their way towards Mexico where hawk watchers in Veracruz can witness over 400,000 Broadwings in just one day! You might ask what is so special about Veracruz, Mexico? Well the large concentration of Broadwings passing through are essentially being funneled by the topography, avoiding large bodies of water and following paths with increased thermal strength.
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| Distribution of Broadwings (Photo Credit: Cornell Lab of Ornithology) |
One of the earliest fall migrants here in North America, the Broadwing migration period may only last 2 months, so those who left their breeding grounds in mid August are expected to arrive at their wintering site by late October. We are very interested in seeing where our 4 tagged birds winter and how long it will take them to get there. Our 3 juvenile birds left their nesting grounds around the 3rd and 4th week in August and have made their way down to Alabama and Mississippi. Visit http://www.hawkmountain.org/birdtracker/ to get up-to-date locations of all four of our tagged birds.
