[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (29 Apr 2017) 387 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 29, 2017
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	1	1
Turkey Vulture	0	251	511
Osprey	13	310	310
Bald Eagle	5	35	70
Northern Harrier	2	166	170
Sharp-shinned Hawk	51	472	484
Cooper's Hawk	2	52	60
Northern Goshawk	0	5	7
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	76	124
Broad-winged Hawk	304	1273	1273
Red-tailed Hawk	4	98	160
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	3	416	417
Merlin	1	41	42
Peregrine Falcon	0	5	6
Unknown Accipiter	0	5	5
Unknown Buteo	1	4	5
Unknown Falcon	0	2	2
Unknown Eagle	0	1	1
Unknown Raptor	1	23	27
Total:	387	3236	3675

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	8 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Asa Paul, Derek Lovitch, John Lorenc, Phil Brown

Visitors:
Today was the start of the two day Feathers Over Freeport event, which brought a lot of people to the park. 38 people came up to the summit for the raptor identification workshop. Weather and birds cooperated as people were able to witness a raptor migration phenomenon known as a kettle, when birds will share a pocket of warm air rising, mixing and swarming around as they gain elevation before setting their wings and gliding to the next thermal. A real sight to see. I received a lot of help today, including from a young birder named Asa, who picked out a few raptors I may have missed otherwise. Thanks to everyone who came out today, I really had a lot of fun.

Weather:
I wouldn't mind a few more days similar to today. High cloud cover stuck around for most of the day, with a few periods of sun. Temperatures were comfortably warm, reaching into the seventies. A relatively warm southwest breeze picked up for most of the morning, then switching to a more west southwest direction, and becoming quite strong by the end of the day. Visibility was very good today, becoming excellent just after noon. I could clearly read the Mobile gas station sign which is more than seven miles away in Yarmouth. During the final hour of the count some very interesting Lenticular clouds formed over the tops of Cumulus.

Raptor Observations:
Today was a really fun and exciting day for raptors. One of our higher count days this season. The first hour started a little slow with mostly Sharp-shinned Hawks moving. By the second hour though Broad-winged Hawks started coming through in kettles of 50-70 birds. With my clicker strapped to my binoculars, I ticked off dozens and dozens of "Wings" as quickly as possible, being careful to cull through the groups for any impostors. On occasion something else would mix in, like a pair of Turkey Vultures, who were just making sure I was paying attention. I was hoping winds would die down at the end of the day in hopes of seeing an often talked about occurrence referred to as the late day Falcon flight. We sometimes have a push of Falcons late in the day when conditions are right and that often is one of my favorite parts of hawkwatching, when the park has mostly cleared out and the sun is low in the sky. The wind was still too strong at day's end.

Non-raptor Observations:
A couple more new arrivals showed up today, including an Ovenbird and Solitary Sandpiper. Migrants today included: 34 Blackbird spp. 24 Double-crested Cormorants 21 Common Grackles 14 Tree Swallows 12 Blue Jays 8 Purple Finches 6 Barn Swallows 4 Brown-headed Cowbirds 3 American Golfinches 3 Solitary Sandpipers 1 Common Loon

Predictions:
Tomorrow looks to be a little cooler than today with highs in the 50s. Partly cloudy skies in the am should become mostly cloudy by the afternoon. Winds could be less than ideal out of the north-northwest, possibly becoming variable later in the day. Current predictions have wind speeds remaining low for most of the day. Light northerly winds are not the worst forecast, but it may not produce the numbers seen today. At this time in the season with more birds still needing to get to their territory, who knows, I may be pleasantly surprised by tomorrow. Like a box of chocolates, you never know what your going to get. Yes, I just made a Forrest Gump reference.

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