[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (22 Apr 2019) 246 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 22, 2019
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	233	573
Osprey	15	298	299
Bald Eagle	0	24	69
Northern Harrier	2	108	114
Sharp-shinned Hawk	11	322	337
Cooper's Hawk	1	30	49
Northern Goshawk	0	2	3
Red-shouldered Hawk	1	39	92
Broad-winged Hawk	210	1470	1470
Red-tailed Hawk	1	75	169
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	2
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	3	339	365
Merlin	1	32	37
Peregrine Falcon	0	1	2
Unknown Accipiter	0	2	3
Unknown Buteo	0	3	5
Unknown Falcon	0	3	5
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	1	9	10
Total:	246	2990	3604

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	7.75 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Dave Fensore, Derek Lovitch, Jeannette Lovitch

Visitors:
We had more visitors to the mountain than I thought we might see, considering it's the start of the work week for most. 28 in total. Don't forget that this weekend marks the start of the annual Feathers Over Freeport event which will take place at Bradbury Mountain State Park and Wolfe's Neck Woods State Park. For more info, copy and paste the following link. https://www.maine.gov/dacf/parks/discover_history_explore_nature/activities/feathers_over_freeport.shtml

Weather:
Well, we lucked out today. The predicted forecast wasn't perfectly accurate. Morning fog that I thought might delay the start cleared out just in time for me to open up on time. The fog held just off the coast for the duration of the count, occasionally reaching over the islands of Casco Bay. The cloud ceiling remained low as well today, which helped corral the the birds we were spotting. Despite not being able to see as far as usual, the visibility was very clear albeit a little monochromatic. Predicted NE winds were spot on and were fairly steady yet light at the summit. Rain eventually got here behind the original schedule and I packed up just a couple of minute early.

Raptor Observations:
Today turned out to be a really good day, with the second highest count of the season so far. The strange thing is it felt really slow. Maybe because the views of the birds today were not what one would hope to see. With NE winds the vast majority of the birds we spotted were pushed well out towards the coast. Lots of birds were going by but usually no more than three or four at a time, and traveling quite slowly as they met the winds head on. Thermal production was low along with cloud cover which helped keep migrants right around eye level, so there wasn't a lot of neck cramps today with mile high birds. It was sort of a lazy day of counting. The most satisfying look at a bird was probably the one Merlin we saw which corkscrewed around the summit before slingshotting to the NNW.

Non-raptor Observations:
Non raptor migrants were pretty quite today. Double-crested Cormorants were by far the most numerous with 104. A few Tree and Barn Swallows moved north plus our first of season Northern Rough-winged Swallow. Birds around the summit seemed a bit subdued, singing occasionally but mostly staying hidden. I never did see Hawkwatch Junco.

Predictions:
Tomorrow I'll be splitting up the day with Jeannette and it looks kind of like it could be a mirror image of today. Rain may start things off as it begins to dry up throughout the morning. Skies look like they'll be mostly overcast with temps in the high 40s. More NE winds are predicted to stick around for the duration of the day at about 10mph. Birds didn't seem to mind a little headwind today so maybe we'll get some more coming through before the next weather system approaches.

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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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