Hawks and other raptors aren't usually thought of as migrators. But every fall, upwards of 90% of the broadwing hawks in the northern areas (as well as eagles and some of the vultures) begin riding southward with winds generated by the cold fronts during September and October.
Broadwings are small hawks characterized by a dark brown back, and a light breast and belly. The adult has reddish horizontal bars underneath; its tail is brown to gray with broad white stripes.
This is a woodland hawk, originally found among the hardwood forests east of the Rocky Mountains, though some data indicates it's moving westward. The northernmost part of its range is southern Canadia; southward, the range extends into Mexicot. Some Caribbean islands also have broadwinged hawks living there.
The Broadwing is a very common predator -- some estimates are that there's over a million of them in the continental United States. They're useful birds for farmers since their main food supply is small mammals such as rats, mice, chipmunks, shrews and voles, as well as frogs, lizards, and nestling birds.
The broadwing hawk isn't on any endangered species list. In fact, they are common enough that they may be owned by licensed falconers.
Wildscaping for predators really can't be done in a backyard environment -- it takes quite a bit of land to support a small family of hawks or foxes or coyotes. However, wildscapers can help by participating in the annual hawk counts.
Hawkwatching and hawk counts can be a good way for a wildscaper to become involved in ecological studies. For one of this year's projects, Raptor Watch is gathering data to try and confirm that the Broadwing Hawk is expanding its breeding range into Western Canada.
Counts begin in late August and run through the end of October.
LINKS
http://www.hmana.org/ - THE link for hawk migration counting.
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