[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (07 Apr 2022) 1 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 07, 2022
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	228	413
Osprey	0	24	25
Bald Eagle	0	7	67
Northern Harrier	0	22	37
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1	28	58
Cooper's Hawk	0	5	22
Northern Goshawk	0	0	2
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	12	106
Broad-winged Hawk	0	0	0
Red-tailed Hawk	0	18	119
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	0	24	34
Merlin	0	2	6
Peregrine Falcon	0	0	3
Unknown Accipiter	0	2	3
Unknown Buteo	0	1	2
Unknown Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	0	1
Total:	1	373	898

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

Visitors:
Some trail runners and mount bikers stopped by, 12 people in all. I enjoyed sharing my scope with people who were a bit surprised by just how clear an overcast day can be.

Weather:
Kind of drab gray day. The cloud cover created some odd lighting effects for the first half of the day, making it feel more like dusk. The clouds remained for the entire count period with no signs of breaking apart. The strong winds held off until the final hour, however there was a light easterly breeze felt throughout the day. For a couple hours during the middle of the day a few snowflakes began to fall, followed immediately by a switch to sleet and then a light drizzle. It wasn't worth closing since the sleet bounces off and the visibility remained surprisingly good. Temps hovered around 40 degrees. Visibility was fantastic.

Raptor Observations:
8 hours of basically nothing, but that's hawkwatching. Birds were harder to find than Carmen Sandiego. I found one bird, but not the Osprey I was hoping for. At least we got on the board today. The only reason I found the Sharpy was a result of the phenomenal visibility. A couple TV's were seen a few times, with more activity taking place during the final hour.

Non-raptor Observations:
Not much to report. A couple dozen Robins moved through early and then it was still for seven hours. I did spot the first Common Loon flying inland this morning about the same time as the Robins. In the final minutes of the day a flock of 70 Grackles took to the air and moved northeast. A non avian sighting was a Porcupine climbing a bare deciduous tree about two miles away

Predictions:
Temps will be in the high 40's to low 50's tomorrow. It's uncertain whether I'll be headed up first thing in the morning. Rain will likely continue during the morning hours. Hopefully it will taper off enough to get some time in. Winds may be blowing hard from the east, settling down and turning through south over to a westerly direction by the day's end.

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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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