Outdoors: Birds-eye view
Jessica Stugelmayer
Leader reporter
reporter3@leaderadvertiser.com
Birds of prey are some of the most spectacular species of our feathered friends, but when they are on the hunt they are especially magnificent. Imagine seeing the hunt at from 15 feet away at the top of a mountain ridge.
“I like to share it with people,” birder Dan Casey said. “It’s really quite an experience.”
The Jewel Basin Hawk Watch is an annual survey of raptors, flesh-tearing birds such as hawks and eagles, as they migrate south through the Flathead Valley from late August through early November.
Casey who works for the American Bird Conservancy as the Northern Rockies Conservation Officer started this survey after observing 161 migrating raptors in two hours when hiking in Jewel Basin in mid-September 2007. Casey and his wife Susannah had been hiking there for decades, but it wasn’t until then that Casey decided to make the ridge a survey site.
The survey takes place at 7,000 feet elevation on Raptor Ridge in the Jewel Basin in the Swan Mountain Range. Casey said there are usually more than 2,500 hawks of up to 18 species that pass through the basin each migration season.
The counting is mostly done by local birders who volunteer to hike the ridge and sit to watch for the birds. Many make the trek, and for good reason.
The ridge is inimitable to other sites because the migrating birds are often very close and at eye level. Raptor Ridge is narrow and high. It runs at a good angle from the main south-west wind. The birds utilize the wind, riding it to the top as they stick close to the ridge, coming extremely close to birders as they pass.
“It’s a remarkable place to get great views of birds and it’s a wonderful way to learn more about bird identification,” Casey said.
Though the hike is uphill all the way, the trail is a well-graded 2.25 miles where hikers gain 1,400 vertical feet. Casey said the nice thing about the basin is that you can drive and park above 5,000 feet.
Casey said the hike is the best exercise he gets over the course of the year. He suggests allowing yourself two or more hours to make the hike up and about an hour and a half for the hike down. It might be some work to get to the top, but the path is clearly marked.
“It’s easy to follow and easy to find,” Casey said. “Well worth it in my opinion but I’m biased.”
This year the first observation day was Aug. 25. In total, there were 48 days of survey and 297 hours of survey.
Poor weather conditions on the ridge during the latter half of September, when the counts of accipiters are at their highest, led to lower than average numbers of raptors during surveys at the hawk watch site. By mid-October, the group had counted 1,610 raptors of 16 species. Casey said the number of birds picked up quite a bit during the beautiful weather in October, with the latest ever peak flight on Oct. 6.
The most birds counted in one day this year was 191. By the numbers, watchers saw an average of seven birds per hour, a rate that could be as high as 11 birds per hour in some years.
Casey’s wife Susannah also works for the American Bird Conservancy. She said she doesn’t go up to the ridge nearly as often as her husband. She said she can’t sit still for that long and gets cold later in the season, but she said it is always worth the hike.
“My favorite ones are the Golden Eagles,” she said. “They’re just so beautiful. You see them in the early evening and they just glow.”
To see the raptor migration, birders and non-birders alike can contact Casey or go up on their own, hiking toward Mt. Aeneas. Casey said he tries to coordinate groups, since there can’t be more than 12 people at the site at one time. He said there is a Yahoo group site that coordinates trips and compiles current survey data. To find it, search Yahoo groups for ‘Jewel Basin Hawk Watch.’
If you missed out on a trip up to Raptor Ridge now that snow has blanketed the mountaintops, you’re not too late. The annual national Christmas bird count will be conducted from Dec. 14, 2013 to Jan. 5, 2014. A local day-long bird count will most likely be scheduled for Dec. 15 and conducted at Ninepipe National Wildlife Refuge.