April 22 2026. Princess Point, Hamilton ON. Every now and then I get a reminder that some events in nature’s avian rhythms happen with tight, almost set-your-watch-by-it, regularity. One of them is happening right now, the spring passage of Broad-winged Hawks (4th week of April). Another, coming soon, is the arrival here of Baltimore Orioles (May 3rd.). The broadwings sail silently over and you can easily miss them, orioles on the other hand arrive, en masse, to their own of fanfare of noisy whistles.
So, this is the broadwing week and I might have missed it, missed them, but for my birder’s eye for movement. I was walking a forest trail, a still leafless Red Oak woodland, when a moving shadow made me look up. And there, a small group of four or five Broad-winged Hawks circling low overhead. I tried for a photo, but they were moving too fast and I had no hope of a cleanly focused image through branches. So, I watched them slide by enjoying their clean, dark-outlined wings and boldly barred tails showing crisply against a perfect spring blue sky. I savoured the moment remembering that this is the time, the fourth week of April. They drifted out of sight and I walked on.
As I finished my circuit I keep checking the open sky. The broadwing’s direction of flight made sense, they were coming from an escarpment ridge and heading northwest, a line that will take them to the boreal forest. By the time I returned to my car I spotted two more small groups of broadwings, all following the same flight line.
Broad-winged Hawks are one of many birds of the season and today my Bird of the Day.