[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (12 Apr 2023) 13 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 12, 2023
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	190	500
Osprey	3	64	64
Bald Eagle	0	4	41
Northern Harrier	0	26	50
Sharp-shinned Hawk	5	64	84
Cooper's Hawk	0	4	15
Northern Goshawk	0	0	0
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	12	45
Broad-winged Hawk	4	10	10
Red-tailed Hawk	0	9	60
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	0	90	98
Merlin	0	9	16
Peregrine Falcon	0	2	3
Unknown Accipiter	0	3	5
Unknown Buteo	0	0	0
Unknown Falcon	0	1	1
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	1	3	5
Total:	13	491	997

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, Reed Robinson

Visitors:
A total of 6 people stopped by today. We had a future ornithologist helping today who stuck it out on his only time off despite not many birds. Reed I hope you aren't burnt to a crisp. Thanks to everyone who helped today, that was a bit rough. Go Big Red!

Weather:
Another windy day on the mountain. NNW winds were blowing before the count ever got started and persisted until after we left. There were brief moments of dead calm which felt great but they were quickly interrupted by strong gusts. The sky was great for spotting, with a mix of high thin clouds and streaks of blue sky. Some cool Lenticular clouds maintained a steady position in the sky to our S for a few hours. Temps were comfortable and in the 60's.

Raptor Observations:
Pretty slow for mid April even with some wind. I expected to do better than we did. Even local birds weren't out much today, maybe with the exception of Red-tails who can kite facing into the wind. We were getting around 2 birds per hour with not much to see in between. Most birds were somewhat far away.

Non-raptor Observations:
I did get one new species for the day but hardly any northbound movement. The new bird was a female Bufflehead flying solo and moving inland to our W. It was nice to have Pine Warblers singing in the background competing with the wind in our ears. 18 Species in total today. Northbound birds include: 3 Tree Swallows 1 Bufflehead

Predictions:
I'll take the apposite approach this time. Tomorrow doesn't look great. Light SE winds are predicted to blow steadily throughout the count period, likely bringing in some cooler ocean air. If it's really light maybe we'll see some birds before they are pushed inland. The sun should be shining bright as clouds move out in the morning.

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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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