[Maine-birds] Fw: Bradbury Mountain State Park (12 Apr 2022) 64 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 12, 2022
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	2	254	439
Osprey	11	68	69
Bald Eagle	0	9	69
Northern Harrier	4	37	52
Sharp-shinned Hawk	23	92	122
Cooper's Hawk	2	9	26
Northern Goshawk	0	1	3
Red-shouldered Hawk	2	16	110
Broad-winged Hawk	11	12	12
Red-tailed Hawk	3	23	124
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	5	56	66
Merlin	1	5	9
Peregrine Falcon	0	0	3
Unknown Accipiter	0	4	5
Unknown Buteo	0	1	2
Unknown Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	2	3
Total:	64	589	1114

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

Visitors:
15 visitors to the summit today, with the gorgeous, warm and dry late afternoon usually devoid of non-hawkwatchers.

Weather:
The first half of the day saw occasional light showers, a few heavier showers, and some fog. Shortly before noon, however, the last of the drizzle ended and the skies (partially) cleared abruptly on a light and increasing northwesterly wind.

Raptor Observations:
The first half of the day saw a stubborn hawkcounter try and squeeze every last Osprey out of the precipitation. He got two. But in the last hour of Zane's half-day, birds began to take to the air. In the afternoon, I (Derek) enjoyed a steady trickle of birds - and being dry. After the first Broad-wing yesterday, 11 today suggested the start of things to come. Local Red-tailed Hawk pairs were exceedingly active this afternoon, with the local Pownal Center pair clocking in at over 30 minutes of constant air-time.

Non-raptor Observations:
Most of the non-passerines passed early today. Our first Pine Warbler of the season was in song whenever it was not raining, but the bird of the day honors goes to the adult Great Cormorant that passed by in the early afternoon, traveling north with 7 Double-crested Cormorants. We don't see this primarily-coastal migrant every year from The Brad. Other species deemed migrating: 87 American Robins 58 Common Grackles 10 Double-crested Cormorants 10 Tree Swallows 9 Eastern Bluebirds 5 American Black Ducks 2 Red-winged Blackbirds 2 Purple Finches 1 GREAT CORMORANT 1 Wood Duck

Predictions:
We remain in an active stretch of weather, with a warm front approaching tomorrow. Very light west to southwest winds and mostly sunny skies in the morning will slowly shift around to the southeast by the afternoon. Clouds will also increase, but precipitation is not forecast to arrive before the end of the count day. Hopefully, sun and southwesterly winds will last a little while in the morning, and if they do, it should be a good morning to be at the watch. Should.

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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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