Soddy Mountain Hawk Totals

Fall hawk counts were conducted 1993-2005. Counts were taken in the following periods: 1993--26 days between August 22-December 19; 1994--45 days between August 7-November 27; 1995--41 days between September 3-December 9; 1996--58 days between August 17-December 10; 1997--49 days between August 30-December 7; 1998--62 days; 1999--56 days between September 4-December 7; 2000--56 days between September 4-December 9; 2001--60 days between September 4-December 9; 2002--51 days between August 30-December 3; 2003--48 days between September 7-December 1; 2004--53 days between September 5-December 3; and 2005--38 days between September 4-December 2. In this 13-year period, 46,102 raptors were counted in 3,257.2 hours of hawk watching for an average of 3,546 raptors in 250.6 hours of hawk watching per fall. Top five raptors were Broad-winged Hawk, Turkey Vulture, Red-tailed Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk, and Black Vulture. The first three most numerous species were the same as in the spring.

Year	OS	MK	BE	GE	NH	SS	CH	NG	RS	BW	RT	RL	AK	ML	PG	TV	BV	TOTAL	HOURS	DAYS
1993	2	0	3	0	3	97	6	0	12	974	96	0	13	0	0	108	38	1,352	100	26
1994	9	0	3	2	27	131	43	0	32	778	388	0	38	0	2	883	171	2,509	182.5	45
1995	7	0	15	1	16	219	39	1	22	3,625	474	0	37	1	4	605	205	5,290	195.5	41
1996	17	0	18	2	33	369	38	0	25	1,679	488	0	25	2	6	916	200	3,833	305.5	58
1997	24	0	18	1	28	348	26	0	19	1,706	473	0	40	4	2	1,515	106	4,324	248	49
1998	24	0	41	3	22	477	42	0	21	1,512	284	0	38	8	4	1,016	62	3,554	325	62
1999	9	0	25	0	10	284	37	0	17	717	447	0	14	4	1	690	57	2,312	255	56
2000	11	0	23	2	23	203	34	0	20	1,669	160	1	16	8	5	309	11	2,497	272	56
2001	10	0	34	1	37	254	64	0	23	1,842	309	0	18	5	6	645	56	3,312	341	60
2002	27	0	35	0	31	285	77	0	24	5,073	368	0	25	3	3	718	74	6,748	263	51
2003	14	2	24	1	37	210	58	0	19	3,194	163	0	26	2	9	1,059	29	4,861	265	48
2004	16	0	27	2	33	361	67	0	30	1,997	154	0	15	7	8	207	14	2,943	331	53
2005	16	0	19	0	12	52	16	0	9	2,154	63	0	10	2	7	192	12	2,567	173.7	38
TOTALS 1993-2005	186	2	285	15	312	3,290	547	1	273	26,920	3,867	1	315	46	57	8,863	1,035	46,102	3,257.2	643
TOTALS 2001-2005	83	2	139	4	150	1,162	282	0	105	14,260	1,057	0	94	19	33	2,821	185	20,431	1,373.7	250

Key to species: OS - Osprey, MK - Mississippi Kite, BE - Bald Eagle, GE - Golden Eagle, NH - Northern Harrier,
SS - Sharp-shinned Hawk, CH - Cooper's Hawk, NG - Northern Goshawk, RS - Red-shouldered Hawk,
BW - Broad-winged Hawk, RT - Red-tailed Hawk, RL - Rough-legged Hawk,AM - American Kestrel, ML - Merlin,
PG - Peregrine Falcon, TV - Turkey Vulture, BV - Black Vulture

Compiler: William G. (Bill) Haley, 215 McFarland Avenue, Chattanooga, TN 37405, wgh@tennis.org

Spring hawk counts were conducted in 1998 and 2001-2003. Counts were taken in the following periods: 1998--14 days, February 27-April 27; 2001--16 days, January 30-April 20; 2002--25 days, February 8-April 20; and 2003--12 days, March 22-April 19. In these 4 years, 2,303 raptors were counted with the Broad-winged Hawk being the most common with 1,459 (63.4% of total). Top five species were Broad-winged Hawk, Turkey Vulture, Red-tailed Hawk, Osprey, and Sharp-shinned Hawk. The first three most numerous species were the same as in the fall.

Year	OS	BE	GE	NH	SS	CH	RS	BW	SW	RT	AK	ML	TV	BV	UNID	TOTAL	HOURS	DAYS
1998	18	2	0	3	33	13	1	196	1	48	4	0	122	18	5	457	58	14
2001	21	1	1	4	9	4	3	277	0	14	10	1	111	37	0	493	55.6	16
2002	28	10	0	10	26	11	5	602	0	34	7	0	132	4	6	875	107	25
2003	19	1	0	1	11	7	0	384	0	4	1	0	50	0	0	478	40.5	12
TOTALS	86	14	1	18	79	35	9	1,459	1	100	22	1	415	59	11	2,303	261.1	67

Key to species: OS - Osprey, BE - Bald Eagle, GE - Golden Eagle, NH - Northern Harrier, SS - Sharp-shinned Hawk,
CH - Cooper's Hawk, RS - Red-shouldered Hawk, BW - Broad-winged Hawk, SW - Swainson's Hawk,
RT - Red-tailed Hawk, AM - American Kestrel, ML - Merlin, TV - Turkey Vulture, BV - Black Vulture, UNID - Unidentified

Compiler: William G. (Bill) Haley, 215 McFarland Avenue, Chattanooga, TN 37405, wgh@tennis.org