[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (18 Mar 2016) 85 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 18, 2016
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	9	35	35
Osprey	0	0	0
Bald Eagle	8	22	22
Northern Harrier	0	0	0
Sharp-shinned Hawk	3	6	6
Cooper's Hawk	10	15	15
Northern Goshawk	0	1	1
Red-shouldered Hawk	3	17	17
Broad-winged Hawk	0	0	0
Red-tailed Hawk	51	84	84
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	0	0	0
Merlin	0	0	0
Peregrine Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Accipiter	0	1	1
Unknown Buteo	1	2	2
Unknown Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	0	0
Total:	85	183	183

Observation start time:	07:45:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	8.25 hours
Official Counter	Anna Stunkel
Observers:	Derek Lovitch, Jeannette Lovitch, Rick Hartzell

Visitors:
34 people visited the hawkwatch today.

Weather:
Conditions were much better than predicted, especially during the first hour with clear skies and a light breeze from the southwest. Some clouds moved in and a light shower occurred at around 10 am EST, but precipitation only lasted for about 10 minutes. Winds shifted and became west in the late morning and northwest in the afternoon, with partly cloudy skies after the shower passed.

Raptor Observations:
The hawkwatch was nice and busy this morning, with a total of 39 raptors counted during the first hour and one Sharp-shinned Hawk just before 8:00 am EST. As winds shifted to northwest, migration slowed down. We enjoyed watching the local Bald Eagles and Turkey Vultures floating along on the thermals, along with a few afternoon migrants trickling through. A local Cooper's Hawk was seen displaying several times near Hedgehog Mountain.

Non-raptor Observations:
Many blackbirds and Canada Geese were migrating this morning. Three Horned Larks also passed by. Species deemed migrating:

230 blackbird sp.

205 Canada Geese

172 Common Grackles

26 passerine sp.

26 Red-winged Blackbirds

9 Common Mergansers

6 Brown-headed Cowbirds

5 American Robins

4 duck sp.

4 Purple Finches

3 Horned Larks

2 American Goldfinches

1 Killdeer

1 finch sp

Predictions:
Moderate northwest winds are predicted tomorrow, but with clear skies expected all day we could have a decent count. Temperatures will be more seasonally chilly compared to the last few days, in the mid-thirties.

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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