[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (27 Apr 2018) 36 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 27, 2018
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	360	564
Osprey	5	255	255
Bald Eagle	0	18	73
Northern Harrier	1	71	74
Sharp-shinned Hawk	12	288	309
Cooper's Hawk	2	42	63
Northern Goshawk	1	3	6
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	28	74
Broad-winged Hawk	9	1171	1171
Red-tailed Hawk	0	78	181
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	3	218	227
Merlin	2	28	31
Peregrine Falcon	0	2	2
Unknown Accipiter	1	5	6
Unknown Buteo	0	5	6
Unknown Falcon	0	1	1
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	13	15
Total:	36	2586	3058

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	15:00:00
Total observation time:	6.83 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Dave Fensore, Derek Lovitch

Visitors:
17 Visitors today.

Weather:
It was borderline hot, and a little muggy when I arrived this morning. The sun was shinning bright onto the summit, despite the sky being mostly cloudy with Cirrus clouds. Winds were calm, from the SW, but slowly transitioned to the S, eventually coming around the SE and increasing in speed. Clouds became more densely packed and darker as the rain approached from the S. Temps began to fall rapidly as the rain got closer and wind off the ocean increased. The count ended about an hour earlier than scheduled due to rainfall.

Raptor Observations:
Lots of local birds were out and about in the calm air this morning: Turkey Vultures, Eagles, Broad-wings, and Cooper's Hawks. Multiple pairs of Broad-wings were continually spotted displaying, muddying the waters when it came to picking out the migrants. The first immature Northern Goshawk was spotted by Derek Lovitch, mid morning.

Non-raptor Observations:
Upon my arrival to the summit, I was greeted by an Eastern Towhee in some Juniper bushes. The bird hung around, scratching through the leaf-litter for a good portion of the day. Other first-of-season birds included: 1 Rusty Blackbird 1 Blue-headed Vireo 1 Scarlet Tanager

Predictions:
Tomorrow is the start of the annual Feathers Over Freeport event, and the weather looks decent to kick things off.Clouds may be present in the morning, slowly diminishing during the day, before increasing again. Winds should remain light, starting out from the SW and shifting to SSE by the end of the count period. Temps could climb into the high 50's.

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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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