Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!hellgate.utah.edu!caen!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!samsung!uunet!edsews!edsdrd!gss From: gss@edsdrd.eds.com (Gary Schiltz) Newsgroups: rec.birds Subject: Re: Hawk Count Message-ID: <319@dominion.edsdrd.eds.com> Date: 28 Feb 91 17:57:25 GMT References: <1991Feb25.192307.13085@athena.mit.edu> Organization: Research and Development, Auburn Hills, MI 48326 Lines: 28 In article <1991Feb25.192307.13085@athena.mit.edu>, kim@athena.mit.edu (Kim Carney) writes: > This weekend I drove ~70 miles from the Mass Pike to Rt 495. I counted > over 12 Hawks along the highway and in the median. This is > about 1 bird per 5 miles. > > I was very surprised at the number. Is this unusual? I was driving > about 1-1.5 hours before sunset. Alright, another raptor counter! My wife and I like to count hawks between Kansas City and Springfield, Missouri when we're there over the Christmas holidays. In the space of 220 miles, we usually see 80-100 Red-tailed Hawks, 20-30 American Kestrels, a half dozen Northern Harriers, Broad-winged and Rough-legged Hawks plus a few Loggerhead Shrikes (pseudo-raptors). It's farm country with many rodents, along with telephone and power poles from which to hunt. Raptors, especially the kestrels, aren't nearly as plentiful here in southeast Michigan, but in neighboring southwestern Ontario, we often see large numbers between Detroit and Niagara Falls. That area is also farm country, and may explain the high numbers better than the latitudinal differences. ---- /\ What cheer, /\ | Gary Schiltz, EDS R&D, 3551 Hamlin Road | / o< cheer,