[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (19 Apr 2016) 114 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 19, 2016
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	38	260
Osprey	30	241	243
Bald Eagle	2	10	56
Northern Harrier	8	43	60
Sharp-shinned Hawk	26	228	267
Cooper's Hawk	0	13	57
Northern Goshawk	0	0	2
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	20	69
Broad-winged Hawk	40	362	363
Red-tailed Hawk	1	39	222
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	5	132	167
Merlin	2	8	12
Peregrine Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Accipiter	0	1	4
Unknown Buteo	0	3	8
Unknown Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	7	13
Total:	114	1145	1803

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	16:15:00
Total observation time:	7.25 hours
Official Counter	Derek Lovitch, Jeannette Lovitch
Observers:	Jeannette Lovitch

Visitors:
27 people visited the hawkwatch today, including a spring break class from Portland's Ripple Effect that asked some great questions!

Weather:
Low clouds and intermittent fog dogged the first three hours of the count. Slow partial clearing on light northeasterly winds. Winds became light and variable, before another disturbance rotated through, generating occasional light showers between 2:15 and 4:30 EDT. A gusty northwesterly wind and clearing skies followed for the last 45 minutes of the count.

Raptor Observations:
After no migrants were notes for the first three and a half hours of the count, two bursts of birds added up. The first burst occurred between the lifting ceiling and the developing showers, while another light burst of birds followed the last of the rain showers. Adult Bald Eagles were particularly active in the afternoon, and local Turkey Vultures were doing their best impressions of migrants.

Non-raptor Observations:
47 species were seen and/or heard from the hawkwatch today, including 29 southbound Bohemian Waxwings that passed right over the summit in the morning.

Species deemed migrating:

96 Double-crested Cormorants

30 Common Grackles

21 Yellow-rumped Warblers (half in late day "onward migration" flight just ahead of rain showers).

18 American Robins

8 Tree Swallows

5 Great Blue Herons

5 warbler sp.

2 Northern Flickers

1 Killdeer

1 Belted Kingfisher

1 Barn Swallow

1 Palm Warbler

1 Pine Siskin

1 American Goldfinch

Predictions:
As a weak front clears the area, winds should gust a bit out of the northwest. However, skies should be mostly clear, and if the winds don't get too strong, we should see a fair amount of birds - it's April 20th afterall, and birds have got to go on more than just perfect conditions (like today).

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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