[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (15 Apr 2023) 52 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 15, 2023
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	190	500
Osprey	13	115	115
Bald Eagle	0	7	44
Northern Harrier	1	37	61
Sharp-shinned Hawk	2	98	118
Cooper's Hawk	0	6	17
Northern Goshawk	0	1	1
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	13	46
Broad-winged Hawk	15	59	59
Red-tailed Hawk	0	10	61
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	18	141	149
Merlin	2	15	22
Peregrine Falcon	0	2	3
Unknown Accipiter	0	3	5
Unknown Buteo	0	0	0
Unknown Falcon	0	3	3
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	1	7	9
Total:	52	707	1213

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	8 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Biz Houghton, Chuck Barnes, Nate Johnson, Ted Michalek

Visitors:
The park was very busy but not a ton of visitors to the site. only 34 people stopped by. Everyone seemed to forget about the birds when the three horses stole the show.

Weather:
The day started out quite pleasant with sun and a mix of clouds. Winds were light and from the E. By Mid morning the winds became a little stiff and bounced back and forth from E to SE. Towards the end of the count period a gray mass of clouds slowly oozed inland looking like the clouds from Ghostbusters. Temps remained a little warmer than expected even with a little sea breeze.

Raptor Observations:
Birds are getting backed up somewhere to our south, I presume. Will it be a sudden onslaught when the flood gates open? I thought with approaching rain and very light E winds plus the time of year that we might have a decent day (it's happened before). The winds really seemed to keep things quiet. Local birds weren't all that active today either. Birds were pretty well spread around the sky today. We did have a fair number coming from the W and even NW which isn't too surprising given the wind direction they had to contend with. Unfortunately people didn't get much of a show. Only a few close birds and low volume. A little patience for a couple of us in the unproductive final half hour paid off with one of our best looks at a Peregrine which came in from the E at eye level just in front of us and made a few turns before shooting south. Maybe the Portland bird.

Non-raptor Observations:
Yellow-rumped Warbler, Palm Warbler and a Winter Wren were first-of-year birds for us today. A little variety in bird song was nice to hear. Only a small handful of Cormorants and a couple Tree Swallows were heading N today. 26 species were seen or heard.

Predictions:
Tomorrow looks a little iffy. My main concern is the visibility since it appears we could be dealing with fog in the morning. There is a chance of rain and it looks like more winds from an unfavorable NE direction. Temps will likely be cooler, in the upper 40'sto low 50's.

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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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