When someone says they caught fifty stripers or saw a thousand hawk in a day, it is certainly difficult to believe. I understand that. I as a writer also know how important credibility is. If people do not believe you, then anything you write is a waste of time.
When I said I saw over one thousand hawks in an hour, I understand that is an unbelievable number. As a person on the Massbird email list, I get daily emails from the Hawk Watch. As you can imagine, I was extremely interested to wake up Sunday morning to read the totals from Saturday.
I wasn't surprised to see the total number of Broadwing Hawks for the day was 2281. Of course, I am sure this number is an estimate, but I bet the actual total is very close to that given the skill level of the observers. As you can see, thirteen bald eagles were seen along with many other hawks.
I did not see all of these hawks and eagles. I got to the top of the mountain around 11 am after my drive and hiking up. I only stayed on top for two hours because my sweat soaked shirt was chilling me. Still, what I saw was unbelievable. I saw four groups of over two hundred hawks each. Sometimes it was tough to tell where one group started and another ended because there were so many in the sky. I clearly picked a good time to reach the summit. I'm sure if I stayed longer I would have seen a lot more hawks. The morning count was "slow" so the big numbers came while I was there and after I left.
Another interesting fact; I mentioned in the below that even in migration, you need good conditions and a lot of luck to have a high hawk day. The number of Broadwing Hawks seen on Friday- 10.
Luck is a beautiful thing
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