Migration Hawk Watch: Thirty-One Peregrines In One Hour

When Vic Berardi hears the chortling chorus of sandhill cranes flying over Illinois Beach State Park in fall, he's thinking golden eagles. "That's because golden eagles follow the sandhill migration," says Berardi, who started an annual fall hawk migration count at the park in Zion, Illinois, two years ago.

Counters keep watch during the peak period for migrating birds of prey, beginning the last week of August and continuing through the first week of December. The birds migrate through the park because it stretches along Lake Michigan. "The wind pushes thermals to the lakefront, which helps the hawks gain height," says Berardi. "Then they use the gravity to move forward on their migration."

During the fall season of 2001, volunteers spent 319 hours on 62 days counting. Their results: 390 turkey vultures, 153 osprey, 21 bald eagles, 232 northern harriers, 1,207 sharp-shinned hawks, 130 Cooper's hawks, 7 northern goshawks, 22 red-shouldered hawks, 39 broad-winged hawks, 1,256 red-tailed hawks, 40 rough-legged hawks, 4 golden eagles, 63 American kestrels, 195 merlins and 109 peregrine falcons. The total number, including some unidentified hawks, was 3,967.

As the years pass, population trends will become clearer and comparisons can be made with another nearby hawk-watching mecca just over the Illinois border at Concordia College in Wisconsin. Hawks migrating through Illinois Beach State Park follow a seemingly choreographed flight. First come the immature red-tailed hawks in August, along with the kestrels. Strong southwesterly winds in late September, on the leading edge of a cold front, bring peregrine falcons through within two to three days.

Ospreys begin flying in September through the beginning of October. Sharp-shinned hawks peak by mid-October. Broad-winged hawks come through, often in sizable numbers, the last two weeks of September. Red-tailed hawks peak the first week of November. The rough-legged hawks arrive from October through November. Look for the bulk of bald eagles September through October, and the golden eagles October through mid-November, especially when the sandhill cranes are flying!

Berardi welcomes new volunteer counters this fall and will teach folks how to identify hawks in the sky. "We need people all day, from 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.," he says. "One day we saw 66 osprey between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m. and on another day, we had 31 peregrine falcons in one hour starting at 4:00 p.m." For more information on the hawk watch, contact Vic Berardi at Vbirdman@aol.com or (847) 680-5281. — Sheryl De Vore