Wildcat Ridge Rambling

Ridge Ramblings:

COMMENTS

The Visitor Center is permanently CLOSED, however the clevis is still OPEN for public use and FOOT TRAFFIC ONLY. Educational talks can be scheduled in advance for any group. For scheduling, contact the hawkwatch coordinator, Dorie Cappiello, at CDARWIN123@aol.com Impromptu discussions are always welcome.

Spring watch starts on 2/15 thru 5/15, come join us and enjoy the hawk and songbird migration. We have openings during weekdays for interested volunteers during each migration season to count migrating hawks.Come on up before hand and talk to any of the volunteers to see what it's all about.

FALL 2008 SUMMARY

Fall 2008 turned out to be another disappointing season following a poor Spring 2008 count. Although the season started promising with good count days, things started looking poor as the expected broadwing flight period came closer. The weather and wind directions just were not in our favor. You may recall the hot humid days in the second week of September that also gave us clear blue skies and very little wind. The broadwing flight did arrive on the expected days but the observation periods were limited to early morning and late afternoon. During midday hours the raptors were at very high altitudes and were spotted with scopes rather than binoculars. Effectively, binoculars were useless during midday. Happily, Peregrine Falcons did make a good showing and gave the observers a very good look at the falcon.

The table below is a different format than from previous years. We are showing our actual count compared to our average (I let Excel do the math). The blue indicates a above average count while the red shows any amount below average.

Year	Hrs	BV	TV	OS	BE	NH	SS	CH	NG	RS	BW	RT	RL	GE	AK	ML	PG	UR	OO	Total
AVG	517	62	291	228	50	48	1040	136	2	49	4893	296	0	4	174	15	5	29	0	7322
2008	304	23	92	142	37	18	741	89	0	16	3888	44	0	0	34	7	5	5	0	5145
+ -%	59%	37%	32%	62%	74%	37%	71%	66%	0%	33%	79%	15%	0%	0%	20%	48%	100%	17%	0%	70%


BV	Black Vulture	TV	Turkey Vulture	OS	Osprey	BE	Bald Eagle
NH	Northern Harrier	SS	Sharp Shinned	CH	Cooper's Hawk	NG	Northern Goshawk
RS	Red Shouldered	BW	Broad Winged	RT	Red Tailed	RL	Ruff Legged
GE	Golden Eagle	AK	American Kestrel	ML	Merlin	PG	Perigine Falcon
UR	Unknown Raptor	OO	Rarities

Our SPRING and FALL count history can be viewed by clicking these respective links.

Click this link to read the History of Wildcat Ridge WMA before it was a Wildlife Management Area.

Bill Gallagher's commemoration dinner ....

Click this link to read about St. Patrick's Cemetery/Church History.

GOOD SITES:

HAWK MOUNTAIN SANCTUARY located in Kempton, PA, is where hawk watching began. Founded by Rosalie Edge to stop the shooting of hawks that migrate along the eastern edge of the Appalachian chain. Their lookouts provide breathtaking views of these magnificent birds as they journey south in the fall.

HAWK WATCH INTERNATIONAL, located in Salt Lake City, ID, is also one of the premier organizations involved in the study of migratory hawks. They are dedicated to monitoring & promoting the conservation of raptors. They strive to protect raptors & the ecosystem in which they live.

During spring & fall seasons, BIRDHAWK carries most major site activities on a daily basis.

NEW JERSEY AUDUBON has always considered New Jersey as the Crossroads of Migration. This is also true for hawk migration. New Jersey has 12 active hawk watches. Eleven of these sites do fall counts, and two do both seasons. Wildcat Ridge is one of those doing both seasons. For a map showing locations of New Jersey Sites, check out the Chimney Rock Home Page.

If you need to know the latest weather report, so you can decide if you want to visit Wildcat Ridge, try Weather and get the local five day forecast.

Want to try your identification skills? Try Virtual Hawking.

If you are into hiking in the area, try NY/NJ Trail Conference, and Slackpacker

Take a look at the West Coast Hawks at Golden Gate Raptor Observatory.