[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (09 Apr 2017) 69 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 09, 2017
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	8	181	441
Osprey	12	37	37
Bald Eagle	6	20	55
Northern Harrier	3	36	40
Sharp-shinned Hawk	16	69	81
Cooper's Hawk	2	17	25
Northern Goshawk	0	3	5
Red-shouldered Hawk	4	40	88
Broad-winged Hawk	0	1	1
Red-tailed Hawk	4	57	119
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	10	64	65
Merlin	0	12	13
Peregrine Falcon	0	0	1
Unknown Accipiter	1	2	2
Unknown Buteo	0	0	1
Unknown Falcon	1	1	1
Unknown Eagle	0	1	1
Unknown Raptor	2	5	9
Total:	69	546	985

Observation start time:	07:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	8.25 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Don Thompson, Eric Graffam, Jeannette Lovitch, Julie Krasne, Sea Mckeon, Steve Gruverman

Visitors:
Having one of the brightest and sunniest days fall on a weekend brought out a lot of visitors to Bradbury Mountain State Park. It's not just the birds vying for territory, as parking spaces became a hot commodity today. Many people had to park along Rt. 9. 49 people came to the hawkwatch, some of whom were very interested in the project while others were simply curious as to what we were staring at in the sky. We had a lot of eyes to the sky today. Thank you to everyone who helped out. I would like to mention, tomorrow we will see a guest appearance from seasoned hawkwatcher Katrina Fenton. Katrina counted on top of Bradbury from the 2012 season through the 2014 season. She also happens to be the person I first started learning hawk identification from. Hopefully people can make it out to say hello and get the band back together, so to speak.

Weather:
It was a beautiful day on the summit of Bradbury. Today was bright and sunny with temperatures in the high 50's. Winds at the start of the day were steady, from the west-northwest. Wind speeds increased slightly by mid morning, before settling down again. Cloud cover was almost nonexistent for most of the day, with high Cirrus clouds moving in towards the end of the count. Visibility was good, but not great, due to heat distortion.

Raptor Observations:
The number of raptors seen today were lower than I expected. With a steady west wind at the start of the day, some birds could have been pushed closer to the coast. Birds also could have been high overhead at times. The bright blue sky can make spotting birds up above difficult. Either way, I thought we would end the day with triple digits. Sharp-shinned hawks were on the move today, as they were the most abundant species of migrant. It was also a good day for Ospreys and American Kestrels.

Non-raptor Observations:
There were not a lot of northbound birds seen today. A couple of smaller flocks of American Black Ducks and Mallards were seen rising above the tree line, only to drop back down onto ponds or nearby streams. 1 Sandhill Crane was spotted to the north as it slowly quartered into the wind. Northbound birds included: 97 Canada Geese 30 Tree Swallows 9 Cedar Waxwings 6 Red-winged Blackbirds 3 Belted Kingfishers 2 Great Blue Herons 1 Sandhill Crane

Predictions:
Tomorrow is shaping up to be a great day for migrant activity, at least on paper. Temperatures should be higher than today, closer to the mid 60's. Skies should be a mix of sun and clouds, which is helpful for spotters, and winds should be out of the south and maybe a little southwest, which is helpful for migrant birds. I have been wrong plenty of times in the past, but if I looked at all weather predictions for the season to date, tomorrow's forecast is as close to ideal as we have seen yet. We shall see.

---

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