About two dozen participants joined at one time or another in this morning’s hawk watch held at the Lebanon Municipal Airport in West Lebanon, NH, and arranged by the Mascoma Chapter of NH Audubon.

At the start, conditions were somewhat foggy so that flying birds at times disappeared into the fog, but gradually skies cleared, and, during the later part of the watch, skies became partly cloudy with, at times, a wide expanse of blue sky in advance of more clouds moving in from the southwest. For much of the observation time, there was almost no wind. Temperatures were very comfortable.

By late morning, hawks were on the move but some were at great distance and hence challenging for identification. Numerous Turkey Vultures were seen early during the watch but disappeared later in the morning. These vultures apparently were flying up from their West Lebanon roost.
Waterbirds included two unidentified flying ducks, believed to be mergansers, and a Double-crested Cormorant flying swiftly southward.

Nonraptorial landlords included numerous American Goldfinches in flight. A flock of European Starlings put on good show with a number of them molting and showing a mixture of the drab juvenile plumage and the more conspicuous speckled adult plumage of fall. 

It was nice to be out to see an early part of the Broad-winged Hawk migration. A full list of species follows below.

George Clark
Norwich, VT

Double-crested Cormorant    1
Turkey Vulture  25 (probably an underestimate)
Accipiter, unknown species  1 (probably Sharp-shinned or Cooper’s)
Broad-winged Hawk 14 (7 was the largest number in a single group)
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Unidentified distant hawks   8
Falcon   1 (probably either American Kestrel or Merlin)
Eastern Phoebe 1
Blue Jay  4
Common Raven 2
Gray Catbird  2
European Starling  20
Song Sparrow  2
Northern Cardinal   1
American Goldfinch 22
House Sparrow  2
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