[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (21 Apr 2018) 121 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park

Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 21, 2018
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	358	562
Osprey	25	176	176
Bald Eagle	0	15	70
Northern Harrier	1	48	51
Sharp-shinned Hawk	8	162	183
Cooper's Hawk	0	30	51
Northern Goshawk	0	2	5
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	26	72
Broad-winged Hawk	78	261	261
Red-tailed Hawk	2	74	177
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	5	57	66
Merlin	1	15	18
Peregrine Falcon	0	1	1
Unknown Accipiter	0	4	5
Unknown Buteo	1	2	3
Unknown Falcon	0	1	1
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	5	7
Total:	121	1237	1709

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	8 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Don Thompson, Julie Krasne

Visitors:
45 people stopped at the hawkwatch, while many more loitered at the summit. At one point, the human chatter abruptly stopped, and all the visitors at the summit, about a dozen or so, were lying face up, eyes closed. The sudden silence was striking, and I quickly scanned the group for matching Nikes and purple blankets. I came to the conclusion it was just a good day to lay in the sun.

Weather:
Strong winds continued to sweep over the summit today, with speeds much stronger than the mid teens predicted. Winds were mostly northwest, which meant a little less protection from the tall pines to the north. Scope shaking, along with some heat distortion from the more abundant sun, made some distant ID's more of a challenge. The bright sun felt great, and brought temps rose up to about the mid fifties by the end of the day.

Raptor Observations:
We'er still waiting for the kettles of Broad-wings, so often talked about at hawkwatches. Not a bad day by any means; but, given the lack of close birds, the day felt slower than what the data shows.Broad-wings have mostly been arriving solo or in pairs. Raptors were quite spread out today, with no flight lines developing. Most birds were spotted high and far, with the exception of a couple Broad-wings and two Kestrels. One Osprey decided to go out of its way to harass an Eagle who seemed to be minding its own business. The final 4 hours of the count brought 11 birds each hour.

Non-raptor Observations:
40 Double-crested Cormorants, 37 Trees Swallows, and 2 Common Mergansers were spotted flying north. A first-of-season Northern Rough-winged Swallow was spotted today, also traveling north.

Predictions:
Tomorrow is shaping up to be a pleasant day. High should be a little warmer than today. Possibly getting close 60 degrees. Winds are still predicted to be from the northwest, but much lighter. We'll see. Cloud cover should be very minimal, or non existent in the area.

---

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]

---