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Signs of Spring: April 27, 1998 HAWKS ARE ON THE MOVE! Please report the unique sights and sounds of spring from your area. Now that spring has awakened the food chain, here come the predators! Hawks are streaming north right now. From the Gulf Coast to the shores of the Great Lakes and beyond, people have been observing individuals and groups migrating toward their nesting grounds. The Texas Coast is simply the best places on the continent to look for them, because both the hawks that migrate along the coast and those that cross the Gulf of Mexico can be seen here. Once they're reached the top of the Texas coast, they no longer have a single path of flight, so they fan out, and aren't seen in these huge numbers anywhere else. But some hawks do move in flocks, so even in the far north it's possible to find good numbers, especially of Broad-winged Hawks. On Sunday, April 19, bazillions of hawks streamed up the coast, including Broad-winged Hawks and Mississippi Kites. During one 35 minute period, 3,179 Mississippi Kites were counted in Corpus Christi, Texas. The next day, farther up the coast in Victoria, TX teacher Harlen Aschen wrote that his contacts in Corpus Christi "included a note for us to be on the lookout for the kites and broadwings AND, sure enough, this morning at 9:50 to 10:05 we saw 60 broadwing hawks and 12 Mississippi Kites over Victoria Christian School moving to the NNE ...Nice when they tell you the day before to look out for them," said Harlen. (heaa@tisd.net) Unlike tough little hummingbirds, most hawks are reluctant to fly over the Gulf of Mexico because it's just too dangerous for them. Fierce down-drafts could push them into the water. They don't have updrafts or thermals to hold them aloft, and would get tired of beating their wings for hundreds of miles. And if they do get hungry, there's nothing to eat over the water. Insect and bird-hunting hawks are on the lookout for food all along as they migrate, snatching lunches out of the air. Kestrels and kites snatch dragonflies and other large insects with their talons, and then pull their feet up and their head down to eat them in two bites without even lighting in a tree. Mousers and other mammal-hunters will drop down on a likely victim if they notice one, or will simply stop in a promising spot when they get hungry to scrutinize the ground for food. Broad-winged Hawks are starting to appear all the way up in the Canadian forests now, and will be continuing to migrate north for the next few weeks. Broad-wings migrate in small flocks. To conserve energy by flapping as little as possible, they gain altitude by circling higher and higher over a thermal air current or updraft, and then cruising forward until they find another thermal or updraft. The easiest way to find these rising columns of air is to watch for other hawks and join them on their thermal. A group of hawks all spiraling up together is called a kettle. Watch the spring sky for small kettles of hawks. Challenge Question #6 "Songbirds put on huge stores of fat in preparation for migration, but hawks seldom do. Why don't hawks gain and lose weight the way songbirds do when migrating?" Discussion of Challenge Question # 5 Last week we asked you to consider this: Challenge Question # 5 "How do woodcocks open their beaks in deep soil without either getting a mouthful of mud--or how do they keep the soil from holding their long beaks shut?" Most birds have a beak that is stiff and hard the whole length. As a special adaptation for eating worms deep in the soil, woodcocks have a "prehensile" bill. Tiny ridges along the sides near the tip allow them to bend and open the flexible tip while the rest of their mouth stays shut. The tip of their beak is extraordinarily sensitive to touch, and also probably to smell, helping them to feel or smell out the worms. They are so well adapted to this diet that they manage to find and eat more than their weight in worms every day--that's almost half a pound of worms every single day! How to Respond to Today's Challenge Question 1. Address an e-mail message to: jn-challenge-spring@learner.org 2. In the Subject Line of your message write: Challenge Question # 6 3. In the body of your message, answer the question above. The Next Signs of Spring Update Will be Posted on May 11, 1998 Copyright 1998 Journey North. All Rights Reserved.