The Florida Keys Hawkwatch is heralded as “The Peregrine Falcon Migration Capitol of the World” (photo by Paul Konrad).
Triple digit totals of Peregrine Falcons migrated past the Florida Keys Hawkwatch daily for 10 straight days from October 8th to 17th – totaling 2,430 Peregrines in 10 days! Most of us consider a sighting of a single Peregrine a great accomplishment, so imagine daily tallies of 117 Peregrines October 8th, 287 on the 9th, 609 on the 10th, 296 the 11th, 126 the 12th, 137 the 12th, 239 the 14th, 113 the 15th, 134 the 16th, 142 on October 17th. And that’s not all, considering many other raptors graced the sky, including numbers of Ospreys, Broad-winged Hawks, and Sharp-shinned Hawks headed trans-Caribbean.
Take a look at the Florida Keys Hawkwatch daily totals for the month of October to see Peregrine Falcon numbers increase toward the peak days of migration and then downturn after mid-October, and see totals of other birds of prey that passed by the count station at HawkCount The current season total for Peregrines is 3,264!
To review live counts as they are posted today, as well as daily totals throughout the season, and monthly counts of raptors at all hawkwatch count sites across North America – which is great fun and informative – visit HawkCount
