Beautiful photos. If you care about birds and whales, you should be concerned that wind turbines are killing them. Michael Shellenberger is a much more nuanced writer than McKibben, whose fearmongering has affected your thinking: https://public.substack.com/p/the-film-that-could-save-an-entire
Thanks. I’m a fan of iconoclasts. I read Shellenberger (when he lowers the paywall) and read Taibbi and other writers challenging dogma in legacy media and in the public square. I like to think that I discern faults and merits across the spectrum of what I read, including in the peer-reviewed literature and here on Substack.
I live in one of the osprey migration hotspots in the UK. They pass through Poole Harbour in Dorset, UK, feeding as they go. Not huge numbers by any means, but enough to warm the heart. For the second year, ospreys have also nested in Poole Harbour, and chicks have fledged. First time in roughly 180 years.
Poole Harbour in Dorset -- enough to warm the heart. Great. Got it! Thanks, Jane. And hooray for those fledglings! Ospreys have recovered so well here in the US since our banning DDT and our offering them other protections.
I’d heard of this phenomenon in our turkey vulture population here on Vancouver Island. Every year at the same time (September 30, give or take a day or two) they kettle in huge numbers around the tip of East Sooke, then they all cross the Salish Sea together, heading south into the US across the Straight of Juan de Fuca. But now I know more about why, thank you
I generally think of the Turkey Vulture migration as dispersed and extended over time. (They're not as determined in their migrations -- many of them don't go great distances.) But you do indeed have a worthy "event" going on there, Christi. It sounds impressive! I wrote a bit about the spring TV migration here: https://chasingnature.substack.com/p/vultures-all-the-way-down
I love, as always, how you ground us while letting us fly with all the miracles this world freely gifts. And appreciated what McKibben wrote a while back about there being no real climate refuge, only resilient communities.
And I'd love to see one of these. The Hawk Migration Assocation's site shows a couple Montana Hawk Watch points near me, yay! But one of them is Mount Brown, which I am not going anywhere near. Experienced hikers die on that mountain with depressing regularity (usually by falling). But Jewel Basin is one of my lifelong favorites. (Enjoyed this description of "how to get there": "At this point, you will turn left and follow the goat trail north along the ridgeline about mile to the observation point, where the trail essentially ends at the top of a rock face." I've eaten lunch right there so many times. 🥪)
Awesome! (Yeah, no Mount Brown -- no Mount Brown. We need you!) I don't know much about the timing of hawks moving through Montana. But you'll want sunshine and winds from the north. Hawks aren't always a sure thing at hawkwatches; but even if there aren't hawks, hey, you're on a mountain. Can't go wrong. I'll poke around the Jewel Basin data. Stay tuned!
"You'll want sunshine and winds from the north." Sounds like something ominous from Lord of the Rings!
The site has the dates, Aug 25 to Nov 07. I watched a hawk on a hike a couple weekends ago, but he didn't look to be migrating anywhere. In any case, happy for an excuse to hike the Jewel, which I haven't done for 5 years (much more crowded than it was when I was growing up, of course, and also I have such a luxury of choice). Just have to go before snow flies. And NO. No Mount Brown. I can see the fire lookout up there from many of the hikes I do in Glacier, and even that distant sight makes my knees cringe. My spouse hikes it. I'm not good with heights!
Thank you Bryan. Topping off the madness of floods with the delightful soaring of beautiful creatures above us says it all. Perhaps I will get off of "the hill" here and travel to Mt. Philo someday.
Thanks for this post. I live very close to the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge and it is indeed migration season. I worry about the birds, all of them. And I worry about our planet.
I love it there. Back in the 1960's the state allowed camping on Sandy Point. My family camped there every summer for the whole summer. It was magical.
Collective nouns for animals are very interesting. After reading 'kettle' of hawks in this post I looked it up and saw that 'leash' and 'cast' are also used for hawks in different contexts.
There has been some great work done with Amur Falcons in the North east of India. Tribes used to trap them in the hundreds for food during migration. The work done by conservationists along with government action changed that to one of protection and the village of Pangti in Nagaland has become a flag-bearer of that positive change.
As it turns out, I've never been a fan of those collective nouns for wildlife. Herd and pack and pod are okay with me. But murder and pride and their ilk — I dunno, they just don't work for me. Kettle I like because it's somewhat descriptive of those rising masses of raptors that boil over.
Wonderfully written and educational, as always! And agree with the climate crisis effects on our earth and our inhabitants. I wonder about the adaptation of these (and all creatures) as part of this change. A Cooper's hawk perched on our patio in the heart of the city of Albuquerque only 2 days after we had started (and have since ceased) letting the barn-kitten-turned-domestic-housecat have her daily patio time. I realize they are astute with the finding of prey and I wonder how they are adapting to do so in unlikely areas and with such confidence. We have it on video and it is remarkable.
Thanks, Steph. As it turns out. Cooper's Hawks and Sharp-shinned Hawks have for quite some time done fairly well around people, mostly because they prey on songbirds, including around bird feeders. (They have no interest in house cats, which of course are all too skilled at killing birds.) I've even seen Cooper's Hawks take pigeons in cities -- they're tough and feisty!
Thank you for the reply, Bryan! Interesting you should share about the Cooper's in the city. Before perching our cat's favorite patio, it took out a pigeon in our back yard and warned a squirrel with the width of its span, to 'back off - this is mine'. We have it all on video (discretely, of course). No feeders near us but certainly a lot of options nonetheless.
There was a smallish "kettle " of hawks over MOntpelier proper last weekend. Glad to know what I was actually seeing!
It was indeed the broadwing window to pass through Vermont!
Beautiful photos. If you care about birds and whales, you should be concerned that wind turbines are killing them. Michael Shellenberger is a much more nuanced writer than McKibben, whose fearmongering has affected your thinking: https://public.substack.com/p/the-film-that-could-save-an-entire
Many scientists including several Nobel laureates have signed onto a declaration that there is no climate emergency: https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/heres-climate-dissent-youre-not-hearing-about-because-its-muffled-societys-top-institutions
Thanks. I’m a fan of iconoclasts. I read Shellenberger (when he lowers the paywall) and read Taibbi and other writers challenging dogma in legacy media and in the public square. I like to think that I discern faults and merits across the spectrum of what I read, including in the peer-reviewed literature and here on Substack.
I live in one of the osprey migration hotspots in the UK. They pass through Poole Harbour in Dorset, UK, feeding as they go. Not huge numbers by any means, but enough to warm the heart. For the second year, ospreys have also nested in Poole Harbour, and chicks have fledged. First time in roughly 180 years.
Poole Harbour in Dorset -- enough to warm the heart. Great. Got it! Thanks, Jane. And hooray for those fledglings! Ospreys have recovered so well here in the US since our banning DDT and our offering them other protections.
Same here. Unfortunately we still have a big problem with birds of prey being poisoned, not so much ospreys, but harriers and eagles.
Wow. That was just a beautiful essay.
Beautiful - I love how you weave the political with the natural, them with us... and love that photo, legs up to the sky! 😄
Legs up to the sky -- my kind of birdwatching!
Beautiful
Thanks so much, Kacey.
I’d heard of this phenomenon in our turkey vulture population here on Vancouver Island. Every year at the same time (September 30, give or take a day or two) they kettle in huge numbers around the tip of East Sooke, then they all cross the Salish Sea together, heading south into the US across the Straight of Juan de Fuca. But now I know more about why, thank you
I generally think of the Turkey Vulture migration as dispersed and extended over time. (They're not as determined in their migrations -- many of them don't go great distances.) But you do indeed have a worthy "event" going on there, Christi. It sounds impressive! I wrote a bit about the spring TV migration here: https://chasingnature.substack.com/p/vultures-all-the-way-down
Your insight and wonderful info is always appreciated. Thank you. Jo Lafayette
As always, so very kind of you, Jo. Always nice to hear from my birding pals!
I love, as always, how you ground us while letting us fly with all the miracles this world freely gifts. And appreciated what McKibben wrote a while back about there being no real climate refuge, only resilient communities.
And I'd love to see one of these. The Hawk Migration Assocation's site shows a couple Montana Hawk Watch points near me, yay! But one of them is Mount Brown, which I am not going anywhere near. Experienced hikers die on that mountain with depressing regularity (usually by falling). But Jewel Basin is one of my lifelong favorites. (Enjoyed this description of "how to get there": "At this point, you will turn left and follow the goat trail north along the ridgeline about mile to the observation point, where the trail essentially ends at the top of a rock face." I've eaten lunch right there so many times. 🥪)
Ooh! Golden eagles! I've never seen them there but that is some serious incentive.
Awesome! (Yeah, no Mount Brown -- no Mount Brown. We need you!) I don't know much about the timing of hawks moving through Montana. But you'll want sunshine and winds from the north. Hawks aren't always a sure thing at hawkwatches; but even if there aren't hawks, hey, you're on a mountain. Can't go wrong. I'll poke around the Jewel Basin data. Stay tuned!
"You'll want sunshine and winds from the north." Sounds like something ominous from Lord of the Rings!
The site has the dates, Aug 25 to Nov 07. I watched a hawk on a hike a couple weekends ago, but he didn't look to be migrating anywhere. In any case, happy for an excuse to hike the Jewel, which I haven't done for 5 years (much more crowded than it was when I was growing up, of course, and also I have such a luxury of choice). Just have to go before snow flies. And NO. No Mount Brown. I can see the fire lookout up there from many of the hikes I do in Glacier, and even that distant sight makes my knees cringe. My spouse hikes it. I'm not good with heights!
You'll have it great up there. Lots of birds in late September and early October. Looks like the Golden Eagle flights are great at Jewel Basin.
https://www.hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=756
Click the "Migration Timing" tab.
My mom was a lifelong birder, and Hawk Watch was a major event on her calendar every year!
She probably loved the broadwing flights. We can almost set our calendars to them in mid September. (Friday was a big day for them in VT.)
Oh, yes.
Beautiful, Bryan. The writing here has such a light touch yet carries real weight. I might even make a bird metaphor out of it... Really nicely done.
Merlin show coming to Monhegan!
I agree totally.
Thank you Bryan. Topping off the madness of floods with the delightful soaring of beautiful creatures above us says it all. Perhaps I will get off of "the hill" here and travel to Mt. Philo someday.
We'll be waiting for you up there, Rita!
Thanks for this post. I live very close to the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge and it is indeed migration season. I worry about the birds, all of them. And I worry about our planet.
Parker River is a fine migration destination! Love it there!
I love it there. Back in the 1960's the state allowed camping on Sandy Point. My family camped there every summer for the whole summer. It was magical.
Collective nouns for animals are very interesting. After reading 'kettle' of hawks in this post I looked it up and saw that 'leash' and 'cast' are also used for hawks in different contexts.
There has been some great work done with Amur Falcons in the North east of India. Tribes used to trap them in the hundreds for food during migration. The work done by conservationists along with government action changed that to one of protection and the village of Pangti in Nagaland has become a flag-bearer of that positive change.
Thanks! Glad to hear about those falcons.
As it turns out, I've never been a fan of those collective nouns for wildlife. Herd and pack and pod are okay with me. But murder and pride and their ilk — I dunno, they just don't work for me. Kettle I like because it's somewhat descriptive of those rising masses of raptors that boil over.
Wonderfully written and educational, as always! And agree with the climate crisis effects on our earth and our inhabitants. I wonder about the adaptation of these (and all creatures) as part of this change. A Cooper's hawk perched on our patio in the heart of the city of Albuquerque only 2 days after we had started (and have since ceased) letting the barn-kitten-turned-domestic-housecat have her daily patio time. I realize they are astute with the finding of prey and I wonder how they are adapting to do so in unlikely areas and with such confidence. We have it on video and it is remarkable.
Thanks, Steph. As it turns out. Cooper's Hawks and Sharp-shinned Hawks have for quite some time done fairly well around people, mostly because they prey on songbirds, including around bird feeders. (They have no interest in house cats, which of course are all too skilled at killing birds.) I've even seen Cooper's Hawks take pigeons in cities -- they're tough and feisty!
Thank you for the reply, Bryan! Interesting you should share about the Cooper's in the city. Before perching our cat's favorite patio, it took out a pigeon in our back yard and warned a squirrel with the width of its span, to 'back off - this is mine'. We have it all on video (discretely, of course). No feeders near us but certainly a lot of options nonetheless.