[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (22 Apr 2018) 173 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 22, 2018
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	358	562
Osprey	15	191	191
Bald Eagle	2	17	72
Northern Harrier	2	50	53
Sharp-shinned Hawk	10	172	193
Cooper's Hawk	3	33	54
Northern Goshawk	0	2	5
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	26	72
Broad-winged Hawk	134	395	395
Red-tailed Hawk	1	75	178
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	1	58	67
Merlin	1	16	19
Peregrine Falcon	0	1	1
Unknown Accipiter	0	4	5
Unknown Buteo	2	4	5
Unknown Falcon	0	1	1
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	2	7	9
Total:	173	1410	1882

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	17:00:00
Total observation time:	8.25 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Dave Fensore, Derek Lovitch, Jessica Costa, Julie Krasne, Pat Moynahan

Visitors:
54 visitors came to the hawkwatch today, plus dozens more passing by the summit.

Weather:
It was a gorgeous day atop Bradbury. Temperature climbed well into the fifties at the summit. Wind speeds at the start of the day were still a little stronger than predicted, and kind of variable in their direction. Towards the afternoon hours, winds started to taper off, with some occasional gusts. Not a single cloud could be found in the sky, which made for a pleasant day, but created a lot of difficulty in spotting birds. There was a significant amount of heat shimmer, which made ID's difficult at times.

Raptor Observations:
Birds were pretty spread out over the sky today. Our biggest kettle of Broad-wings was only 5, plus 1 Osprey who had joined the party.

Non-raptor Observations:
After heading south over the past few days, Tree Swallows were now moving north once again; 24 to be exact. Other first-of-season birds of note included: 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1 Yellow-rumped Warbler 1 Barn Swallow

Predictions:
Tomorrow maybe greeted by cool temps, but should climb quickly, topping out around the mid fifties. Cloud cover should remain minimal again, revealing plentiful sunshine, which means thermal production for the birds. Winds at the start of the day should be out of the WNW, slowly transitioning to the SW by early afternoon. Yes you read that correctly, SW is in the forecast.

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

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