Saturday's hawk watch - All of my scheduled hawk watch days are from the tower at Magee Marsh. At 9:00 A.M., there was a heavy overcast. The winds were from the south all morning at 5-8 mph. The temperature at the start was in the mid 30's, warming to the low 40's by Noon. As to migrating raptors, I counted 10 Red-tailed Hawks and two Red-shouldered Hawks. At least there was some movement. The birds were low, with some appearing to have just lifted near the tower. They were struggling for thermals. The marsh is still frozen, and more imporantly, there's still two to three inches of snow covering the ground. Other birds seen from the tower: a Canadian Goose sitting in one of the nesting platforms next to one of the ponds near the tower, Common Grackles moving, a Brown Creeper working the trees next to the tower, a flock of around 500 Canadian Geese flew east to west a little north of the tower, with two Snow Geese in the front, eight Red-headeded Ducks, a Scaup, and a Ring-necked Duck were all in the tiny open water area in the pond near the nature center, a bunch of geese were also in and around this water opening, which is kept open by a pump. I stayed for a little while past Noon, but the sky clouded up, and there was no more movement, so I left.

The high temperature in Toledo on Saturday was 47. This morning's low was in the single digits. It was 18 below zero this morning in Grayling, Michigan and minus 12 in Traverse City. On the 11 P.M. weather last night, it was 4 degrees above zero in Traverse City and 60 in Lexington, KY. Today, it's been mostly sunny and windy, with high temps 20-25. The low temp tomorrow morning is expected to be around five above. The high temps forecasted through Thursday are supposed to be 30-40. But then the crack in winter begings. High temps on Friday through Sunday are supposed to be 50-60.