Hawk Mountain field research staff and volunteers have been busy since mid April searching for nest sites and seeing which birds have returned. Two of last years tagged birds, Ridgena and Pocono Penny, have returned and are currently nesting! You may remember from past blog posts that we were not sure what happened to Ridgena since her last location from Colombia was on January 26th.
Laurie went out to the old nest site at the end of April and confirmed that Ridgena returned after getting a good look at the USGS band on her leg. No antenna or backpack was seen at that time. We will attempt to re trap her to determine if the unit is still on, and if so, remove it so it can be refurbished and hopefully put on another bird at a later date.
Laurie went out to the old nest site at the end of April and confirmed that Ridgena returned after getting a good look at the USGS band on her leg. No antenna or backpack was seen at that time. We will attempt to re trap her to determine if the unit is still on, and if so, remove it so it can be refurbished and hopefully put on another bird at a later date.
We will continue to have people in the field to identify if banded individuals have returned to sites like Morgantown, French Creek State Park, Delaware State Forest and Hawk Mountain.
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Chenango's interesting movements during her first year migrating. On fall migration Chenango spent time in the southwest portion of Mexico for about 2 months before heading to El Salvador. She stayed in El Salvador from 1/18 to 4/15. As she moved north, she hugged the Gulf Coast, went up through Texas and followed the Mississippi Flyway until she decided to move south again, down into Georgia, where she currently is located.
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| Chenango's fall `15 and spring `16 migration |
Sadie arrived in PA around May 3rd and was back on her breeding grounds in the Delaware State Forest on May 9th. We are currently working on locating her new nest site as well as getting a visual confirmation of her with backpack and bands.
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| Sadie fall `15 and spring `16 migration |
Pocono Penny was back in PA after April 24th and at Stony Acres on April 27th. It was confirmed just 12 days later that she was reusing last years nest (see images below).
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| Pocono Penny fall `15 and spring `16 migration |
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| Movements from all 2015 tagged Broadwings |
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This is the first time in our 2 year study that we have birds reusing nests from previous years.Three nests are being reused in 2016, two nests from 2014 (one on HMS property and another in New Ringgold) and one from 2015 in the Delaware State Forest.
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| May 9th, 2016: Penny settled down in the 2015 nest (PhotoCred. R.Farley) |
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| Pocono Penny with visible antenna from transmitter |
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| Adult Broadwing from pair on Hawk Mountain Sanctuary |
As of now we have a total of 9 confirmed nest sites throughout the three regions. We are hoping to confirm an additional 3-5 nests by the end of May.
Next week Rebecca, Zach and Randy will be headed on a little road trip to the Allegheny National Forest to search for Broadwing nests with the help from the staff at ANF. The goal is to find 3-5 nests and to come back after the young have hatched to put units on two adults.
Be sure to check in on Chenango's movements at Broadwing Tracking Maps
Also do not forget to Like us on Facebook at The Broad-winged Hawk Project
