Look up!

Well, go outside, make sure it’s safe (like, you’re not about to walk off a cliff or step into traffic), then look up, because it’s migration time. Birds are traveling south right now, populating the country’s four migration flyways. Below is a quick bit of info I cribbed from American Bird Conservancy for you (check out their page for more cool info):

"In North America, these “avian superhighways” are generally grouped as the Atlantic, Mississippi, Central, and Pacific Flyways.

On cross-country flights, migratory birds gravitate toward efficient paths with plenty of rest stops. Some species stick to the coasts, while others plot courses over inland wetlands or follow lengthy natural features like the Mississippi River or mountain ranges. (Even when weather causes them to deviate, their navigation abilities usually help them wind up at the same place each year.)

It's important to note that “flyways” describe broad, generalized pathways; they are not rigid or narrowly defined routes, nor are they used by all migrating birds.”

I’m not a birder in the strictest sense of the word, meaning I only have really basic knowledge about birds in general. BUT, I do have my stuff together when it comes to raptors. It was never intended to be a favoritism thing, but I responded to something I heard about in 1998 and then spent the next 22 years (it might be 23…) as a volunteer hawkwatcher with the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory, referred to as the GGRO.

Those two-plus decades meant more to me than I could have imagined when I first attended an informational evening, led by gregarious, knowledgeable, and personable GGRO Director Allen Fish. On October 9th I’ll post more about my time in the GGRO and how being on The Hill helped me regain my emotional and psychological footing after the 2017 wildfire.

For now I’m encouraging you to look up, because with a little awareness during the next couple of weeks, known to us raptor kids as peak or peak week, you might catch a glimpse of a hawk, falcon, or other raptors making their way south. Geographical features here on the West Coast, combined with raptor behavior developed over a gazillion years of evolution, make our area a place visited by thousands of migrating raptors, with some staying awhile, from August-ish to November-ish (the raptors never seem compelled to give us their schedule). All the flyways contain migrating raptors, and some locales are much better for observing them than others, certainly, but the only sure way to not see a raptor is to not look up.

More about this tomorrow, but I wanted to give you all a little head’s up notice…

And speaking of notice...

If Steve, Then Steph, my in-depth piece on Steve Jobs' producer of over thirty years, is now available in Apple Books for $0.99 until the end of the month in remembrance of Jobs' passing on October 5th, 2011. It's also available as an Amazon Kindle download for $1.00

MWH