Raptor Migration Summary- Thoolakharka Nepal, 15 Nov, 2013

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Bonelli's Eagle (Adult)

Apologize for the long delay on migration update, this is due to the reason my friend Bob was regularly posting update on the facebook page. Well, the migration is still continuing in this part and we are still waiting for the big day—of course for the steppe eagle. Since last 10 days weather is most sunny and it is almost impossible to see the dot of cloud overhead however in the high Himalayas we can see very little cloud in the afternoon. There was lot of discussion among us because of very slow migration of Steppe Eagle (almost 70% less than last year if we compare with the same date data), some predicted the change of migration route and some said may be population crash. However from yesterday we have a positive hope because number is slowly building up. Total number of Steppe eagle for last three days was almost 45% of this season. This year we had a really long monsoon and there was storm in the east Asia as well, also we saw lot of raining area in China from where Steppe eagle pass and we hope this affecting the migration pattern. In the last week we had few OHB, Upland buzzard, Booted eagle and of course most common were Steppe eagle and Himalayan Vulture. Local raptors included Bearded Vulture, Mountain Hawk eagle, Bonelli’s Eagle, Red-headed Vulture etc. Since last 10 days we had also lot of crazy hawk watchers and photographers from many part of the world including America, Finland, Netherlands, Sweden, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and South Africa. Most of them get wonderful opportunity to see eagle and vulture very close. Migration summary of the season is as follows.   


Species
2012 Total
Highest Daily Count
Total Count till date


Oriental Honey-buzzard
381
60
629
Common Buzzard
180
12
98
Long-legged Buzzard
4
3
11
Upland Buzzard
4
2
8
Unidentified Buteo
3

0
Northern Sparrowhawk
107
7
95
Northern Goshawk
3
3
10
Unidentified Sparrowhawk
9
1
1
Steppe Eagle
6597
268
1709
Booted Eagle
155
7
95
Short-toed Eagle
2
1
1
Crested Serpent-eagle
26
1
5
Pallas's Fish Eagle
2

0
Imperial Eagle
0

0
Indian Spotted Eagle
3

0
Greater Spotted Eagle
3

0
Bonelli's Eagle
13
2
25
Mountain Hawk-eagle
1
2
5
Golden Eagle
7
1
3
Unidentified Eagle
8
1
1
Black Kite
324
40
289
Black-Eared Kite
22
139
Osprey
3
2
5
Hen Harrier
19
1
5
Eastern Marsh Harrier
0
1
1
Pallid Harrier
1
1
2
Pied Harrier
0
1
1
Unidentified Harrier
3

0
Peregrine Falcon ssp. calidis
29
2
17
Saker Falcon
5
1
1
Northern  Hobby
80
33
211
Amur Falcon
78
24
89
Lesser Kestrel
66
14
69
Common Kestrel
83
29
314
Unidentified Falcon
21
2
13
Egyptian Vulture
24
6
36
White-rumped Vulture

16
103
Red-headed Vulture


0
Slender-billed Vulture


0
Himalayan Vulture
1270
82
525
Cinereous Vulture
73
5
19
Griffon Vulture
85
2
6
Unidentified Vulture
3

0
Unidentified Raptor
79
3
16
Total
9754
135
4557

Comments

  1. NRCPNovember 16, 2013 at 5:04 PM

    16 Nov, 2013: Finally we got the birds in right place-- just overhead in the afternoon. There was a continues stream of Steppe Eagle more than 350 birds. Most of the birds sighted were adults and juveniles. The weather is still stable and we hope the change in this Monday as the weather forecast said some shower. Therefore we can expect peak day very close. Several times Mountain Hawk eagle and Bearded Vulture were very close and preform complete show.

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