Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA
Visitors:
8
Weather:
For the second day in a row, what sounded like a near-total washout was anything but. Other than very light rain between 11:25-12:00pm, and a few sprinkles later, precipitation developed off to our west. Unfortunately, the wind forecast was spot on, with SE winds becoming E by day's end but remaining light.
Raptor Observations:
It wasn't the best day for hawk counting, but it was a fantastic afternoon for hawk watching. Local birds were exceptionally active in the pm, with lots of Broad-winged Hawk displays, courtship flights, and calls. Bald Eagles were everywhere (up to three pairs in view on several occasions), including a pair perched for at least 30 minutes along the ridge line of Little Bradbury. A 4th-cycle eagle pursued a fish-toting Osprey for nearly 10 minutes. When it looked like the eagle had given up, the Osprey began to return towards the coast, only to have the same eagle reappear and resume it's pursuit. The Osprey had enough and the eagle's kleptoparasitism was successful. Local Red-tailed Hawks were active all day, and Jeannette had the local Red-shouldered Hawk in the morning.
Non-raptor Observations:
32 species were seen and/or heard from the summit, including a dueting, barking, and "monkey-calling" pair of Barred Owls. Other species deemed migrating were limited to: 53 Double-crested Cormorants 2 Common Loons 1 Barn Swallow 1 Tree Swallow
Predictions:
Tomorrow's word of the day is "improvement." Light northwest winds are supposed to turn to the southwest by mid-morning according to one forecast, but taking until the early afternoon according to another. Regardless, they will remain light and not from the east. Temperatures will return to the mid to upper 50's as well. The day will be better than the last two, but how much better will be dictated by the timing of the wind change.
Report submitted by Jeannette Lovitch (freeportwildbird@yahoo.com)
Bradbury Mountain State Park information may be found at: www.freeportwildbirdsupply.com/bradbury-mountain-hawkwatch
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]
Pownal, Maine, USA
| Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 30, 2018 | |||
| Species | Day's Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Black Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 360 | 564 |
| Osprey | 8 | 275 | 275 |
| Bald Eagle | 0 | 20 | 75 |
| Northern Harrier | 2 | 75 | 78 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 1 | 321 | 342 |
| Cooper's Hawk | 0 | 48 | 69 |
| Northern Goshawk | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Red-shouldered Hawk | 0 | 30 | 76 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 5 | 1228 | 1228 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 81 | 184 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Golden Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| American Kestrel | 3 | 233 | 242 |
| Merlin | 1 | 33 | 36 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Unknown Accipiter | 0 | 6 | 7 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 5 | 6 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 13 | 15 |
| Total: | 20 | 2734 | 3206 |
| Observation start time: | 08:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 16:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 8 hours |
| Official Counter | Derek Lovitch, Jeannette Lovitch |
| Observers: |
Visitors:
8
Weather:
For the second day in a row, what sounded like a near-total washout was anything but. Other than very light rain between 11:25-12:00pm, and a few sprinkles later, precipitation developed off to our west. Unfortunately, the wind forecast was spot on, with SE winds becoming E by day's end but remaining light.
Raptor Observations:
It wasn't the best day for hawk counting, but it was a fantastic afternoon for hawk watching. Local birds were exceptionally active in the pm, with lots of Broad-winged Hawk displays, courtship flights, and calls. Bald Eagles were everywhere (up to three pairs in view on several occasions), including a pair perched for at least 30 minutes along the ridge line of Little Bradbury. A 4th-cycle eagle pursued a fish-toting Osprey for nearly 10 minutes. When it looked like the eagle had given up, the Osprey began to return towards the coast, only to have the same eagle reappear and resume it's pursuit. The Osprey had enough and the eagle's kleptoparasitism was successful. Local Red-tailed Hawks were active all day, and Jeannette had the local Red-shouldered Hawk in the morning.
Non-raptor Observations:
32 species were seen and/or heard from the summit, including a dueting, barking, and "monkey-calling" pair of Barred Owls. Other species deemed migrating were limited to: 53 Double-crested Cormorants 2 Common Loons 1 Barn Swallow 1 Tree Swallow
Predictions:
Tomorrow's word of the day is "improvement." Light northwest winds are supposed to turn to the southwest by mid-morning according to one forecast, but taking until the early afternoon according to another. Regardless, they will remain light and not from the east. Temperatures will return to the mid to upper 50's as well. The day will be better than the last two, but how much better will be dictated by the timing of the wind change.
Report submitted by Jeannette Lovitch (freeportwildbird@yahoo.com)
Bradbury Mountain State Park information may be found at: www.freeportwildbirdsupply.com/bradbury-mountain-hawkwatch
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]
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