Mr & Mrs Hawk-Watchers

The whole time we traveled the Blue Ridge Parkway we noticed big beautiful birds soaring above the trees. They were very impressive with their wings spread out and the way they just seemed to navigate the sky so effortlessly. One afternoon as Jill and I rounded a bend in the road we saw this couple and their gear set up in a small meadow. They peaked our curiousity so we stopped to check them out. Their car was parked out in the grassy field with the back hatch wide open and this easel set up with all kinds of charts and displays on it. The guy had a camp chair complete with a sun umbrella attached to it and he was sitting there with his binoculars locked on the sky. His wife had been down the "pike a piece" and she was just coming back to check in with him. Turns out they are originally from Florida where he taught science in high school and they moved to a tiny town just off the parkway a few years ago so they could do this work. They volunteer their time to this project (even his license plate reflects his interest). Each day for the next 3 months from about 8:30 am - 4:30 pm they will be out here trying to spot all the hawks, eagles, falcons and other big raptor-type birds as they migrate south for the winter. I guess there are some pretty knarly warm thermals that pass over the parkway and the birds find them, hop on and just get carried along for miles and miles. When a bird is spotted, they tally it on their whiteboard. They had a dozen or so birds tallied there so far but it seemed like you would have to have unbelievable patience to sit there hour after hour and day after day and hope to spot something flying by! I'm afraid I do not have the attention span for this hobby.