[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (19 Mar 2024) 5 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 19, 2024
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	3	178	178
Osprey	0	0	0
Bald Eagle	2	15	15
Northern Harrier	0	7	7
Sharp-shinned Hawk	0	10	10
Cooper's Hawk	0	11	11
American Goshawk	0	0	0
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	18	18
Broad-winged Hawk	0	0	0
Red-tailed Hawk	0	21	21
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	0	0	0
Merlin	0	1	1
Peregrine Falcon	0	1	1
Unknown Accipiter	0	0	0
Unknown Buteo	0	0	0
Unknown Falcon	0	1	1
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	0	0
Total:	5	263	263

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	8 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Biz Houghton, Jeannette Lovitch

Visitors:
There were 13 visitors today with the highlight being a marriage proposal with decoy photographers ready to capture the reactions. It was a yes!

Weather:
The NW winds were not as strong as predicted, with only occasional gusts and lots of periods of calm air. I think the trees helped to shelter us somewhat. The sun was strong and made for comfortable conditions to be standing stationary. Cloud cover was minimal. Visibility was okay but there was some severe heat shimmer at times.

Raptor Observations:
It was a pretty quiet day in terms of migration and also local bird activity. The most action I saw was from 8 Bald Eagles chasing each other, some pairing up and attempting to lock talons. After a long period of inactivity 3 Red-tails had a tiff with one another, putting in some serious effort diving and chasing after the other.

Non-raptor Observations:
There wasn't much movement taking place this morning with most of the sights and sounds coming from the trees around the parking area and in front of the mountain, sheltered from the wind. Pine Siskins are still pretty active. A flyover from a Red Crossbill added a nice splash of color in the morning light.

Predictions:
I'm not quite sure what to think about tomorrow. The SW winds, which may gust, sound promising but there is a chance of precipitation also. If the rain occurs in the later half of the day it may help push birds out ahead. It is still early without a ton of stuff in the immediate pipeline but I feel good we'll do better than today.

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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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