[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (23 Mar 2018) 15 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 23, 2018
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	40	40
Osprey	0	0	0
Bald Eagle	3	34	34
Northern Harrier	0	0	0
Sharp-shinned Hawk	0	0	0
Cooper's Hawk	2	14	14
Northern Goshawk	1	3	3
Red-shouldered Hawk	1	4	4
Broad-winged Hawk	0	0	0
Red-tailed Hawk	8	27	27
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	0	0	0
Merlin	0	1	1
Peregrine Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Accipiter	0	1	1
Unknown Buteo	0	0	0
Unknown Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	0	0
Total:	15	124	124

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	8 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Dave Fensore

Visitors:
13 visitors today.

Weather:
It was a gorgeous day at the summit of Bradbury today. This was the first time I've had a short sleeve shirt on, to allow for some gradual sun exposure. Temps were comfortable at about 40 degrees. Wind remained light, mostly from the north. Cloud cover increased throughout the day, remaining high and translucent.

Raptor Observations:
Eagles appeared suddenly, around mid morning, and remained out in front of the mountain for the rest of the day. A few Eagles passed by, but a group of eight lingered, mixing together, chasing each other, courting and on one occasion, locked talons and spiraled around a few times before disengaging. Iv'e only witnessed that display once before from this site. It was pretty impressive. We had a good look at a Red-shouldered hawk in the afternoon light, as it circled it's way to the northeast. With five minutes left on the clock, a Northern Goshawk was spotted high and to the northwest as it disappeared behind a stand of pine trees. Sorry Raphael.

Non-raptor Observations:
Not as many non raptor species as I had hoped for today. A total of 21 species were seen or heard from the summit, non of which were new for the season.

Predictions:
A cold front pushing down from the north should make for a mostly cloudy day, with a chance of rain showers in the afternoon. Temps should be similar to today. Wind may still be north, and blowing slightly harder than today, at around 10 mph. Rainfall isn't predicted to start until later in the day, and accumulation should be very low. Currently I think it will be a full day of hawk counting. I hope the Eagles put on a similar show for the bigger weekend crowds.

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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
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]

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