Want to see a lot of peregrine falcons on vacation? I’ve found the perfect place and time to go.
Visit Florida Keys Hawkwatch (FKH) at Curry Hammock State Park near Marathon, Florida in early to mid October.
This hawkwatch site “holds the highest season total for Peregrine Falcon migration, with 2,858 birds observed during the 2003 season, and is the world’s highest daily Peregrine count, with 638 birds counted on October 11, 2008!”
Think of it: 638 peregrines in one day!
That was exceptional, but normal high-counts at FKH are about 100 peregrines per day. Here are the peregrine counts from October 2010. Instead of the date, I’ve typed the number of peregrines counted that day.
| FKH October 2010 Peregrines | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Florida Keys Hawkwatch welcomes volunteers of all skill levels. They’ll provide training and housing (see their guidelines) or can direct you to local lodging and resorts.
If you’ll thinking of a fall vacation this is the perfect place for beaches, boating, fishing and peregrines!
Click here for information on Florida Keys Hawkwatch. Click here to volunteer and find out about housing/lodging.
Florida Keys Hawkwatch in October! 100 peregrines a day!
(photo by Chad+Chris Saladin)
Wow who can resist that! Well, I suppose a teenager who needs to go to soccer, choir, and orchestra practice in addition to keeping up on academics. 🙁 I am hoping to go to hawk mountain this fall, though, since I can do a half-day there after soccer practice. If I go in early October I’ll have a decent chance of seeing at least one peregrine.
(Someone ought to petition the sanctuary to install more comfortable rocks at the top of hawk mountain. Whoever designed them did not have birding in mind.) 😉