"on any given day half a million raptors might be gliding overhead"

August 25, 2019 10:24 AM

The largest flyway for birds of prey anywhere in the world is in a narrow stretch of Veracruz State in Chichicaxtle. So many birds fly through this area during migration periods that it's been dubbed the River of Raptors (video). [via]
posted by jessamyn (7 comments total)

Straits of Mackinac is also a superhighway for raptors. https://www.michiganradio.org/post/straits-mackinac-are-bird-prey-superhighway
posted by HuronBob at 11:40 AM on August 25, 2019 [3 favorites]

Batumi in Georgia, at the eastern end of the Black Sea, is a bottleneck for raptors migrating between Africa and Asia.
And there’s some amazing footage of a communal Black Kite roost from about 3 minutes in to this video from Gibraltar.
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 1:06 PM on August 25, 2019 [4 favorites]

I hope you tweeted a link to this post.
posted by not_on_display at 3:03 PM on August 25, 2019

I was just telling some friends about raptor kettles at Hawk Cliff on Lake Erie yesterday. If you are in the vicinity I highly recommend it. They have events in September for the fall migration.
posted by srboisvert at 3:42 PM on August 25, 2019 [2 favorites]

For a second I forgot that raptors are birds and was picturing velociraptors.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 4:23 PM on August 25, 2019 [1 favorite]

Cape May, the peninsula at the southern end of New Jersey, acts as a funnel for both songbirds and raptors migrating down the Atlantic coast during fall migration. If you ever want to learn how to really identify sharp-shinned hawks from Cooper's hawks, you could do worse than visit there in mid-October. The mass warbler push is a bit earlier, but there's still plenty around at that time, too, and the sparrows pick up at that time, too. Sounds like I need to get to Veracruz!
posted by mollweide at 5:30 PM on August 25, 2019 [2 favorites]

And... now I’m missing RTH☹️
posted by HuronBob at 7:29 PM on August 25, 2019 [5 favorites]