Thursday, June 23, 2011

Why I love the hawkwatch

I have been watching hawks and migrating birds of prey for about 14 years. Observing hawks in migration never gets old for me. I was living in Veracruz Mexico when I observed my first swirling kettle filled with thousands of Broad-winged hawks. This migratory experience captured my imagination, it was and still is magical to observe. Every year for the past 14 years, I participate two times a year (spring and fall) in the "ritual"of the hawkwatch.
The dynamic of observing migrating raptors is constantly changing. One moment you can be observing distant "raptor specks" as they navigate their migration and the next capture a fantastic view of a low flying hungry juvenile Cooper's hawk in search of food.  The visuals of the bird of prey migrations are constantly changing. I have been fortunate enough to lead birding tours over the past years to share this phenomena with many people.
For the past few years I have teamed up with Simon Thompson of Ventures Birding Tours to conduct a  fall tour of the peak of the raptor migrations in Veracruz.  Going birding with Simon is a lot of FUN. His knowledge and passion for birding is top notch. This year both Simon and myself want to invite birders everywhere to  experience the Veracruz Hawkwatch tour. The date for the first tour is September 26- Oct.3 and the second tour is Oct. 3- Oct 10.  For information http://www.birdventures.com/

1 comment:

Nicole said...

One day, when I grow up, I want to see that many too.
Just amazing!