This past Sunday (March 20), I saw a broad-wing hawk fly over in East Brookfield, near the intersection of Rte 14 and Twin Pond Road. I was with 3 other birders and we were very surprised to see it because it is so early in the season. We looked it up in a bird book to confirm. I was still skeptical until I saw Kent's email. 
Jen



> Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2011 15:49:08 -0400
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [VTBIRD] Broad-wings
> To: [log in to unmask]
> 
> Just to be clear, I was very surprised to see the 2 broadwings. But one of
> the birds was calling so it was pretty obvious.
> I just happened to be cleaning up the walkway of a bit of slush and got
> lucky to see them. They were gone on the winds in minutes.
> Here's the chart and map on eBird for the last 5 springs.
> http://ebird.org/ebird/vt/GuideMe?src=changeDate&speciesCodes=brwhaw&getLocations=states&states=US-VT&parentState=US-VT&reportType=species&monthRadio=on&bMonth=03&eMonth=05&bYear=2007&eYear=2011&continue.x=45&continue.y=13&continue=Continue
> 
> Kent
> 
> 
> Kent McFarland
> 
> Conservation Biologist
> 
> Vermont Center for Ecostudies
> 
> PO Box 420
> 
> Norwich, Vermont 05055
> 
> <http://www.vtecostudies.org/>
> Visit Our Pages: [image:
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> [image:
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> Blogger]<http://vtecostudies.blogspot.com>
> 
> 
> On Thu, Mar 24, 2011 at 10:59 AM, Jane Stein <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> > Be real careful about identifying Broad-Winged hawks this early in the
> > spring.  The regular hawkwatches down in southern Texas have only just
> > started to see a handful of birds coming across the border from Mexico.
> >  Years of radar studies there confirm the bulk of the migration crosses the
> > border over only a few weeks from late March into early April. Not to say
> > there can't be a few "early birds," but just to be aware they're still
> > really rare this far north until well into April.
> >
> > For folks who may not be aware-- the entire population of Broad-Wings picks
> > up more or less at once in the fall and entirely vacates the continent for
> > their wintering grounds in northern South America and Central America, and
> > comes back in the spring in the same way, pretty much all at once.
> >
> > Jane
> > Shoreham
> >
> >
> >
> >