[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (08 Apr 2023) 14 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 08, 2023
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	3	181	491
Osprey	3	24	24
Bald Eagle	0	4	41
Northern Harrier	1	21	45
Sharp-shinned Hawk	4	29	49
Cooper's Hawk	0	4	15
Northern Goshawk	0	0	0
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	7	40
Broad-winged Hawk	1	1	1
Red-tailed Hawk	1	8	59
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	1	42	50
Merlin	0	0	7
Peregrine Falcon	0	2	3
Unknown Accipiter	0	0	2
Unknown Buteo	0	0	0
Unknown Falcon	0	1	1
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	0	2
Total:	14	324	830

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, Dick Baker, Nate Johnson

Visitors:
The nice weather brought more people out today. There was pretty steady foot traffic across the summit. 33 Visitors in total.

Weather:
Lots of sun and hardly a cloud in the sky. Temps were pleasant and in the 40's. Visibility wasn't great with a lot of heat shimmer. Winds were problematic and stronger than predicted, mostly from the NW. Occasional moments of calm were interrupted by fairly strong and unannounced gusts.

Raptor Observations:
The very first bird of the day was our first Broad-wing of the season. The bird popped up to the W, adjacent to the mountain with the rising sun lighting it up nicely. There was no mistaking it. Migrants were spread out throughout the day and hard to find. Air traffic was pretty quiet even for local commuter flights.

Non-raptor Observations:
A surprisingly quiet day for passerines. I figured I might get some blackbirds and robins and at least a few Geese but no such luck. More birds moved south than north today. 24 species were seen or heard today.

Predictions:
Tomorrow's conditions look to be similar to today with lots of sun and mild temps. Winds are likely to be NW with a possible shift to SW towards the final hour of the count. Wind speeds should be light, I hope. Maybe that wind transition period will give the birds a good incentive.

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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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