[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (29 Mar 2018) 73 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 29, 2018
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	39	182	182
Osprey	0	0	0
Bald Eagle	3	49	49
Northern Harrier	2	2	2
Sharp-shinned Hawk	6	13	13
Cooper's Hawk	1	21	21
Northern Goshawk	0	3	3
Red-shouldered Hawk	9	44	44
Broad-winged Hawk	0	0	0
Red-tailed Hawk	13	90	90
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	0	1	1
Merlin	0	2	2
Peregrine Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Accipiter	0	1	1
Unknown Buteo	0	1	1
Unknown Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	1	1
Total:	73	410	410

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	8 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Derek Lovitch, Lionel Quirion, Susan Rowe

Visitors:
14 people stopped by the hawkwatch today, including some very interested biology students.

Weather:
Today was about as warm as predicted, but a very light SE breeze coming off the Atlantic gave the air a slight chill. There were a few periods of direct sun on the summit, as cloud cover shifted around. By the final hour, the edge of a weather system approaching from the W darkened the sky, bringing with it some damp air.

Raptor Observations:
Another pretty good day of raptor migration. A little past midday saw the bigger flights. Today bought our first Northern Harrier of the season. The bird was spotted high, to the east, slowly and buoyantly plodding along. Turkey Vultures had a bit of a rally this afternoon, coming through in small groups of 5 to 8, maybe feeling compelled to get ahead of the approaching rain.

Non-raptor Observations:
Birds deemed migrating to the north included: 486 Blackbird spp. 372 Canada Geese 14 American Crows 13 European Starlings 11 Mallard/Black Duck spp. 7 Common Mergansers 5 Killdeer 4 Eastern Bluebirds 1 Ring-billed Gull

Predictions:
A cold front should be moving out tomorrow morning along with some precipitation. Fog could be an issue in the morning, as warmer air sweeps over the colder ground. Clouds may diminish slightly throughout the day, and temps could climb back to the 50's. Wind direction is looking pretty good currently, from the SW at 8-10mph. Hopefully things clear out on the early side, and there are some birds waiting behind the weather.

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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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