[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (24 Apr 2022) 105 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 24, 2022
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	1	1
Turkey Vulture	0	285	470
Osprey	7	200	201
Bald Eagle	1	20	80
Northern Harrier	0	58	73
Sharp-shinned Hawk	17	396	426
Cooper's Hawk	1	22	39
Northern Goshawk	0	1	3
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	26	120
Broad-winged Hawk	71	927	927
Red-tailed Hawk	0	29	130
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	2	219	229
Merlin	4	22	26
Peregrine Falcon	0	0	3
Unknown Accipiter	0	5	6
Unknown Buteo	0	4	5
Unknown Falcon	0	2	2
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	2	10	11
Total:	105	2227	2752

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	8 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Dave Fensore, Jeannette Lovitch, Jim Pinfold, Mathew Gilbert

Visitors:
25 people came by the site (got my homophones squared away, oops). Some unique individuals with equally unique questions. Nice meeting you all.

Weather:
Winds were calm all day but not really a favorable direction for migration. Light N, NW and even a little E wind could be felt at the summit for most of the time today. The direction finally started to shift S with only an hour or so left in the day. Early clouds swept through for a couple hours before pushing out to the SE and leaving solid blue skies. By late afternoon clouds returned and the high temp of 53 started to drop slightly. Heat shimmer was pretty bad during the sunny period and diminished during the cloud covered afternoon hours. A pretty nice day to spend on the summit.

Raptor Observations:
Not terrible but not what we think of for late April. For a while this morning and again in the afternoon the skies felt empty. There was a time of about 90 minutes during the sunny period when birds did seem to be moving. They were extremely high and also far, difficult to detect without a clouded backdrop. I suspect we missed some overhead but also far out to the SE as the northerly breeze may have pushed them further towards the coast. I was able to detect pin-dots in my scope which moved in a fashion reminiscent of raptor flights but too far to be identified. For all I know they could have been gulls, Crows or wind-blown leaves.

Non-raptor Observations:
Another seemingly silent day. Bird song was hard to come by. Only 21 species were seen or heard today. Northbound birds include: 9 Tree Swallows 1 American Goldfinch 1 Double-crested Cormorant

Predictions:
More northerly winds at the outset, switching to SE in the afternoon. It may be a little cooler, in the high 40's and with the wind off the water I would recommend bringing more layers than you might think you'll need. More clouds may develop in the afternoon hours. Winds aren't great but it's April so I don't think well be skunked.

---

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]

---