[Maine-birds] Fw: Bradbury Mountain State Park (22 Apr 2024) 2 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 22, 2024
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	355	628
Osprey	1	350	351
Bald Eagle	0	17	39
Northern Harrier	0	120	132
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1	309	327
Cooper's Hawk	0	13	25
American Goshawk	0	1	1
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	8	30
Broad-winged Hawk	0	1077	1077
Red-tailed Hawk	0	19	49
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	0	273	273
Merlin	0	23	29
Peregrine Falcon	0	1	2
Unknown Accipiter	0	7	7
Unknown Buteo	0	4	4
Unknown Falcon	0	9	10
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	14	14
Total:	2	2600	2998

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	8 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Jim Pinfold, Joan Campbell

Visitors:
It was more quiet at the summit with school vacation week behind us. 19 Visitors today.

Weather:
Upon arrival the skies were clear without a cloud in sight and the chilly winds were gusting from an ambiguous direction. Variable winds continued to blow throughout the day but we did have some periods of calm, which was very welcome. The surrounding areas reported very strong NW for most of the day but we were lucky enough to be a little sheltered by the trees. Skies remained clear all day which made for a lot of heat distortion in the landscape when viewed through optics. Temps were on the cool side and just barely reached fifty

Raptor Observations:
The skies were really dead for most of the day. At times I couldn't find a single bird flying. The birds that were up, which was a few locals, remained low to the trees and could be seen getting pushed around by the winds. Of the two birds I counted, I'm a bit skeptical of the Osprey being a migrant and suspect it might have been commuting to a local stream. This was extremely slow for a sunny day in mid April.

Non-raptor Observations:
Same story for songbirds. The summit more closely resembled a day in January with regards to bird sound. Periods of complete silence occurred multiple times throughout the day even during the calm winds. A few Tree Swallows were foraging during a more calm and warm part of the day at the same time I noticed some flying insect surrounding my head. I counted one Yellow-rumped Warbler flying N today.

Predictions:
Tomorrow could be one of those very frustrating days with an unrelenting SSE ocean breeze blowing in your face, making you feeling like Tawny Kitaen shooting a White Snake video, for 8hrs. Temps should be in the low 50's but feeling much cooler with strong gusty winds. Clouds should be minimal. Hopefully there are more birds to be seen than today and maybe some Falcons get pushed in from the coast.

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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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