It officially begins the fifteenth of August and continues for two months. Hawk Watch. You might say the headquarters for Hawk Watch is at Hazel Basemore Park, which is just beyond Calallen High School stadium. It isn't the most exciting "sport" in the world. You are promised a stiff, aching neck on a good day of hawk watching. You can also have some exciting moments as a kettle of thousands of hawks suddenly appears circling in the sky.
It is estimated that 95% of the the broadwing hawk population will soar over or near Basemore Park. Twenty-nine species of hawks pass overhead. That is all but three of the entire species of hawks. An average of 750,000 hawks are counted each year. How are they counted? Obviously, not one by one. Kettles are divided like a giant pie in the sky. Each piece of the pie is quickly guesstimated and then multiplied by the number of imaginary pieces. I doubt if the experts would accept my explanation but that's how it looks to me. One year an estimated 750,000 broadwing hawks roosted overnight. It was 1977. Can you imagine what it was like to see those beautiful creatures begin to take off and form kettles on thermal winds, then finally fade off into the sky? I have seen smaller events and it is fun. The hawk watch is at it's best in middle to late September.
What is neat about this experience is it's unpredictability! One does not know when, what, or how many are coming! No earth person is letting them out of a giant cage in Mexico or South America. It is all operated by a Higher Source. In the Book of Job God has a serious conversation with Job. God speaks of the things of nature He has created. We are the crown of His creation. In that discourse in Job 39-40 God says: " Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom, and spread his wings toward the south? Does the eagle soar at your command and build his nest on high?" The answer should be obvious. It becomes so at Hazel Basemore Park when you watch experts stand in awe, like little children, and watch migration. They simply watch and count. It is out of their control. But it IS in God's control.... as our earth is. "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof." Keep looking up!
