In just a few weeks, thousands of hawks will be passing above us on their way south. Although several species make the journey, it is the broad-winged hawk that birders seek to view.

On some cool day in mid-September, just after a cold front has moved through, broad-winged hawks will take to the air and fill the sky in great numbers, gaining center stage. They will emerge from the deep forests and join together to ride air thermals in what will look like large swirling caldrons.

Virtually undetected and forgotten the rest of the year by all but the most dedicated birders, the broad-winged hawk lives quietly in the deep undisturbed forests of New England where it hunts and raises its young through the summer. Lacking the dazzle and pizzazz of our other hawks, this small drab brown hawk has never gained the respect that the more flashy, fierce and bold hunters of the sky attract.

Unlike the colorful and highly visible red-tailed hawk of our rural countryside, this boxy-figured hawk goes about its business preying on small rodents and amphibians beneath the forest canopy. Next to the swift agile maneuvers of, say, the Cooper’s or sharp-shinned hawks, the broad-winged hawk’s hunting style pales in comparison and neither can it compete vocally with the loud garish rantings of the red-shouldered hawk.

Yet if you journey into the forest, far from where people go and to where the wood thrush sing in the filtered light and listen carefully, you might hear the soft rasping cry of the broad-winged. If you are near a small open sun-dappled glade it is all the better — they frequent small clearings in the forest. It is in such places that you can observe and fully appreciate this shy hawk hunting and nesting.

Unfortunately, there are not many places like that in Connecticut, and the vast majority of broad-winged hawks nest in northern New England. At our family cabin in northern Vermont there is a broad-winged hawk that hunts the ridge along a secluded pond. I know the bird well and wait each afternoon for it. I can often feel the bird’s presence before it appears gliding across the clear cuts and mountain views. There is a stillness in the air and an eerie silence when all birdsong stops dead as the hawk passes over.

A few broad-winged hawks probably nest in the hills along the Barkhamsted Reservoir. Iron Mountain Reserve in Kent has broad-winged hawks, and birders have reported them at the White Memorial Sanctuary, Robbins Swamp WMA and Hollenbeck Tract, too. These are great birding sites worth the drive; however, you can sometimes find broad-winged hawks closer to home at Hopeville Pond State Park in Griswold. Look for them at Light House Point and along the coast come migration.

I am amused at the brief attention this bird gets each fall because ironically it is our most unobtrusive hawk. If not for its ease of identification and tendency to congregate in huge numbers during migration, few would know anything of it. Fortunately, when the migration begins all will know of their awesome presence as they soar in giant arcs across the brilliant blue sky.

Robert Tougias is a birding author who lives in Colchester. Contact him with questions and about color presentations at rtougias@snet.net.