[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (28 Apr 2019) 199 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park

Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 28, 2019
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	233	573
Osprey	14	378	379
Bald Eagle	0	27	72
Northern Harrier	2	133	139
Sharp-shinned Hawk	23	501	516
Cooper's Hawk	5	42	61
Northern Goshawk	0	2	3
Red-shouldered Hawk	1	43	96
Broad-winged Hawk	140	2867	2867
Red-tailed Hawk	2	90	184
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	2
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	7	412	438
Merlin	2	55	60
Peregrine Falcon	0	1	2
Unknown Accipiter	0	2	3
Unknown Buteo	1	4	6
Unknown Falcon	0	4	6
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	2	13	14
Total:	199	4807	5421

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	8 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Dave Fensore, Don Thompson, Leon Mooney, Mathew Gilbert

Visitors:
62 visitors to the watch today and many more who were passing through.

Weather:
Today was pretty pleasant on the mountain. Temps climbed up to the low 50s. Although the skies were mostly cloudy today, they seemed to part around the mountain, allowing direct sun to bathe the summit. Winds were light and switched around from a few different directions, but W was the predominant direction today. By late in the count winds became easterly. Visibility was challenging today due to heat distortion, not only on a horizontal plane but well above our heads as well, which suggested heat was rising, creating some nice thermals, and birds were taking full advantage of that.

Raptor Observations:
Early in the count birds were getting some altitude, and that seemed like a common theme today. Most birds were high overhead or far out towards the coast. Heat shimmer was making identifications a little more challenging and time consuming than I would have liked but I certainly don't want to start complaining about having the sun shining. Birds came through in mostly ones and twos and scattered around the sky. A few of the locals were active today, some of whom appeared to have a successful hunting trip as they were seen first without and then with a very full crop. The lighting effects from the sun and clouds tended to wash things out or cause bad backlighting. It was hard to tell if many of the migrants were immature or not. From what I could see, there may have been one more immature BW. There were however a few more Cooper's Hawks today, and a few of them did appear to be immature. They were a little closer to the mountain but even so, I had to strain a little in order to see.

Non-raptor Observations:
Today was the first day I noticed swarms of flying insects around the tree tops, and some of the Yellow-rumps and local Phoebes were enjoying the abundance. Things remained pretty quiet for Passerines today until late in the afternoon when Tree Swallows started to fill the sky. Not massive numbers by any means but many more than I've seen yet this year. Just before closing, at 4:48pm EST I spotted a high and far Sandhill Crane all by it's lonesome, traveling to the north. Not a bad end to the day.

Predictions:
Tomorrow is looking like the better day of the first half of the week as more rain is predicted to be closing in. Similar to today, tomorrow, temps should climb into the 50s with sunshine throughout the morning with increasing clouds later in the day. Winds should be light and from the NW. Will we see birds ahead of the rain? Will they be immature Broadwings? Will Batman save Gotham? Tune in tomorrow to find out.

---

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]

---