GETTING HOOKED: Hawk watching could be an addictive, but enjoyable, interest for birders | Information, Sports activities, Jobs

They’re all seen by means of the enormous library home windows the place I work.

But I ought to warn you that when you do search for, you can get hooked on what you see. That’s what occurred to me, and in my case it was birds of prey, beginning with a lone red-tailed hawk.

The summer time after my senior yr, I went backpacking with a good friend on the Black Forest Trail close to Slate Run. We have been lazy, so we simply arrange a base camp not removed from the stream and made day hikes from there.

My greatest reminiscence from that week was of a lovely red-tailed hawk passing over the a part of the stream we known as our watering gap. The solely cause I knew what to name it was as a result of I’d heard the identify someplace, and this hawk had an unmistakably brick-red tail.

PHOTO PROVIDED
Micah and Josiah Bauman stroll on Stone Mountain by an indication indicating a spot to look at hawks on this photograph by David Bauman.

The fowl continued to soar in lazy circles overhead for a number of minutes and I used to be entranced.

I’d quickly study at my native library by the best way that not all red-tailed hawks have pink tails, and right here within the east, juveniles have thinly barred brown tails. I’d additionally study there have been eight completely different species of hawks who repeatedly made their properties proper right here in Pennsylvania.

That’s to not point out three species of falcons, two of eagles, and the osprey in a category by itself.

Ironically, I used to be within the flat lands of Indiana, at college and feeling homesick when somebody advised me about a spot known as Hawk Mountain close to Kempton. What I discovered on the college library was a e book that modified my life, 40 years after it was printed.

“Hawks Aloft: The Story of Hawk Mountain” by Maurice Braun, first printed in 1948, 15 years after he and his spouse Irma arrived as the primary curator and gate keeper, respectively, of the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary.

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Micah Bauman seems by means of binoculars on the Route 15 lookout for hawks on this photograph by David Bauman.

This was new to me, the concept that there have been migration sizzling spots. I realized that north-facing lookouts, significantly alongside ridgetops, had the potential to be good spots for observing migrating birds of prey. Generally websites which have a view up the ridge and into each the northwest and southeast valleys might function corridors for birds transferring from their northern breeding spots to their winter properties within the south.

Picture a raised reduction map of Pennsylvania on the wall in entrance of you. More or much less from the middle to the southeast, is the ridge and valley area. Now think about you’re a hawk flying south after a chilly entrance. The updrafts off these ridges, together with rising columns of heat air known as thermals, can present you a neater flight south.

More gliding and hovering, much less power expended.

When I moved again east, I headed to spots like Hawk Mountain and Waggoner’s Gap, positioned myself close to hawk counters on fall weekends, the place I’d hear, observe and ask questions. I even took my nervous knees up the steps of a hearth tower close to State College earlier than assembly Greg Grove on Stone Mountain.

There we watched from garden chairs behind our automobiles on the bend within the street. That was earlier than the viewing deck was constructed on the highest of the ridge.

Grove took me underneath his wing and instructed good however reasonably priced optics. When he’d quiz me on a fowl that flew over, if I stated sharp-shinned hawk, he’d say, “OK, now tell me why.” I owe a lot to individuals like Grove, and it was a pleasure to introduce him to my sons once we visited the hawk watch not too long ago.

If you wish to deal with your self to some hawk watching, September is a superb time to begin when broad-winged hawks are inclined to journey in teams. You might hike out onto Bake Oven Knob or park at Jack’s Mountain beneath the altar. Even the purely north-facing view on the Route 15 lookout above Montoursville could be surprisingly good when there are northerly winds.

Go to HawkDepend.org and click on on the map to seek out the closest hawk watch and see for your self. And if it’s a sluggish fowl day, simply benefit from the view.

It’s like what they are saying about fishing: a nasty day of hawk watching is healthier than a very good day at work.

David Bauman started his birding journey by frequenting hawk watch websites within the late Nineteen Eighties and early Nineteen Nineties. Gradually he realized there have been so many extra birds. He is the chief director of Snyder County Libraries and a county co-coordinator for the Pennsylvania Bird Atlas. You can discover extra of his poetry and prose at DavidJBauman.com.