[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (24 Mar 2018) 4 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 24, 2018
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	2	42	42
Osprey	0	0	0
Bald Eagle	0	34	34
Northern Harrier	0	0	0
Sharp-shinned Hawk	0	0	0
Cooper's Hawk	0	14	14
Northern Goshawk	0	3	3
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	4	4
Broad-winged Hawk	0	0	0
Red-tailed Hawk	2	29	29
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	0	0	0
Merlin	0	1	1
Peregrine Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Accipiter	0	1	1
Unknown Buteo	0	0	0
Unknown Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	0	0
Total:	4	128	128

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	7.83 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:

Visitors:
41 people visited the sight today, 1 of whom stole a piece of my equipment during the one o'clock hour. Focusing on the positive, the highlight of my day was when a pleasant women from the Caribbean came up to the summit asking for me by name. After introducing myself, she told me she was new to birding and was hoping to see a Bald Eagle while she was visiting the states. Like some kind of magic trick, I stepped backwards and told her to set her gaze upon the eyepiece of my scope, where she was treated to an immature Eagle. She was thrilled, I was thrilled, we both laughed.

Weather:
A fairly mild weather day at the mountain today. Temps climbed to the low 40's. Clouds increased quickly during the morning hours, until there was no blue sky left to be found. Visibility was good for most of the day. Unfortunately, winds were still mostly out of the north. With 15 minutes left in the day, a snow squall moved in from the east northeast, to bid me farewell.

Raptor Observations:
A Cooper's hawk was out early, performing a display flight, flapping like a giant moth it would swoop low, pull up with its wings tucked, shooting skyward like a toy bottle rocket. Other than the Coop, it was fairly slow. The two Red-tails which were counted were two of the highest migrants yet, passing directly overhead to the north. Eagles were still hanging around.

Non-raptor Observations:
A few more geese were spotted moving north this morning. Brown Creepers have begun to sing at the summit, along with Dark-eyed Juncos.

Predictions:
Clouds will most likely start the day tomorrow, with some clearing towards the end of the day. Winds are still predicted to be out of the north and maybe a little east. Temperatures could slowly climb towards 40, but winds of 10-15 mph will make that feel closer to 30. Unfortunately, with a headwind from the northeast, it could be a day of watching local birds shift around.

---

Report submitted by Jeannette Lovitch (freeportwildbird@yahoo.com)
Bradbury Mountain State Park information may be found at: www.freeportwildbirdsupply.com/hawkwatch.asp
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]

---