[Maine-birds] Fw: Bradbury Mountain State Park (02 Apr 2022) 13 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park

Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 02, 2022
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	2	47	232
Osprey	2	6	7
Bald Eagle	1	1	61
Northern Harrier	2	9	24
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1	1	31
Cooper's Hawk	0	0	17
Northern Goshawk	0	0	2
Red-shouldered Hawk	2	2	96
Broad-winged Hawk	0	0	0
Red-tailed Hawk	1	1	102
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	1	1	11
Merlin	1	1	5
Peregrine Falcon	0	0	3
Unknown Accipiter	0	0	1
Unknown Buteo	0	0	1
Unknown Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	0	1
Total:	13	69	594

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

Visitors:
Not the full house I might have expected from parkgoers but we did have 46 visitors stop by the site. It would appear as though the word is spreading about the hawkwatch site.

Weather:
Another blustery day at the mountain. Winds were consistently blowing out of the northwest with some powerful gusts. Skies were partly cloudy at the outset but cleared quickly. Air temps were in the 40's. Visibility was decent for most of the day.

Raptor Observations:
Pretty low numbers today but the wind seemed to be a major factor. Not many local birds took to the skies today. Overall we had pretty good diversity of species. Not a lot of thermal production with the wind, so most birds spotted were relatively low and in powered flight. The bird of the day was a very low and very close Merlin which passed directly over the site in the early afternoon.

Non-raptor Observations:
20 American Robins and 2 Belted Kingfishers were the only northbound migrants that I could spot. Barred Owls were caterwauling late in the day.

Predictions:
Clouds ought to be packing in during the early morning hours making for a mostly overcast day at the site. Temps should be similar to today, in the 40's. The winds may be light but coming in from the east southeast which is not favorable for seeing a lot of birds. If winds remain very light we could still have a ok day. We are now into April and there are still plenty of birds yet to be counted. I did have one of my highest daily totals on a day with an easterly breeze, so it's hard to say for certain what might happen tomorrow.

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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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