[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (24 Apr 2018) 674 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 24, 2018
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	360	564
Osprey	19	239	239
Bald Eagle	0	18	73
Northern Harrier	7	67	70
Sharp-shinned Hawk	58	261	282
Cooper's Hawk	1	35	56
Northern Goshawk	0	2	5
Red-shouldered Hawk	1	28	74
Broad-winged Hawk	467	1106	1106
Red-tailed Hawk	2	77	180
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	112	212	221
Merlin	3	26	29
Peregrine Falcon	0	1	1
Unknown Accipiter	0	4	5
Unknown Buteo	0	4	5
Unknown Falcon	0	1	1
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	4	11	13
Total:	674	2452	2924

Observation start time:	07:00:00
Observation end time:	17:00:00
Total observation time:	8.75 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Dave Fensore, Dave Gulick, Derek Lovitch, Jeannette Lovitch, Levi Burford, Mathew Gilbert

Visitors:
9 visitors today. Thank you to everyone who helped spot with me. I'm glad people who have been coming up were rewarded with a good flight.

Weather:
I was finally greeted with conditions I had been daydreaming about for a while now. Winds were light for most of the day, and blowing from the S and SW, precisely the direction we've been lacking this season. High temps were just shy of 70 degrees. Clouds were high, thin and a little scattered, allowing for plenty of sunshine to reach the ground for thermal production. By the late afternoon winds had shifted to more S and SSE, with greatly increased wind speeds. The high winds may have reduced thermals, and created more effort for birds, which may be why we saw a big reduction in numbers during the later hours.

Raptor Observations:
A big day! I may not have showed it while on the summit, but I was super excited with how the day played out. Birds were all over the sky, the majority of which were Broad-wings, Sharpies, and Kestrels, a personal favorite. Local birds were milling about, especially a pair of Cooper's Hawks, who gave us some great displays at the end of the day. Two Broad-wings locked talons and tumbled towards the ground, disappearing behind a ridge-line. I had never seen this behavior from Broad-wings before. I couldn't tell if it was a male and female, or possibly two males in a good old fashioned dust-up. A low and close Merlin was a nice treat in the earlier part of the day.

Non-raptor Observations:
A few more passerines were on the move today, but with the abundance of raptors, it is highly likely I missed some. A First-of-season Purple Martin flew over the summit around midday. Birds deemed migrating included: 152 Common Grackles 49 Double-crested Cormorants 34 Blackbird Spp. 10 Tree Swallows 9 Cananda Geese 6 Barn Swallows

Predictions:
Onshore winds from the SE will keep temps much lower than today. Wind speeds are predicted to be around 10 mph, from the S, shifting to more SE as the day progresses. Skies should be cloudy, with rain moving in, becoming heavier towards the afternoon.

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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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