BIRD WATCHING – HawksHere’s a program from our archives.musicAs the weather turns cooler and many North American birds make their way towards warmer climates, the season for bird watching is coming to a close. But it’s still not too late to make a few sightings. I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet.ambience: bird watching We’re on Sunrise Mountain in New Jersey, where a group of hawk watchers is keeping their binoculars trained to the skies.Along a high ridge, carried by gusts of warm air called ‘thermals,’ kestrels, red-tailed hawks and other birds of prey are slowly making their way south for the winter migration. Some birds fly at such great elevations that they’re invisible to those of us on the ground– but others fly low enough to give us a glimpse.”Well, the tendency of the birds is to follow the ridges because on the ridges you get rising columns of air.” Marie Kunin is a long time time bird watcher with the Pocono Environmental Education Center.”You get wind coming across the valley, hitting the mountain, and then of course the air rises and they take advantage of that rising air. They will spiral up in a thermal to gain altitude. And when they get up we might, if we’re lucky, we might see a thermal of hundreds of birds. It’s extremely exciting. You go berserk, actually.””But they spiral up and then they peel off, and glide. And they glide down and they’ll hit another thermal, up they’ll go. And if they work it right, they could make it from here down to Texas with very few wing beats.”We’ve been listening to a program from our archives. Check out our website, pulseplanet.com for a link to my latest project – a novel. I’m Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.
Hawk Watching
One of the season's last glimpses of hawks, kestrels and other birds of prey as they soar above the cliffs of New Jersey.
Air Date:11/10/2020
Scientist:
Transcript:
BIRD WATCHING - HawksHere's a program from our archives.musicAs the weather turns cooler and many North American birds make their way towards warmer climates, the season for bird watching is coming to a close. But it's still not too late to make a few sightings. I'm Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet.ambience: bird watching We're on Sunrise Mountain in New Jersey, where a group of hawk watchers is keeping their binoculars trained to the skies.Along a high ridge, carried by gusts of warm air called 'thermals,' kestrels, red-tailed hawks and other birds of prey are slowly making their way south for the winter migration. Some birds fly at such great elevations that they're invisible to those of us on the ground-- but others fly low enough to give us a glimpse."Well, the tendency of the birds is to follow the ridges because on the ridges you get rising columns of air." Marie Kunin is a long time time bird watcher with the Pocono Environmental Education Center."You get wind coming across the valley, hitting the mountain, and then of course the air rises and they take advantage of that rising air. They will spiral up in a thermal to gain altitude. And when they get up we might, if we're lucky, we might see a thermal of hundreds of birds. It's extremely exciting. You go berserk, actually.""But they spiral up and then they peel off, and glide. And they glide down and they'll hit another thermal, up they'll go. And if they work it right, they could make it from here down to Texas with very few wing beats."We've been listening to a program from our archives. Check out our website, pulseplanet.com for a link to my latest project - a novel. I'm Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.