[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (18 Apr 2023) 978 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 18, 2023
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	190	500
Osprey	47	169	169
Bald Eagle	1	8	45
Northern Harrier	5	45	69
Sharp-shinned Hawk	16	118	138
Cooper's Hawk	0	7	18
Northern Goshawk	1	2	2
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	13	46
Broad-winged Hawk	884	956	956
Red-tailed Hawk	1	11	62
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	18	187	195
Merlin	2	19	26
Peregrine Falcon	0	2	3
Unknown Accipiter	1	4	6
Unknown Buteo	0	0	0
Unknown Falcon	0	3	3
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	2	9	11
Total:	978	1743	2249

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	6.67 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Dave Fensore, Dick Baker, Rick Hartzell

Visitors:
6 Visitors. Sorry to those who left when I did as fog rolled in, I didn't expect it to lift that quickly. We had a young and brand new birder out for a hike ask Dave what we were looking at. Dave loaned him some binoculars and directed his gaze upward. When he landed on the kettle of 80 plus birds I was counting his remarks were priceless.

Weather:
This was not even close to the weather I had been seeing in the forecast. The count was delayed almost an hour this morning due to fog. I shot up when the sun peeked out only to find visibility was limited to a couple miles from the summit. Fog crept back in by 11am EDT at which point I packed up after waiting it out for twenty minutes. I made it less than two miles when suddenly things cleared. Back we go. This time there were sheets of rain visible closing in on the mountain. Rain showers passed over a couple times but nothing too soaking. Winds really picked up from the W and WSW getting very gusty in the afternoon. Visibility was very good after the showers. Temps were around 50

Raptor Observations:
With the first SW and WSW winds we've had in what seems like ages brought in the birds. Almost as soon as the curtains of rain passed by the birds were there to reveal themselves to us. At first we were getting some awesome kettles of Broad-wings sometimes mixed with a half dozen Osprey. With the winds picking up, some of the kettles were stretched into thin columns. Distant kettles looked a bit like lines of ants crawling upwards. As the winds continued to increase we saw fewer kettles and more flight-lines. Birds streamed overhead, to our SE and NW. This made counting a little easier as birds weren't crossing each others path, risking double counting birds, although it's bound to happen on a bigger day. The big flight lasted for about 2 hours around noon. Flights quieted down quickly as winds came up. We didn't have any major highlights that stand out other than a sweet look at an immature Gos' and just the volume of birds we finally got to witness.

Non-raptor Observations:
Still a little light for passerines with the early fog. A group of six Great Blue Herons was fun to watch, flying low over the trees wingtip to wingtip, dangling their landing gear but being indecisive as to where the LZ was. Northbound birds include: 68 Double-crested Cormorants 34 Tree Swallows 31 Common Grackles 21 Red-winged Blackbirds 6 Great Blue Herons 6 Canada Geese 3 American Goldfinch 2 Yellow-rumped Warblers 1 Brown-headed Cowbird

Predictions:
Who knows. It appears we're going to be dealing with more gusty winds from the W and maybe NW. Tomorrow looks dry with a mix of clouds and sun and similar temps around 50. Maybe we'll have some remnants of today still making their way.

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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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