At about noon yesterday we noticed a large flock of red tailed hawks circling above above our house in West Alton. We estimated at least 30 and maybe as many as 50 birds soaring counter clockwise in a loosely organized group. We watched for about 5 minutes as they gained altitude and slowly drifted south above the rising ridge behind our house.
We had no idea what was going on as we had never heard of a kettle of hawks. A bit of on line looking shed some light:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettle_(birds)
Anyway it was an impressive sight.