[Maine-birds] Fw: Bradbury Mountain State Park (31 Mar 2023) 102 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 31, 2023
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	70	310	310
Osprey	0	0	0
Bald Eagle	2	37	37
Northern Harrier	10	24	24
Sharp-shinned Hawk	4	20	20
Cooper's Hawk	2	11	11
Northern Goshawk	0	0	0
Red-shouldered Hawk	2	33	33
Broad-winged Hawk	0	0	0
Red-tailed Hawk	4	51	51
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	3	8	8
Merlin	3	7	7
Peregrine Falcon	0	1	1
Unknown Accipiter	1	2	2
Unknown Buteo	0	0	0
Unknown Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	1	2	2
Total:	102	506	506

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

Visitors:
9 Visitors to the site .

Weather:
It was a gorgeous crisp and cool morning today. Frost heaves made a nice crunch under foot as I climbed the trail. Sun was shining bright for a few hours before the clouds moved in. Winds remained light, mostly from the WSW for the early part of the count. By afternoon the winds increased and shifted to more SSE bringing with it some cold ocean air and dropping temps by a few degrees. Temps reached a high of 41.

Raptor Observations:
We broke 100 for the day's total which felt pretty good, especially after yesterday. The action came and went a couple different times. The morning hours seemed like things were going to be busy for the day, then there was a lull and birds were hard find. Just after noon we had another influx of birds with a good mix of species. Our first Osprey showed up to our SW, but it seemed to have pulled a U-turn and started heading away from us to the WSW. A small kettle of three Harriers was a fun sight late in the day.

Non-raptor Observations:
Another slow day for other non raptors. Birds deemed migrating included: 22 Red-winged Blackbirds 6 Common Grackles 5 American Robins 4 Finch Spp 2 Common Mergansers 2 Mallards 1 American Goldfinch 1 Tree Swallow I did see a pair of Red Crossbills today plus 6 Cormorants, headed south.

Predictions:
I don't care for what I just saw for the next couple day's. Tomorrow looks like it could be a wash. Winds look light, from the S and SW and mild temps. Maybe there will be an opportunity later in the day if rain lightens up. Well see.

---

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]

---