Favorite Hawk Watching Spots

FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge Parkway, Inc. P.O. Box 341 Arden, NC 28704 P.O. Box 20986 Roanoke, Va. 24018 800-228-7275 (toll-free) 540-772-2992 (fax) staff@friendsbrp.org FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge Parkway is a non-profit, volunteer organization that is dedicated to preserving, promoting and enhancing the Blue Ridge Parkway, a national treasure. FRIENDS programs focus on preservation, protection and education. FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge Parkway, Inc., is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, organized and existing under the laws of the State of North Carolina and the Commonwealth of Virginia, whose current principal business address for identification purposes is P.O. Box 20986, Roanoke, Virginia 24018.	FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge Parkway, Inc. A National Park Service Blue Ridge Parkway approved partner organization dedicated to preserve, promote and enhance the Blue Ridge Parkway, a national treasure, for future generations.
	Volunteer Join Donate Adopt-A-Trail
	Favorite Hawk Watching Spots PUBLIC RADIO HOST SETH WILLIAMSON VISITS HIS FAVORITE HAWK-WATCHING SPOTS Fall / Winter issue High Vistas, 2003 Birders along the Parkway can be divided into two tribes: those who love warbler season more than anything else, and those for whom fall hawk season is the crown of the year. Count me among the latter. I was introduced to hawk-watching by Radford naturalist Clyde Kessler, who has scanned the skies since the late 70s at Rocky Knob, MP 168. If you’re also in that group, you know that few sights along the Parkway rival the spectacle of broadwinged hawks drifting south along the rocky spine of the Appalachians. When September’s mild blue skies fill with boiling kettles of thousands of broadwings, it’s a stunning sight. For beginners, it takes only a single good afternoon to get hooked. For one thing, it’s a form of birding in which you sit still and the birds come to you. The only extra equipment you’ll need – beyond binoculars and field guide – is sunscreen and a chair. Part of the thrill is that you never know what is just over the horizon and coming at you. You know the birds are on the way – you just don’t know when they’ll pass your spot! The peak of the broadwing migration usually happens sometime between Sept. 15 and 25 in the Roanoke and Rocky Knob areas of the Parkway – a day or two earlier farther north, a day or two later farther south. The best days usually follow a cool front. Other hawk species are nearly as exciting to watch: red-tails, ospreys, Cooper’s and sharp-shinned, even bald eagles. - Seth Williamson is a public radio producer and birder who lives in Floyd County, VA. Hawk-Watching on the WEB: Hawk Migration Association of North America, www.hmana.org Hawk Watch International, www.hawkwatch.org www.virtualbirder.com – go to “On Location” Hawk-Watching on the Parkway: Mileposts 168, 169, 219, 235, 290.5, 302.8, 338.8, 342.2, 349.2, 349.9, 350.4, 355.4, 364.1, 364.6, 404.5, 422.4 (from Marcus B. Simpson, Jr’s “Birds of the Blue Ridge Mountains,” University of NC Press 1992)
Copyright 2002 - 2009, FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge Parkway. All rights reserved.

Blue Ridge Parkway

FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge Parkway, Inc.

FRIENDS of the
Blue Ridge Parkway, Inc.