2009 Fall Raptor Migration: Fort Morgan, AL Baldwin County, AL
Sunday would’ve been the day to sit all day at Fort Morgan or Dauphin Island! I made it out to the Fort at 11:00 a.m. and could only stay for 30 minutes…however, the birds were really moving after the cold front north of us. The (very short) time I spent watching was rewarded with 12 birds (In about a 20 minute period), with an adult Sharpie being the first on the list, followed by a sub-adult bald eagle. Shortly after, more accips, red-tails, an imm. Northern harrier, 2 merlins and 2 kestrels were also recorded. Even though I had to leave the Fort, as I sat in a dove field in east-central Baldwin County (about 12 miles northeast of Elberta, AL), there were clearly birds moving to the southwest. After 2 hours of “viewing”, several small falcons (merlins and kestrels), accips and buteos were seen moving headlong toward the Fort’s direction, and we must have counted over twenty individual birds–not bad for some random peanut field in the middle of the county. So my point is, get out and keep and eye on the skies over the next few weeks–the hawks are arriving!