[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (30 Mar 2016) 74 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 30, 2016
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	24	187	187
Osprey	0	0	0
Bald Eagle	3	43	43
Northern Harrier	6	13	13
Sharp-shinned Hawk	12	30	30
Cooper's Hawk	4	38	38
Northern Goshawk	0	2	2
Red-shouldered Hawk	4	45	45
Broad-winged Hawk	0	1	1
Red-tailed Hawk	14	170	170
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	5	8	8
Merlin	0	2	2
Peregrine Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Accipiter	1	3	3
Unknown Buteo	0	4	4
Unknown Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	1	4	4
Total:	74	550	550

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	8 hours
Official Counter	Anna Stunkel
Observers:	Chuck Barnes, Dave Gulick, Jeannette Lovitch, John Berry, Julie Krasne, Lionel Quirion, Tom Downing

Visitors:
18 people visited the hawkwatch.

Weather:
The weather was beautiful, with generally light winds from the southwest and west. This made for a great day of raptor counting. Skies were mostly cloudy, with some clearing in the afternoon. Windspeed picked up during late afternoon, which slowed raptor movement during the last two hours of the count.

Raptor Observations:
Turkey Vultures and Red-tailed Hawks made a strong appearance, with both distant and close birds moving through. Sharp-shinned Hawks, Northern Harriers, and American Kestrels were also seen in good numbers, with many of these birds rising high on thermals before streaming off to migrate.

Non-raptor Observations:
27 bird species were seen and/or heard. There was a push of grackle and robin migration this morning, with large flocks streaming through. Tree Swallows were seen for the first time this season, swooping along acrobatically. The first Eastern Phoebe of the season landed in a nearby treetop. Species deemed migrating:

272 Common Grackles

221 American Robins

21 blackbird sp.

10 passerine sp.

10 Tree Swallows

9 Common Mergansers

7 finch sp.

6 Canada Geese

5 Purple Finches

3 swallow sp.

2 American Goldfinches

1 Pine Siskin

Predictions:
It sounds like tomorrow will be another beautiful day, with warm temperatures and south southwest winds. Windspeed may pick up in the afternoon, but it should be a good day for migration considering the expected wind direction and mostly sunny skies.

---

Report submitted by Jeannette Lovitch (freeportwildbird@yahoo.com)
Bradbury Mountain State Park information may be found at: www.freeportwildbirdsupply.com/hawkwatch.asp