[Maine-birds] Fw: Bradbury Mountain State Park (03 Apr 2023) 104 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 03, 2023
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	49	49	359
Osprey	7	7	7
Bald Eagle	1	2	39
Northern Harrier	7	11	35
Sharp-shinned Hawk	7	7	27
Cooper's Hawk	2	2	13
Northern Goshawk	0	0	0
Red-shouldered Hawk	6	6	39
Broad-winged Hawk	0	0	0
Red-tailed Hawk	6	6	57
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	18	20	28
Merlin	0	0	7
Peregrine Falcon	1	2	3
Unknown Accipiter	0	0	2
Unknown Buteo	0	0	0
Unknown Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	0	2
Total:	104	112	618

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

Visitors:
Not many people hung around at the summit today. ( visitors in total

Weather:
Winds were strong, steady and unobstructed today. Maintaining our balance was an issue for most of the day. A little sand storm from The Desert of Maine was rising above the trees. Winds started out from directly S for the first hour, which was great for migration but then shifted to more SSE for the remainder of the day. Clouds were high and thin and great for spotting birds. Visibility was decent and thankfully the temps were tolerable.

Raptor Observations:
There was a good push of birds right out of the gate today with migrants taking advantage of the strong tailwind. Close to half of the birds spotted today passed by in the first hour. There was a little bit of a flight line developing before the winds shifted. It was somewhat surprising to see the amount of elevation some of the birds achieved today given how strong the winds were blowing. I had a great morning view of a Peregrine flying side by side with a Red-shoulder lit by the sun. We had our first immature Red-tail show up today. Hat tip to Hawkwatch Junco for being on high alert and spotting the final two birds for me.

Non-raptor Observations:
There was a small movement of passerines this am before winds became super strong and gusty. We had a couple firsts for the year which were a Brown-headed Cowbird and a Common Loon. Northbound birds include: 279 Common Grackles 120 Canada Geese 50 Red-winged Blackbirds 8 American Robins 5 Tree Swallows 1 Brown-headed Cowbird 1 Common Loon

Predictions:
Tomorrow looks like it should be a decent day with a small chance of passing showers which hopefully will miss the mountain. Winds should be much lighter, starting out from the W and swinging around to more S and maybe SW. Temps will likely be warmer than today and could reach 50°F. Looks like a good chance to get some migrants moving north.

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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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