[Maine-birds] Fw: Bradbury Mountain State Park (15 Apr 2024) 244 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 15, 2024
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	6	344	617
Osprey	45	298	299
Bald Eagle	0	11	33
Northern Harrier	23	108	120
Sharp-shinned Hawk	26	205	223
Cooper's Hawk	0	8	20
American Goshawk	1	1	1
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	8	30
Broad-winged Hawk	66	237	237
Red-tailed Hawk	2	15	45
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	68	201	201
Merlin	3	12	18
Peregrine Falcon	0	1	2
Unknown Accipiter	0	5	5
Unknown Buteo	1	3	3
Unknown Falcon	2	7	8
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	1	7	7
Total:	244	1471	1869

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	8 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Ben Fortin, Dave Fensore, Dick Baker, Jen Baker, Jim Pinfold, Rich Fortin, Rick Hartzell

Visitors:
17 visitors to the summit along with an enthusiastic young birder who got the hang of working a scope pretty quickly.

Weather:
Today was very nice with a little bit of a mix of conditions. The skies were clear at the start of the count with hardly a cloud in the sky. The sun was shinning bright and it was very warm in the sun. Winds were light and quickly shifted from SSW to W for the first half. By midday more clouds moved in and brought a few raindrops. Winds began to shift around a bit and brought in some cool ocean air from the SSE before changing back to the W. Temps warmed, cooled and warmed up again. By the final hour we were under cloudy skies and the rain had knocked some of the heat out of the ground providing excellent visibilty.

Raptor Observations:
The start of the day was slow and we wondered if we were not detecting birds against a blue sky backdrop. It didn't seem like it, as there just wasn't much activity to bee seen anywhere. The real action didn't begin until the first rain had started to approach, with birds moving out ahead. Mid afternoon was very active and birds were coming through in waves. The sky would be filled with birds, scattered about, then quiet down before the next push. Kestrels were the bird of the day, and at one point we had a stack of them in a small thin thermal, highlighted by the sun. Osprey's were often moving through in pairs, as they sometimes do, and we had a great look at four of them as they passed in metered time. It was like deja vu all over again.

Non-raptor Observations:
Another quiet passerine day with no new species. More Cormorants are showing up and today was the first bigger flight of Tree Swallows we have seen, with 55 flying by. We had a Boeing Raven, missing some aileron but managing to stay aloft and do Raven-y things.

Predictions:
Another warm day in the upper 50's with NW winds staying light, I hope. Cloud cover may be minimal which will make spotting a little tricky if there is a lot moving through. Were getting into the peak time for migration so I suspect we'll have some birds to see tomorrow.

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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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