[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (12 May 2015) 57 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: May 12, 2015
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	0	374
Osprey	13	71	376
Bald Eagle	10	28	100
Northern Harrier	0	13	101
Sharp-shinned Hawk	11	176	602
Cooper's Hawk	0	20	85
Northern Goshawk	0	0	4
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	0	104
Broad-winged Hawk	19	413	1155
Red-tailed Hawk	0	23	235
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	3
Golden Eagle	0	0	1
American Kestrel	2	83	304
Merlin	2	34	72
Peregrine Falcon	0	3	8
Unknown Accipiter	0	3	19
Unknown Buteo	0	0	10
Unknown Falcon	0	0	3
Unknown Eagle	0	0	1
Unknown Raptor	0	4	12
Total:	57	871	3569

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	8 hours
Official Counter	Derek Lovitch, Jeannette Lovitch
Observers:

Visitors:
12 people visited the hawkwatch today.

Weather:
It was the tale of two days today. Although the count started on time, fog greatly reduced visibility for the first hour and 15min of the day. As it lifted, hazy skies and a coastal fog bank limited visibility. But even as the clouds lifted and light southerly winds picked up, there was very little happening. Then, at 1pm EDT, a light southwesterly developed, and with a cold front and associated thunderstorms approaching, birds took advantage of the pleasant conditions, and a very good May total was amassed.

Raptor Observations:
After only 4 raptors were tallied in the first half of the count, a total of 57 passed by the summit. Local Broad-winged Hawks were very active all day. The total of 10 "countable" Bald Eagles (all first or second cycle) was a spectacular count for this late in May.

Non-raptor Observations:
A fantastic 51 species were recorded from the watch today, including an Indigo Bunting hanging out at the summit and a Wood Thrush singing in the woods. Blackburnian Warblers spent much of the morning fighting over territorial boundaries. Other species deemed migrating: 112 Tree Swallows 80 Blue Jays 79 Double-crested Cormorants 15 Chimney Swifts 7 Ruby-throated Hummingbird 5 American Goldfinches 3 Barn Swallows 1 Common Merganser 1 Cliff Swallow 1 Eastern Kingbird

Predictions:
Strong NW winds behind the cold front may gust to 20-30mph. It should begin to diminish in the later afternoon, and with some sun, perhaps we can get a few birds on the move. Then again, this NW could push those kites that have been riding these southerlies to the coast! Three days left in the count, and Andrew is clawing his way towards a higher count (currently the second lowest official count) so he could use some extra eyes up there in the coming days! At the very least come up to say hello and enjoy the birdy summit of The Brad.

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Report submitted by Jeannette Lovitch (freeportwildbird@yahoo.com)
Bradbury Mountain State Park information may be found at: www.freeportwildbirdsupply.com/hawkwatch.asp