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!

The end of the field season

     We are wrapping up our first field season with vegetation sampling at each of the nest sites. One of our goals is to understand what habitat attributes are important for Broad-winged Hawks when choosing nest sites and territories. Last week we spent Monday and Wednesday morning and afternoon at the New Ringgold and Shartlesville nests.  

     For each nest site we are measuring variables such as height, species and size of nest tree, percent canopy cover, ground cover, shrub density, distance to streams and ponds, all within a plot around the nest. We are also measuring variables of five nearby random plots to compare to the nest site and help us better understand the Broadwings habitat preference. We will also assess landscape values such as forest size, forest cover, nearness to human development, etc.

     In two weeks we will continue habitat sampling at the Morgantown and Hawk Mountain nest sites.... yes, site has become plural since we just located a second nest over a half mile from the River of Rocks nest! We found the nest right as the young were in the early stages of fledging and we were only able to count two juveniles at the nest and see one of the adults. Although we missed out on observations at this nest site, we will be sure to come back next year in hopes of adding this nest to the list. 

Kenny recording tree species and  size while Zach measures canopy cover.

Laurie recording data while Zach walks the plot for shrub density.

   We have also been getting some data from our birds with transmitters! The units turn on every two days and stay on for about 8 hours and then shut off. During that time we acquire points depending on the location of the satellites. We have included maps below of each of the four Broadwings; Abbo (New Ringgold), Kit (Shartlesville), America (River of Rocks) and Hawkeye (River of Rocks). The goal for early September is to have the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary website (www.hawkmountain.org) Broadwing page revamped and updated with all of the current maps and status of the birds during their migration. 

America (red) and Hawkeye (green)

Abbo's location around 7-16 but then check out the map below to see where she traveled to...

On 7-19 we started to get data showing us Abbo moved away from the nest site. This map shows points from 7-19 to 7-31.

 

Kit's locations from 7/10 to 7/23