[Maine-birds] Fw: Bradbury Mountain State Park (09 Apr 2022) 39 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 09, 2022
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	13	241	426
Osprey	3	27	28
Bald Eagle	0	7	67
Northern Harrier	5	27	42
Sharp-shinned Hawk	8	36	66
Cooper's Hawk	1	6	23
Northern Goshawk	0	0	2
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	12	106
Broad-winged Hawk	0	0	0
Red-tailed Hawk	0	18	119
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	9	33	43
Merlin	0	2	6
Peregrine Falcon	0	0	3
Unknown Accipiter	0	2	3
Unknown Buteo	0	1	2
Unknown Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	0	1
Total:	39	412	937

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	6.83 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Jim Pinfold

Visitors:
I hope the 13 pink balloons weren't a deliberate release. I met a few new birders today who were making it to the site for the first time. 12 visitors in all today. It was fun chatting with a couple park rangers from Acadia this afternoon who had been training high angle rescue in the park and hoped to catch some hawks before leaving. Some very amusing and similar stories were swapped. No, we don't sleep here.

Weather:
I almost delayed the start, considering the summit was shrouded in dense fog as I approached the park this morning. I opened on time, slightly surprised that I could see a little more than a mile in most directions, with some blue sky overhead. It was as though the mountain was in the eye of a storm. Pretty quickly the fog pushed further and further back revealing more of the landscape. The fogbank was backlit by the sun, creating a blindingly bright wall of white but only a few hundred feet tall. You could almost peer over the top of it. Fog moved out and clouds moved in for the rest of the day. Wind from the east and southeast went from periods of calm to a stiff breeze and back again. Late morning rain started to fall more heavily than my hunched shoulders could handle and the radar looked as if it may continue to fill in, so I left the summit. A short time passed as I stood at the base before rain turned to a light drizzle and eventually dried up. Back to the top I went. The remainder of the day was cool and breezy with periods of drizzle. The count was cut short in the final hour by more steady rain.

Raptor Observations:
Overall a successful day given the conditions. A few birds moved early powering north but it was after the first bout of rain that saw the most activity. Hardly anything was moving at heights above eye level today and most birds were moving under their own power. There was a nice rally from the Kestrels in the mid afternoon or maybe as a result of the winds pushing them in from the coast allowing us to detect more of them. One Bald Eagle remained perched in the tip of a Pine tree for well over an hour, sitting through the heaviest of the rain. The bird finally took flight the instant I focused my scope on it as I tried to share with some interested onlookers. Later on, Hawkwatch Junco sounded the alarm so I stepped back from the scope and search the summit area. 12 seconds later a Sharpy appeared right over the tree tips to the west and continued moving north at which point Junco resumed normal activities. Very impressive hawkwatching skills.

Non-raptor Observations:
More passerines were moving today compared to the past few days. There was limited time for identification early in the morning as birds shot out of the fog like players exiting the tunnel at the Super Bowl. Robins and Grackles mostly. 14 Tree swallows continued north today and hopefully can find some food. A few Great Blue Herons were moving, two by two. 29 species were seen or heard today.

Predictions:
Will we see a big change in daily totals starting tomorrow? Winds will be shifting around to the northwest for tomorrow which isn't so bad, let's just hope it remains light. Some stronger gusts are possible in the afternoon hours. Probably a mix of clouds and sun with a real small chance for a shower. Temps should be breaking 50.

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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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