[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (23 Mar 2022) 25 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 23, 2022
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	8	128	128
Osprey	0	0	0
Bald Eagle	3	48	48
Northern Harrier	2	12	12
Sharp-shinned Hawk	0	17	17
Cooper's Hawk	1	13	13
Northern Goshawk	0	1	1
Red-shouldered Hawk	5	82	82
Broad-winged Hawk	0	0	0
Red-tailed Hawk	5	83	83
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	1	8	8
Merlin	0	4	4
Peregrine Falcon	0	2	2
Unknown Accipiter	0	1	1
Unknown Buteo	0	1	1
Unknown Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	1	1
Total:	25	401	401

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	8 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Dave Fensore

Visitors:
It was nice to see a few more pairs of binoculars on the mountain today. I wish there had been more birds to view. It was a pleasure chatting with everyone. I hope you all come back again. 20 visitors in total

Weather:
It was a bit of a cooler start today, with temps hovering right at the freezing mark. Meltwater on the summit trail had glazed over and there was a nice crunch underfoot from the frost heaves. The first half of the day was bright blue skies. High thin clouds moved in from the west southwest in the afternoon and the stormfront moving in for tomorrow became evident. The trees on the summit helped to shelter us from the light but consistent northerly breeze. Overall a pleasant day to be out.

Raptor Observations:
Skies were very quiet for hours today. Even local activity was minimal, with the exception of a pair of local Cooper's Hawks which spent most of the day performing their exaggerated deep wing beats, displaying throughout the area. Around 1pm there was a brief flurry of 4 species of migrants moving through overhead. I was a little surprised by the amount of elevation they had gained, appearing very high up. I don't believe we missed much due to birds disappearing overhead which is a concern on warm days with little cloud cover to provide contrast for our eyes. There just wasn't much of anything being seen.

Non-raptor Observations:
Despite the light winds where I was standing, the birds flying north could be seen struggling a bit. Geese were making very slow progress. Not much of a passerine flight today. I didn't see one Grackle or Red-winged blackbird. Even our hawkwatch Junco was shy today.

Predictions:
Rain! The forecasters sound pretty confident with their 100% chance of rain by 10am prediction. Rain along with some high winds from the east and southeast could persist during the entire count period. It could be a washout but I'll be fresh and ready to go when the opportunity to open the count arrives.

---

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]

---