[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (07 Apr 2019) 63 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 07, 2019
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	9	104	444
Osprey	6	14	15
Bald Eagle	2	11	56
Northern Harrier	4	13	19
Sharp-shinned Hawk	16	31	46
Cooper's Hawk	6	14	33
Northern Goshawk	0	0	1
Red-shouldered Hawk	5	10	63
Broad-winged Hawk	0	0	0
Red-tailed Hawk	6	23	117
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	2
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	5	16	42
Merlin	2	2	7
Peregrine Falcon	1	1	2
Unknown Accipiter	0	1	2
Unknown Buteo	0	1	3
Unknown Falcon	1	1	3
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	1	2
Total:	63	243	857

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	8 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Dave Fensore, Dave Gulick, Derek Lovitch, Jeannette Lovitch, Mathew Gilbert, Tom Downing

Visitors:
Another busy day for the park. Lots of day hikers came and went over the eight hour count period. 30 people stopped and chatted about the project today.

Weather:
Today was another fair weather day atop The Brad, with a lot more T-shirts and a few pairs of shorts, and the first day I didn't need ice cleats. Temps were comfortable, in the 50s. The day started with dense cloud cover pushing in from the NW, blocking early thermal development, but began to break apart in the mid afternoon, revealing more sunshine which is when we hit our highest temp of 56. Winds were very light and a little variable, and we never saw a transition of W to S to SE winds as predicted. Visibility was good and the mix of clouds provided good spotting conditions.

Raptor Observations:
Another day of lower than expected numbers. Probably nothing of great concern and most likely a result of weather, but still a little frustrating when people come up hoping to see birds on a day that looks so good. The first birds of the day, while it was still cloudy and calm were a few Falcons in powered flight flying low and straight. Birds were pretty scattered around the sky today without any direct wind currents to help corral birds into a defined flight line. Today was the first day the birds were being spotted way above our heads, clearly finding and using thermals. It was fun to watch a Sharp-shinned Hawk come in low to the summit and ride a thermal straight up overhead until it became a small black dot in binoculars.

Non-raptor Observations:
A few more species were were seen or heard from the mountain top compared to the past few days but nothing new for the season. During the final hour of the count three large birds came in from the southwest flying in perfect formation, reminiscent of a military airshow display. The birds were large and a little back-lit but the legs were clearly trailing behind. The angle of approach made it tough to determine if the necks were extended or retracted like a Great Blue Heron. As they banked it was clear the necks were extended, and we had ourselves three more Sandhill Cranes. As they got closer the red caps on their heads could be seen quite clearly. The birds circled a few times before slowly drifting to the NE.

Predictions:
Gross. That about sums it up, if the predictions are correct. The looks like it will be filled with rain and possibly some snow. Temps will drop back into the high 30s and winds will be from the east. However last week when I didn't think I'd be up there, we ended up having a pretty pleasant and productive day. So...?

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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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