Quote:
Originally Posted by Slickcraft
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. |
Quite interesting. I was not familiar with the term "kettle of hawks" either, so I went to the Wikipedia link you provided for information. The description there was helpful; "... the appearance of birds circling tightly in a
thermal updraft 'like something boiling in a cauldron'". That provides a good mental image of what you saw.
I checked with my resident bird expert, Quilt Lady, and she says birds sometimes form "kettles" in the sky shortly before migrating south.
Thanks for the report.