Borrego Valley Hawkwatch-Beginning of the 2020 Season

February 21-March 7, 2020-New Faces and Some Nice Swainson's Hawks

DATE: Leader:
February 21 Hal Cohen
Feb. 22 Marilyn Dickson.
Feb. 23 Marilyn Dickson.
Feb. 24 Tracee Geerhaert
Feb. 25 Candace Hess
Feb. 26 Candace Hess
Feb. 27 Laura Webb
Feb. 28 Hal Cohen
Feb. 29 Candace Hess
March 1 Laura Webb
Mar. 2 Hal Cohen
Mar. 3 Candace Hess
Mar. 4 Tracee Geerhaert
Mar. 5 Laura Webb
Mar. 6 Don White
Mar. 7 Don White

Migrants:
Feb. 21-0
Feb. 22-0
Feb. 23-1 Northern Harrier
Feb. 24-8 Swainson's Hawks (SW's)
Feb. 25-0
Feb. 26-0
Feb. 27-0
Feb. 28-0
Feb. 29-6 SW's
March 1-0
March 2-5 SW's
March 3-0
March 4-271 SW's; 5 Turkey Vultures (TV's)
March 5-84 SW's; 2 TV's
March 6-25 SW's; 1 TV
March 7-351 SW's

Discussion:
The beginning of the season began with only a trickle of hawks, until March 4th. The evening of March 3 we witnessed a large kettle with hawks finally settling into the date farm. The evening of March 6 we watched two waves of approximately 250 hawks drop into an area near The Springs RV Park. The first youtube can be accessed at: https://youtu.be/eVZoJZAnkzY

On March 4th and 5th we witnessed aerial feeding on Crane Flies. Attached is a photo taken on March 7th. For a few weeks the adults will mate, not eat, before dying. The Swainson's Hawks have been actively consuming the flies. March 7th began with wind from the NW and early migration. The totals for the day 351.

Evening Watch:
Saturday March 7th-At least 47 Swainson's Hawks flew almost directly over folks at the evening site.

Prediction:
Continued wind tomorrow March 8th will get the hawks up early. With the time change expect movement with feeding and migration by 8am (7am standard-hawktime).