[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (11 May 2019) 14 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park

Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: May 11, 2019
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	0	573
Osprey	5	46	430
Bald Eagle	0	6	78
Northern Harrier	2	11	150
Sharp-shinned Hawk	4	100	618
Cooper's Hawk	0	8	70
Northern Goshawk	0	0	3
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	1	98
Broad-winged Hawk	0	152	3036
Red-tailed Hawk	0	7	192
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	2
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	1	50	488
Merlin	1	21	82
Peregrine Falcon	0	1	3
Unknown Accipiter	0	2	5
Unknown Buteo	0	3	9
Unknown Falcon	0	1	7
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	1	7	21
Total:	14	416	5865

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	8 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Tom Downing

Visitors:
Even the number of park visitors seemed to be on the low side for a May Saturday with decent weather conditions. Only 34 people came by the watch today.

Weather:
Winds from the north were pretty strong and gusty at times today. There were a few periods of calm, that would last for a couple of minutes before becoming blustery once again. Clouds covered the sky for the first hour of the count, which was the same period of time when visibility was excellent, before the heat distortion set in. Most of the day was partly cloudy with high diffuse clouds, a great hawkwatching sky. Temps rose up to the 60 degree mark by the final hour of the count.

Raptor Observations:
It still seems as though the weather has birds held up to our south. The skies were extremely quiet today, including local activity. A couple Harriers moved north early along with a Sharpy and Kestrel, but after that there were a few hours of not counting any raptors, let alone seeing any. A couple local Red-tails made an occasional appearance along with one or two displaying Broadwings today, but the activity was at a minimum. The afternoon had a few more birds and we eventually broke into double digits. Most birds spotted today were quite far away.

Non-raptor Observations:
A vocalizing Great Crested Flycatcher was the only new addition to the species list today. There were a few birds singing during the morning but the summit became very quiet as the day progressed. Even some of the usual suspects were silent and in hiding. Just before the end of the day there was a sudden and small eruption of Nashville Warblers at the summit. Only about four or five together but considering how quiet it had been, their presence was a cause for excitement.

Predictions:
Tomorrow should be a little more calm than today in terms of wind speed. NNW winds are predicted to shift to the E before settling on SSW for the afternoon hours. Skies may be partly to mostly cloudy with high temperatures in the mid to high 60s. This has been an odd season and difficult to explain, so I don't really have a prediction as to what we might expect for migrants tomorrow. It feels a little mysterious but I hope we see more birds than today.

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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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