Peregrine Migration

On Monday I received a report through the ManitobaBirds loop that a credible source had spotted a peregrine in the Riding Mountain National Park area - that's a little ways north of Brandon for those who don't know Manitoba well but do know where Zeus & Hurricane nested last year.

Upon hearing the news, I checked out the HawkCount migration website (which I will warn you is addictive) to see how the peregrine migration was progressing, but it looks like they haven't started to move off the wintering grounds yet. Veracruz, Mexico, is the most southerly HawkCount site and they haven't had any sightings of peregrines, or any other raptor species for that matter. So the peregrine sighted in western Manitoba could be a very early bird or a very late bird or a very confused bird, but definitely a very lonely bird. No identification on our traveller, so I'm afraid we will probably never know who they are or where (or if) they end up nesting some place. Exciting nonetheless.

There are a number of raptor migration count sites on the east coast of the USA that have had reports of birds in December, but those are probably birds overwintering in the area rather than late fall or very early spring migrants. Some of those could very well be birds we have been watching on eastern webcams that have been "on" all winter. When the raptors do start to move, its amazing to watch the reports on the HawkCount website. The numbers of individual birds that fly over one site can be astounding - for some species its hundreds or even thousands in say a four-hour period. Its also amazing how watching the numbers day by day can almost make you feel or hear the birds working their way north. Sort of a biological countdown timer to spring for the technological age!