[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (14 May 2018) 11 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: May 14, 2018
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	0	564
Osprey	3	63	338
Bald Eagle	0	1	76
Northern Harrier	0	6	84
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1	125	467
Cooper's Hawk	0	8	77
Northern Goshawk	0	2	8
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	4	80
Broad-winged Hawk	3	395	1623
Red-tailed Hawk	0	6	190
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	0	78	320
Merlin	1	19	55
Peregrine Falcon	3	7	9
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:	11	727	3933

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

Visitors:
12 visitors today.

Weather:
It was a cloudy start to the second to last day of the count. Right around noon time, the sky started to break apart, and small areas of blue sky developed. For most of the afternoon the summit was awash in sunshine. Cirrus clouds did creep back in during the final hour, but didn't make much of an impact on the temperature. Air temps reached just into the 60s for a high, but the onshore breeze, from the SE did keep it feeling a bit cooler. The winds remained mostly from the SE today. We didn't see much of SW I mentioned in yesterdays report.

Raptor Observations:
Well, we're still shy of our ten year average, and today didn't make much of a dent in terms of getting much closer, but, it was another 3 Peregrine day. Either Dave Fensore is a Peregrine magnet, or it had something to do with the SE winds. Hmm? He spotted two of the three birds which would have been easy to miss. One of them came in low, in front of the mountain before stopping to circle up, and shoot of to the north. The second bird was spotted due to watching a Raven flying away from the mountain. The Peregrine was barley noticeable in the distance at first, until it got very close. The angle of the sun, above and behind the bird, made for poor lighting conditions, plus the bird had its wings pulled in slightly, making it appear more compact than it really is. Once it passed overhead it became quite apparent as to what the make and model was. This bird also spent a little time circle above us before it shot off to the NE. The third Peregrine was here and gone pretty quickly. Luckily, I was facing NW, and caught a glimpse of a dark silhouette against the afternoon Cirrus, ripping across the sky. I saw the pointed wings through my binoculars, and got excited, but I didn't want to jump to conclusions too fast. I was able to get the bird in my scope just long enough to confirm it was indeed our third Peregrine. This time I'll be certain to enter the numbers correctly. In other news, a Broad-wing was doing it's best Red-tail impersonation, trying to kite in the stiff onshore breeze. I give it an A for effort and a B+ for execution. It was very close.

Non-raptor Observations:
36 species were seen or heard from the summit today. Unfortunately no new arrivals to speak of. Birds deemed migrating north included: 12 Tree Swallows 9 American Goldfinch 7 Double-crested Cormorants 5 Barn Swallows 4 Red-winged Blackbirds 3 Warbler Spp. 1 Chimney Swift 1 Common Loon 1 Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Predictions:
Tomorrow is the final day of the 2018 season, and it has the potential to end in a similar fashion to last year, with a little rain. The day may start off with a little fog, and temps in the 50s. Clouds should remain in place for most of the day, and the precipitation potential increases as the day goes on. Winds should be from the SW for most of the day, at around 10 mph. Were running out of time to spot all of the immature Broad-wings we were expecting, but the fight's not over just yet.

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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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