[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (13 May 2018) 5 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: May 13, 2018
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	0	564
Osprey	1	60	335
Bald Eagle	0	1	76
Northern Harrier	0	6	84
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1	124	466
Cooper's Hawk	0	8	77
Northern Goshawk	0	2	8
Red-shouldered Hawk	1	4	80
Broad-winged Hawk	1	392	1620
Red-tailed Hawk	0	6	190
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	1	78	320
Merlin	0	18	54
Peregrine Falcon	0	4	6
Unknown Accipiter	0	1	8
Unknown Buteo	0	2	8
Unknown Falcon	0	0	1
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	10	25
Total:	5	716	3922

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	8 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Dave Fensore, Jessica Costa

Visitors:
Mother's day was by far the busiest day yet, this season. I would guess a couple hundred people came and went from the summit over the coarse of the day. There were a lot of young inquisitive minds coming by to see what I was doing. 82 people stopped at the watch today.

Weather:
The day started out with dense fog surrounding the summit and poor visibility. Conditions changed rapidly, and the fog started to burn off within the first few minutes of the count. The remainder of the day was bright and sunny, with temperatures in the low 60s. Winds were lighter today, but still from the SE. Visibility was pretty good, with about as much heat distortion as could be expected, given the conditions.

Raptor Observations:
There was a little more raptor activity today, mostly from the local birds. Bald Eagles were all over the place, to the delight of many onlookers. Another Red-shouldered Hawk was spotted this afternoon. This was a young bird, who was gaining altitude in a thermal to the east, not wasting much time before shooting off to the north. A couple Broad-wings came in close to the summit, a few times, giving us something to see, even if they weren't migrants.

Non-raptor Observations:
The non raptor migrants were almost none existent, with only a couple Loons, Swallows, and Swifts being tallied. When I arrived this morning I did hear a first-of-season Canada Warbler. I was also treated to a beautiful first-of-season Indigo Bunting, which perched at eye level in the tree tops just in front of the summit. The Bunting sat there for a couple of minutes, allowing me plenty of time to get a few decent digiscoped photos.

Predictions:
Cloud cover in the morning should give way to some afternoon sun. Temperatures may reach into the 60s again. Wind, which may be blowing at 10-12 mph, is predicted to be coming from our favorite direction, albeit rare for this season, the SW.

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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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