We had an over-the-top day at the Turkey Point Hawk Watch on Sunday 9/26/99.  I have heard about days at Hawk Mountain when the Broadwings rise like fog from the forest all around the watch, and by golly, that's what happened at Turkey Point on Sunday.  Well, to be more accurate, that's what happened all over Elk Neck on Sunday - Turkey Point is just the very tip of the Elk Neck peninsula.

My first indication that this had the possibility to be an interesting day came on the drive down in the morning.  At about 8:30 a.m., I was stopped at a red light at the very top of the Elk Neck peninsula, still in a sleepy, not very alert mood, and idly saying to myself:  Oh, there's four broadwings coming up out of the trees ahead.  Nice.  Oh, there's a few more.  And more..." About this time, my brain finally woke up, and I pulled over and jumped out of the car and started counting.  There were 26 birds in that first group.  I raced down the peninsula, keeping an eye on the sky.  By the time I got to Turkey Point, I had counted over 300 birds (estimate, because it's hard to count and drive); most were in groups of 20 to 30 birds, rising silently from the trees. (It's eerie - they don't seem to flap much coming up out of the trees - they just cup their wings and levitate).  All of the groups I saw from the road kettled up to a medium height and then, while still in view to the naked eye, coursed over the peninsula to the west.  These birds appeared to be on a more westerly than southerly course, and I was driving roughly southwest;  I don't think I was seeing the same kettle over and over, since I could see each new kettle rising from the woods as they came off roost, and then they would disappear to the west.  There may have been other groups that were already higher that I missed seeing, since I wasn't using binos while in the car.

At the parking lot at Turkey Point, there were two more kettles, one with 26 and one with 18 Braodwings;  they spiraled up and went out to the west over the Northeast River.  They disappeared from view over Harford County on the other side of the river.  I made it up to the first meadow without seeing any other hawks, but then I had to stop in awe, because I had a clear view of the meadow and surrounding woods, and  hundreds of birds were rising from the trees.   At this point I met up with Joel Martin from Baltimore, who had come to do some warblering.  Shortly, Gary Griffith, Parke John, and Dennis Quinn also arrived.  In the first hour (9 a.m. to 10 a.m.), we counted 980 birds, including 887 broadwings.  That was the largest number of  Broadwings in any one hour of the morning:  there were 495 from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.;  43 from 11a.m. to 12 noon;  and then 20 from noon to 1 p.m.  I had to leave shortly after 1 p.m., with the Broadwing total for the day at 1,495.

Although the Broadwings were the big story, there were other birds too, including a total of 188 Sharpies.  Seems like Red-tails were also starting to move, with 26 seen, most in the noon to 1 p.m. time slot.  

The total of 1,784 birds does NOT include the approximately 300 Broadwings that I saw on the way to the watch. This is also a conservative count that does not include birds that may have circled back around the point instead of going out over the water.

To put this in perspective, let's look at previous years at Turkey Point.  I don't have all the data from previous years, but according to what I have, our best previous daily total (all species) was in 1997, when we had 688 hawks on 9/18. Previous annual totals for Broadwings only are: 1994 - 218; 1995 - 90; 1996 - 413;   1997 - 1130.  On Sunday 9/26/99, our one-day total of 1,495 Broadwings broke our previous record season total for the species.  We have always thought that the Braodwings take a more inland route, crossing to the west before they hit the Elk Neck peninsula.  For whatever reason, this time, they made it down onto the peninsula and put on a great show.  Most of the birds were close enough to be easily identified and counted with the naked eye.  They were kettling just above treetop height.  It was a day to remember and I am thankful that I was there to witness the spectacle.   MWW

Note added 10/25/07:  We ended the count in 1999 with a total of 7,014 hawks, including 1,727 Broadwings for the season. The 1999 count remains, by far, our best season to date, primarily due to the Broadwings of September 26.  For comparative count data year-by-year, please click here.

Please come out any time you can and help us count these birds!  You never know when we might have another record-breaking day.