[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (17 Apr 2024) 321 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 17, 2024
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	355	628
Osprey	9	317	318
Bald Eagle	2	14	36
Northern Harrier	2	111	123
Sharp-shinned Hawk	43	264	282
Cooper's Hawk	1	10	22
American Goshawk	0	1	1
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	8	30
Broad-winged Hawk	237	626	626
Red-tailed Hawk	2	18	48
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	17	254	254
Merlin	3	15	21
Peregrine Falcon	0	1	2
Unknown Accipiter	1	6	6
Unknown Buteo	0	4	4
Unknown Falcon	0	8	9
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	4	13	13
Total:	321	2025	2423

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, Dave Fensore, Dick Baker, Jeannette Lovitch, Jen Baker, Jim Pinfold, Rich Fortin

Visitors:
19 visitors. For the curious few, I have not heard anyone mention seeing the strange object over Freeport a few days ago. Still a mystery.

Weather:
It was a similar day as yesterday but a little on the chilly side at times. Skies were clear at the beginning of the day and started to fill in with some high cirrus mid morning before clearing out again. Clouds returned for the last couple hours of the count. A light breeze hit almost every point on the compass today but was predominately coming from a westerly direction. Visibility was good

Raptor Observations:
Birds were hard to spot in the morning with no cloud cover and many of them were only seen with a scope, again. As the high clouds came through and the winds shifted slightly we began to get a pretty good flight going. Birds were still high and far for the most part but the clouds provided much needed contrast for our eyes. A few flight lines did seem apparent and there were a few small kettles to be found. This made for much easier ID's and counting compared to previous days with birds scattered everywhere. One highlight today was an Eagle making a good effort to attack a Broad-wing. It was hard to say if contact was made.

Non-raptor Observations:
Another light and almost nonexistent passerine flight. I keep seeing a lot of blackbirds around ponds and fields in the neighboring areas but they aren't moving by the mountain. We did have a couple new species for the season show up, which were Palm and Yellow-rumped Warblers.

Predictions:
Tomorrow may be another chilly day to be standing stationary on the summit, with a breeze out of the NNE and ESE. Temps will be a little cooler than today and may not break 50. A mix of clouds and sun is likely. Hopefully the winds stay very light and we get some birds moving N.

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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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