Sunday 9 April 2023

Re: [Maine-birds] Fw: Bradbury Mountain State Park (09 Apr 2023) 23 Raptors

The Broad-winged count may be low now, but I just returned from the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, where I counted at least 50 flying north across the border with at least 100 Black and Turkey Vultures. They're on their way!

On Sun, Apr 9, 2023 at 7:17 PM 'Derek and Jeannette Lovitch' via Maine birds <maine-birds@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 09, 2023
SpeciesDay's CountMonth TotalSeason Total
Black Vulture000
Turkey Vulture3184494
Osprey22626
Bald Eagle0441
Northern Harrier12246
Sharp-shinned Hawk63555
Cooper's Hawk0415
Northern Goshawk000
Red-shouldered Hawk1841
Broad-winged Hawk011
Red-tailed Hawk0859
Rough-legged Hawk000
Golden Eagle000
American Kestrel95159
Merlin007
Peregrine Falcon023
Unknown Accipiter113
Unknown Buteo000
Unknown Falcon011
Unknown Eagle000
Unknown Raptor002
Total:23347853


Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 8 hours
Official CounterZane Baker
Observers: Dave Fensore, Derek Lovitch, Dick Baker, Jeannette Lovitch, Nate Johnson, Rich Fortin



Visitors:
Easter Sunday brought a whole lot of people to the park today. There was a constant exchange of people coming and going from the summit today. I received many good questions from lots of people and was happy to share my scope with some very enthusiastic kids who seemed to have a proclivity for using the scope.

Weather:
Today was pretty great for spending the day outside, in my opinion. Temps were cool and crisp this morning but quickly climbed, reaching a high of 51, in the shade that is. Only a couple of pin dots for clouds which didn't stick around for long. Winds remained pretty light and comfortable with the occasion small gust, strong enough to snag some papers. Unfortunately for hawkcounting sake the direction started out from the N and remained mostly NW. Visibility was limited by heat shimmer and interrupted for a period of time with the unfortunate occurrence of a house fire not far in front of the mountain. Dark thick smoke blocked part of our view to the SE. Hopefully everyone is safe

Raptor Observations:
Another day of difficult spotting with no clouds to create some contrast, however I don't think we missed much as even local birds remained quiet. The air felt like a bit of a ghost town at times. Birds were spread pretty evenly throughout the day with a little bump in Kestrels shortly after noon. Most birds remained well away from the mountain.

Non-raptor Observations:
One of the slowest passerine days I think I've had this season. 22 Geese were spotted moving N early and there were about 25 Tree Swallows moving by throughout the day. I didn't even see a Blackbird and only a couple Robins were seen, moving south. I did have a first-of-year Ruby-crowned Kinglet as I arrived making a raucous commotion. 23 species were seen or heard today.

Predictions:
I have been horribly wrong recently with my next day predictions but if I keep repeating myself I'm bound to be right at some point. Tomorrow looks promising. Our beloved SW winds look like they may start early this evening and persist during the count period tomorrow. It could be a difficult day of spotting with little to no clouds but it should be warm, almost 60. Maybe we'll have a couple more first-of-year birds for the species list at least.


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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