[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (28 Mar 2019) 48 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park

Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 28, 2019
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	15	216	216
Osprey	0	0	0
Bald Eagle	1	44	44
Northern Harrier	0	2	2
Sharp-shinned Hawk	3	6	6
Cooper's Hawk	2	16	16
Northern Goshawk	0	1	1
Red-shouldered Hawk	6	46	46
Broad-winged Hawk	0	0	0
Red-tailed Hawk	17	86	86
Rough-legged Hawk	0	2	2
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	3	3	3
Merlin	0	5	5
Peregrine Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Accipiter	0	0	0
Unknown Buteo	0	2	2
Unknown Falcon	1	1	1
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	1	1
Total:	48	431	431

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	8 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Dave Fensore, Derek Lovitch, Tom Downing

Visitors:
13 People stopped by today

Weather:
Today was not the most pleasant time to be stationary on top of a mountain. A very chilly, strong and persistent southeast wind ripped across the summit for the duration of the day, becoming rather gusty by the final hours of the count. Air temps climbed just into the 40s, but the windchill factor certainly altered our perception of that. Cloud cover was high and thin and a welcome sight when it came to spotting birds. Visibility was good, with a little bit of haze which got worse by the end of the day. For a fun tidbit, while I was thinking how gross the winds were today, at 39000ft the windchill was -150 degrees Fahrenheit. It could always be worse I suppose.

Raptor Observations:
A very nice mixture of species today. Our first American Kestrel of the season was one of the first birds of the day. Also our first immature Red-shouldered Hawk arrived today. Birds were pretty spread out across the sky and remained relatively low, with the high winds probably pruning down any thermals being generated.

Non-raptor Observations:
An amusing moment came this morning when I witnessed a Raven perform multiple rolls consecutively as it fell towards the earth, with the bird appearing to get wrapped up in it's own wings. I've seen them roll over, but never continuing to roll in one direction like this one did. Very cool! The morning hours saw a decent flight of Blackbirds, Geese, and Robins, plus a couple first of season sightings. 21 species were seen or heard today. Northbound migrants included: 548 Canada Geese 477 Blackbird Spp. 322 American Robins 210 Common Grackles 19 Red-winged Blackbirds 6 Killdeer 5 European Starlings 3 Horned Lark FOY 1 Belted Kingfisher FOY 1 Tree Swallow FOY 1 American Goldfinch

Predictions:
Tomorrow will most likely be cloudy for the entire day, with warm temps in the 40s to 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Winds should be much lighter and mostly from the south, however there is a chance for showers to develop throughout the day. I'm optimistic about the winds but the rain could cause birds to lay low.

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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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