[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (20 Apr 2021) 858 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 20, 2021
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	2
Turkey Vulture	0	94	603
Osprey	69	219	222
Bald Eagle	7	52	98
Northern Harrier	13	54	68
Sharp-shinned Hawk	176	311	338
Cooper's Hawk	7	40	74
Northern Goshawk	0	1	2
Red-shouldered Hawk	2	49	116
Broad-winged Hawk	472	949	949
Red-tailed Hawk	4	62	155
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	88	202	222
Merlin	13	23	31
Peregrine Falcon	2	6	9
Unknown Accipiter	1	6	10
Unknown Buteo	0	5	8
Unknown Falcon	1	3	3
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	3	24	31
Total:	858	2100	2941

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	17:00:00
Total observation time:	8.25 hours
Official Counter	Andrew Sharp
Observers:	Derek Lovitch, Jeannette Lovitch, Leon Mooney, Mathew Gilbert, Michael Boardman, Zane Baker

Visitors:
29 visitors today. Many many helpful bird-spotters up at the summit were vital to us racking up the big numbers. Special shoutout to Matthew Gilbert, who really has been a massive help during these big days, thanks Matt!! Worth noting: FOS Balloon (blue), FOS Goat (2). *Please don't release balloons :)

Weather:
Today was quite pleasant up at the summit. I started with a t-shirt but had to add a layer as the south wind kicked up. Temps ranged from 50 to 61. Skies started out mostly clear but clouds quickly rolled in.

Raptor Observations:
Today was an amazing day!! Although there were plenty of high and distant raptors, many of our birds today blazed by close enough that anyone with binoculars was afforded spectacular views. Although Broad-wings were clearly the star of the show, Sharpies, Osprey, and Kestrels passed through in great numbers. No less impressive was the great looks we got at TWO Peregrine Falcons. Worth noting was a VERY pale second-year Red-tailed Hawk that headed south behind the summit today. Conclusions regarding subspecies are pending, we need to take a closer look at photos taken of the interesting individual. All in all, a fun and bird-filled day of hawk watching!

Non-raptor Observations:
Migratory non-raptors were as follows: Blackbird Spp.: 90 Common Grackle:15 Double-crested Cormorant: 304 Red-winged Blackbird: 8 Tree Swallow: 75 Passerine Spp.: 10 Yellow-rumped Warbler: 22 American Goldfinch: 3 Purple Finch: 9 European Starling: 2 Wilson's Snipe: 1 Canada Goose: 19 Great Blue Heron: 2 Common Loon: 1 A total of 30 species were detected from the summit.

Predictions:
Tomorrow might be a bit rainy at times. Winds out of the southeast. Temps in the mid-50's.

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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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