[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (14 Apr 2017) 43 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 14, 2017
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	1	1
Turkey Vulture	1	251	511
Osprey	11	201	201
Bald Eagle	0	23	58
Northern Harrier	1	142	146
Sharp-shinned Hawk	3	266	278
Cooper's Hawk	1	34	42
Northern Goshawk	0	4	6
Red-shouldered Hawk	2	72	120
Broad-winged Hawk	16	192	192
Red-tailed Hawk	2	80	142
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	4	312	313
Merlin	0	23	24
Peregrine Falcon	0	1	2
Unknown Accipiter	1	4	4
Unknown Buteo	1	2	3
Unknown Falcon	0	1	1
Unknown Eagle	0	1	1
Unknown Raptor	0	10	14
Total:	43	1620	2059

Observation start time:	07:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	8.75 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Aja Lesault, Brad Meiklejohn, Chanda Vashiteva, Dave Gulick, Eric Graffam, Mike Chace

Visitors:
The beautiful weather, plus an approaching holiday brought more people to the mountain than the average weekday. This morning I was happy to have the help of a young enthusiastic birder who had two of the best eyes of anyone to come up the hill. This youngster could spot birds with his naked eyes, while the rest of us could hardly find them using optics. His help was greatly appreciated, along with the other people who stuck with me on such a tough day for spotting. Also, I received my first baked potato today. Still hot too!

Weather:
There was no hiding from the sun today. Hardly a cloud in the sky for the majority of the day. Winds were slightly stronger than predicted, with the occasional gust scattering loose papers across the summit. Wind direction was mostly from the north-northwest except for a few periods of time when it switched to the northeast. Temps climbed into the mid 50's.

Raptor Observations:
Raptors were tough to find during the morning hours. I was pondering whether birds remained grounded or if I was missing them high overhead, in the vast blue sky. After more help arrived to help me scan, it was apparent there were not as many migrants today as I would have expected. Local birds were active, including our resident Goshawk who was soaring high above the summit. The afternoon hours brought more birds, but not the late day push other observers were hoping to see.

Non-raptor Observations:
Tree swallows zipped past the mountain in a relatively steady and evenly dispersed fashion throughout the day, with hopeful eyes wishing the small birds were distant falcons. 59 Tree swallows in total passed by. Not a massive number by any means, but certainly today's most abundant species.

Predictions:
Tomorrow looks like another nice day, with partly cloudy skies and temps in the low to mid 60's. Winds should be from the south-southwest and wind speeds could be between 10-20mph. I don't feel as though my predictions have been very accurate lately, but if I had to call my shot, I would say that, given the predicted temps, wind direction, and time of year, tomorrow could very likely be a big day. With such a strong tail wind, birds may be coming in fast and furious.

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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