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The number of broadwings typically peaks in mid-September, high shoes each fall this species represents the bulk of migrants counted at Hawk Ridge. A total of 456 sharp-shinned hawks also passed over the ridge Wednesday. Counters also are noting songbirds that pass over Hawk Ridge, and more than 4,500 of these flew over the ridge Wednesday, including 3,646 blue jays. The migration is on. Broadwings often use platform sandals of warm air rising along Hawk Ridge to gain altitude before continuing southward. Here's what count interpreter Eric Bruhnke had to say about kettles in his post Wednesday: "Kettles are flocks of migrating raptors. When you see Yves Saint Laurent distant kettle of raptors, the distant dark specks viewed are spiraling higher and higher in the sky. When the raptors reach the top of the thermals (where the thermals begin to dissipate into the cooler, upper air), they begin to stream away from the peak of the thermal and form straight lines of birds that high pumps southward. Side note thermals are warm rising columns of air, created when the sun heats up the ground.