Hiking and Hawks

Mt. Wachusett

Contrary to what you probably think, it is tough for me to combine my favorite hobbies. When I go hiking of course I'd like to see animals and birds. However, if I'm going on a long hike an extra two pounds of weight is going to be water and not  binoculars. Obviously, I will still see animals, but when it comes to small birds in brush, I'm going to miss out if I don't bring binoculars.

For the most part, birding is the easiest of my three major hobbies physically (hiking and fishing being the others). Hiking requires actual excursion. Also, if I have a destination like a summit or waterfall, I just want to get there.  Birding is much more methodical. I would rarely break a sweat while birding. To be a good birder requires patience and listening. Both of these things are much easier at a deliberate pace. Rushing through the woods will scare away birds. Your noise will make it harder to hear what is going around around you.

Lastly, when I fish, I concentrate so hard on the next cast and look for signs of fish, I can't look for birds. Again, they are nice to see, but if I'm fishing my main goal is to catch a fish. I don't bring my binoculars while fishing since I have enough to carry.

So today was a real treat for me. I hiked up Mt. Wachusett with the sole intention of being part of the Eastern Mass Hawk Watch. Wachusett is one of the best places in the east to see migrating hawks. Every September thousands of hawks migrate south right by the mountain. So in turn, hundreds of birders go to the mountain to watch the spectacle.

Monadnock to the north

Greylock at least 60 miles west

 The hawks ride thermals on their way south. As the sun's rays heat up the surface of the earth the warmer heated air rises. The hawks can ride this rising air so they use less energy as they migrate. The perfect days to see the most hawks are sunny days in mid-September. The wind is important also. As the hawks travel south they want a wind out of the north (preferably northwest because it is dry). From my limited experience a slight northwest breeze is better for observing than a howling wind.

Osprey

All kinds of hawks and eagles fly over the mountain. Falcons, bald eagles, red tails, and many other species use the thermals. However, the main species is known as Broad Wing Hawk. By far, they outnumber the other hawks combined. Broadwings travel in groups the way fish travel in schools. A group of hawks is called a kettle.

I took the hour plus drive to the mountain. I hiked up to the top. I didn't hike the usual trail from the visitor center. Instead I took a trail from a side road. It was named the Mountain House Trail.  I was hoping it would be devoid of people but I saw a few people on the way up. I assumed the trail would take me an hour to hike. It was much shorted than I expected and was on top in half that.

The top was very busy. There is a road with a large parking lot. There are also many trails from all directions. There were many hawk watchers on the platform of the fire tower. At least ten people were there with scopes and dozens with binoculars.

There were some high clouds in the sky. Even with the clouds, there was very little humidity. I could see for miles. To the southeast was the Boston skyline. To the north was the always amazing Mt. Monadnock. Monadnock is at least twenty five miles away. Believe it or not, to the west we could see Mt. Greylock, which is at least sixty miles away (91 miles driving a fairly straight line). With a spotting scope the tower on Greylock could be seen. The view was awesome.

I picked out a spot and started looking for hawks. It didn't take long. Every minute or so a hawk or two would fly by. Some close, some miles away. Some of these people could identify a hawk miles away just by shape or wingbeats, it was impressive. I contributed to the hawk finding. I have pretty good eyesight so I spotted a few hawks without my binoculars. I'd point out "bird" and others would say what kind.

All those black dots are not spots on my camera lens. They are
hundreds of Broad Wing Hawks. This was just one
small section of the sky 

About 11:30 am, the sunlight that had been hitting the ground all morning must have done its job. No longer were single hawks coming by. Broadwing kettles were soaring by us. These kettles were huge. Believe it or not, I saw kettles of hawks that had hundreds of birds. At least four times in less than an hour did I see different groups that were larger than 200 each! It was unbelievable how many hawks were in the air. They were using the air currents to get extremely high, then using the north tailwaind to go south. I have never in my life seen a mass migration like I did today.

More Broadwings against a bluer sky

In less than ninety minutes I am sure I saw over 1000 hawks. The guy that keeps the final tally of the
count was hoping to reach 1500 for the hour of 12-1 pm! I get emails everyday from the hawk count, so I will be extremely interested tomorrow to see the total numbers. Besides the Broadwings, I saw many other species. They include 3 bald eagles (others were seen but I couldn't find them) and multiple ospreys. The hawk watchers would get disappointed when a raven would show up. I was more than happy to watch a half dozen ravens do acrobatics in the wind. I also saw Coopers, Sharp shinned hawks and a couple merlins.

The meadow/orchard at intersection of High Meadow Trail
and Bicentennial Trail

I stayed on top with the hawk watchers for a couple hours. Unlie most of them, I had to hike down and drive an hour home. since the hike up took less than a half hour, I chose a longer way down. I started back down the Mountain House Trail. I veered right on the Jack Frost Trail until it connected to the High Meadow Trail. I took that to the Bicentennial Trail, which connected back to the Mountain House Trail near my car. This hike was slightly longer. It was scenic. The Jack Frost Trail went through a nice Hemlock Forest. The High Meadow Trail did go through a meadow/orchard.

When I got down I drove to the other side of the mountain. I wanted to see the Balance Rock. I took the Bolton Pond Trail an easy half mile to the rock. It was neat. There is a huge boulder on top of another boulder. I got a picture, headed back to my car and went home.




Useful information-

Balance Rock

 Seeing hundreds of hawks isn't an everyday thing even in migration. Just like fishing you have good and bad days. You need good conditions and luck. For the best hawk viewing you want a wind out of the north (northwest). You want it to be dry and sunny because you want the ground to warm up to produce thermals. Lastly, from my experience, you don't want a thirty mile an hour wind. The best time to see the hawk migration is in mid September. Obviously today is closer to the end of the month but it was great. Birders will still be up there counting birds into October, but there will be a lot less birds.

It was 65 degrees at the bottom. It was much chillier at the top. I bet the wind chill was around fifty degrees. Dress appropriately. I had my raincoat with me and used it as a windbreaker. That said, I got cold and was glad to heat up again as I hiked down.

If you like hawks it is well worth the trip. If you don't want to hike, I believe there is a five dollar fee to use the state park.

All directions to Wachusett and trail maps are on their website