[Maine-birds] Fw: Bradbury Mountain State Park (29 Apr 2022) 6 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 29, 2022
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	1	1
Turkey Vulture	0	285	470
Osprey	1	225	226
Bald Eagle	0	20	80
Northern Harrier	0	58	73
Sharp-shinned Hawk	2	441	471
Cooper's Hawk	0	26	43
Northern Goshawk	0	1	3
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	26	120
Broad-winged Hawk	2	1203	1203
Red-tailed Hawk	0	31	132
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	0	230	240
Merlin	1	29	33
Peregrine Falcon	0	0	3
Unknown Accipiter	0	5	6
Unknown Buteo	0	4	5
Unknown Falcon	0	3	3
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	12	13
Total:	6	2600	3125

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

Visitors:
31 visitors today which included a rambunctious troop of Girl Scouts who showed up as I was leaving. I'm not sure they were convinced we could see hundreds of birds in a day after seeing I had only spotted 6. A special shout out to Ted from Maryland who keeps track of the migration from a few states away. For anyone in the area, tomorrow is the start of the two day event Feathers Over Freeport, which has bird oriented educational activities for all ages. Follow the link for more details. https://www.maine.gov/dacf/parks/discover_history_explore_nature/activities/feathers_over_freeport.shtml

Weather:
More shenanigans with the wind rearranging some of my supplies again. North winds were strong with some powerful gusts. The afternoon had some longer periods of calm. More sun throughout the day made for a more comfortable time counting than yesterday, with temps in the high 40's. Visibility over longer distances wasn't great due to heat distortion. Thank you Jim

Raptor Observations:
With Jim as my witness, I promise I'm not sleeping on the rocks. High winds from the north really kept things quiet. Local bird activity was minimal and mostly very early in the day. A Merlin and Sharpy came in close, just below eye level which was a pleasure to see and satisfying enough to hold us over for the long period between sightings. Birds were really getting pushed around, with one Broad-wing flying on it's side, one wing up and one down.

Non-raptor Observations:
A gregarious Pine Warbler was one of the few passerines we watched for a bit today. No northbound migrants were spotted.

Predictions:
Temps should be nice, in the 50's. There will likely be some more wind, from the NNW and maybe some gusting in the morning hours. Hopefully it tapers off as the day progresses. There will likely be a mix of clouds and sun again. Let's hope these birds rally in time for the festivities tomorrow. Come on up and help smash yesterdays numbers. See you then.

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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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