[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (23 Apr 2019) 1 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 23, 2019
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	233	573
Osprey	0	298	299
Bald Eagle	0	24	69
Northern Harrier	0	108	114
Sharp-shinned Hawk	0	322	337
Cooper's Hawk	0	30	49
Northern Goshawk	0	2	3
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	39	92
Broad-winged Hawk	1	1471	1471
Red-tailed Hawk	0	75	169
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	2
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	0	339	365
Merlin	0	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	0	9	10
Total:	1	2991	3605

Observation start time:	10:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	5.5 hours
Official Counter	Jeannette Lovitch, Zane Baker
Observers:

Visitors:
12 people came by today.

Weather:
Foul weather inhibited Jeannette from opening up first thing. The count got underway officially at 11:30am with 100% cloud cover and some E wind. Winds began to shift around and by noon were coming from the NE which is the direction it stayed for the rest of the day. I arrived at 1:00pm to cloudy skies but excellent visibility. I was determined to spot people working on the Maine Medical Center construction project 18.5 miles away but it was time to find some birds. The visibility didn't last for too long as some rain clouds unleashed their bounty on the neighboring towns. Small pop-up showers were sprinkled about the area for much of the afternoon. Temperatures climbed into the mid forties by midday but dropped slightly in the afternoon. With twenty minutes remaining in the count the clouds started to break apart, and after a 92.96 million mile journey a few rays of sun made direct contact with the landscape.

Raptor Observations:
We got one! Well, Jeannette nor I got it, but a women who stopped briefly with her binoculars found it, out to the S. The bird circled as it gained lift, somehow, set it's wings in a glide and drifted off to the north. End of story.

Non-raptor Observations:
This was about as dry as I have seen the skies this entire season. Jeannette saw 2 Belted Kingfishers moving north and I found a few Tree Swallows, American Goldfinches, and one Canada Goose. By far the brightest part of the day, besides the afternoon sun was the 47 Bohemian Waxwings which perched in an Oak tree just in front of the summit for about 6 minutes. I was able to set up my scope and share the sight of these beautiful birds with a few visitors.

Predictions:
There is a little more rain on the way but it may not have a significant impact on the watch tomorrow. Hopefully the skies dry out on the earlier side of the prediction which is calling for a chance of rain showers in the morning hours. Temperatures should start to climb back into the 50s. Winds look a little wacky right now, starting out SSE and shifting clockwise to the W and maybe settling in from NW.

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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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