I've added two new sets of hawk photos on my Flickr account.

First, a couple of weeks ago, I went to pick Kathy up after work, and a huge red-tailed hawk swooped right over my head, carrying its dinner. I (along with a very patient Kathy) ended up hanging out there in the parking lot for about an hour & a half, taking tons & tons of pictures. Besides the pictures, I also got some of it on video.

Then, this past Saturday, Kathy & I went to Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, a little west of Allentown. They have a couple of good mountain lookouts right on the migration path of several species of raptors, including various hawks, falcons, and eagles. We got some pictures of the migration, and also some closer views of rescued birds (a great horned owl and a red-tailed hawk) back at the Visitors' Center.

We were at the North Lookout for about 2 hours, and must have seen at least 100 sharp-shinned hawks, a handful of red-tailed hawks, and the occasional osprey, Cooper's hawk, American kestrel, northern harrier, and northern goshawk. We also saw at least a dozen turkey vultures go by, but those looked more like local scavengers than migrators (looping around at low altitude, rather than cruising with definite direction & purpose).

The official count that day included 2 bald eagles & 1 golden eagle, but we didn't get to see those. Guess that just gives us reason to go back...