It was a really good day at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary. Highlights included 218 Red-tailed Hawks, 18 Northern Goshawks, 5 Rough-legged Hawks, 4 Golden Eagles, 18 Red-shouldered Hawks, and 10 Northern Harriers.
This bird's zebra-like wing pattern got everyone's attention. It turned out to be a leucistic Red-tailed Hawk.
Wednesday, November 5, 1975
Sunday, November 2, 1975
Dark Phase Gyrfalcon at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary! ~ November 2, 1975
It was an extremely mild November Sunday on the North Lookout. The temperatures reached the 60's and there was little or no wind, certainly not favorable for a good raptor flight. A little after noon, two birds (only the fifth and sixth birds of the day) were spotted along the south slope of "1". The two birds (one larger than the other) were barely visible. Speculation was that they might be a Red-tailed Hawk and a Sharp-shinned. The larger bird left the slope and headed towards South Lookout. It was an immature Golden Eagle, which meant the smaller bird was no Sharp-shinned. Luckily, that bird headed right for us at the North Lookout. As it got to the lookout, it veered just to the south. That's when Jim Brett called out, "Gyrfalcon!" It was a dark phase bird. No one there could believe what they were seeing, but it WAS a 'Gyr'! It was another example where birds fly where and whenever they want to regardless of what predictions we might come up with. Unfortunately, everyone was so stunned that no one got a photo of the bird as it went by. Alex Nagy, the Curator of Hawk Mountain at the time, drew this picture for the cover of the newsletter containing the 1975 migration report.
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