Monday, 16 May 2022

[Maine-birds] Fw: Bradbury Mountain State Park (15 May 2022) 7 Raptors


Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: May 15, 2022
SpeciesDay's CountMonth TotalSeason Total
Black Vulture001
Turkey Vulture00470
Osprey058286
Bald Eagle01597
Northern Harrier01184
Sharp-shinned Hawk1188670
Cooper's Hawk01256
Northern Goshawk003
Red-shouldered Hawk03123
Broad-winged Hawk54181651
Red-tailed Hawk07140
Rough-legged Hawk000
Golden Eagle000
American Kestrel165305
Merlin03877
Peregrine Falcon036
Unknown Accipiter028
Unknown Buteo016
Unknown Falcon025
Unknown Eagle000
Unknown Raptor01023
Total:78334011


Observation start time: 07:00:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 8.5 hours
Official CounterZane Baker
Observers: Biz Houghton, Dave Fensore, Derek Lovitch, Jim Pinfold



Visitors:
Thanks to Bradbury Mountain State Park for allowing this project to continue for another season and hosting the Feathers Over Freeport annual event which helps to promote hawkwatching and birding in general. Thank you to Jeannette and Derek Lovitch and Freeport Wild Bird Supply who host and sponsor this project. I never intended on being much of a birder (I pretend) let alone run a Hawkwatch and if it wasn't for those two I probably wouldn't have even known about hawk watching. I guess they decided my potato eating habit wouldn't interfere with the data collection and they asked me back for my fourth season, and for that I am appreciative. After years of coming to this site I've never been able to pinpoint what it is about the project that I enjoy so much but it feels good. Maybe staring out at the landscape under the sun for eight hours a day tickles some primal brain regions that don't get much action in modern life. Let me get this negativity about the final day out of the way first. We ended the day with a pair of immature Red-handed Looters, what a couple $%#&!'s (Jim knows). C'mon people! I digress. It seemed more like a weekday than a Sunday in the park. A few people came and went without much fanfare. Overall, having interacted with hundreds of people during the past two months my experience with the public was a good one in net. This site brings people of all walks of life and you never know what conversations you might overhear or what you may witness take place. It can be pleasant, frustrating, perplexing or intriguing. Just for fun I decided to keep a tally on the number of times people asked about the Steller's Sea Eagle which came to a grand total of 66. I only tallied one claimed sighting by a women who said it flew over her yard. She was confident. On to the MVP's. Thanks to Jim Pinfold for spending so much time up there with me helping spot birds, running interference with the public and providing some good laughs. I loved the big-hearted gift giving to young birders. Thanks to Dave Fensore, the return of a friend from seasons past. Dave may be the most vigilant of them all. Rarely does his binocular strap tug at his neck. He can find birds like nobody else and has the patience to track a bird across the sky until Rhabdo' sets in. That allows me to ID fast moving birds before trying to find his. He also helped box out people from entering the paint. Thanks to Matthew Gilbert who we didn't see a lot of this season but he has bigger, more important things to tend to. Matthew's ID skills are fantastic which allows me to put faith in his calls if I don't get to see a particular bird. He is also helpful in answering questions from the public when I'm a little busy. I hear it's gorgeous where you're  headed Matthew, I hope you have a great time. There are many other people who also spent time up there with me even on the slower days, searching for just one more. Thanks to everybody, it was a pleasure to see old faces and meet some new ones. The season's numbers are a result of a team effort, thanks. I never realized just how many people see these reports, and I'm a little embarrassed. I've received many kind words, which means a lot to me. I absolutely hate writing and creating the daily reports, actually I abhor it. I often add references only people involved will understand or an old movie reference which people may not get but it started as a way to try and make this entertaining for myself. Thanks for putting up with me for another season. Happy birding.

Weather:
A bit of a drab day to end the count season but we at least got a full day in. Winds remained light all day coming from the SSE and E. Temps were comfortable, starting out in the lower 60's and climbing to the upper 60's. Cloud cover was dense all day with only a brief, and slightly surprising period of patchy blue skies. Fog hindered our view for the count period, coming and going from the coast not quite allowing us to see the ocean to the SSE. Midday the fog crept in and brought some heavy mist and a very minor shower, if that even qualified as a shower. It was enough to grab the rain gear and cover our packs. By early afternoon the moisture had passed and the visibility had improved enough to see Portland 18 miles to our SW. However, the view to the E was now caped in fog. The fog seemed to rotate in an arc around the mountain and later in the day it was the E which had clear views and Portland had again disappeared. The day finally ended with the fog marching ever closer to the mountain as if the curtains were being closed on the final act. All in all from the perspective of being a hawkwatcher there wasn't much to complain about this season. The summit was dry, free of ice and snow from start to finish, the temps were quite tolerable and I managed to stay pretty dry. Sure, there were days I didn't care for and I really despise the wind but things could always be worse.

Raptor Observations:
At least there was something to look at on the final day, unlike one of my previous seasons. Bird activity in the raptor category didn't get started until later in the day. Although we did have a Coop buzz the tower this morning, shooting out from the trees at about waist height and following the contour of the granite summit right in front of us. That was the closest bird of the season. It winked. As soon as the clouds had started to break apart for a moment a few birds took flight. First it was a Merlin right off the face of the hill. The bird circled a few times before we were starring at tail feathers. Shortly after a kettle of 4 BW's, 3 immatures and one adult, kettled together to the N before all streaming off in a glide. It took some time but I did finally see an Eagle. I was getting nervous there. Would I not see one of our most common sights on the final day? Phew! Even though this wasn't a record year there was something left to be desired, specifically young Broad-wings. We only started to see multiple immatures coming in on the penultimate day of the count, and not many. Where are the rest of them? Maybe a lot of birds were pushed inland to the north of the mountain with the southerly winds we had or maybe there will be a prolonged migration season as birds are held up to the south. I wish I had an answer but it's all speculation. The season certainly started with a bang. We probably missed some birds moving early since we experienced a very mild and pleasant early March. It's pretty remarkable for this site to be seeing those numbers for the first days of the count. It wasn't long though before we started experiencing a lot of wind, mostly form directions that tend to reduce our daily numbers; N, E, S and everything in between. We rarely had any sustained SW which is our preferred direction. Our biggest day of 489 on April 15th occurred with mostly W winds. When we think of a big day at Bradbury we might expect somewhere between 1000-2000 birds. Even the other days this year with tallies in the hundreds birds weren't coming through steadily from start to finish. It was often an abrupt push then maybe a lull, then another push which usually correlated with the winds shifting and passing through a more southerly direction. If only we had a day or two of sustained SW.

Non-raptor Observations:
I ended the season with fewer overall species than I thought we'd get. The weather just wasn't on our side or maybe even the birds. The warblers today which were around put on a good show. A male and female Blackburnian were out in the open many times along with our resident Pine Warbler which has been seen collecting nesting material. An Indigo Bunting perched in the tip of an oak long enough to train the scope on it and snag a photo. Hummingbirds were seen on multiple occasions zipping back and forth at the summit. Here is a list of the species from this season: Canada Goose, Wood Duck, American Black Duck, Mallard, Common Merganser, Wild Turkey, Common Loon, Great Blue Heron, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Bald Eagle, Northern Harrier, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, Northern Goshawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, Sandhill Crane, Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull (first from Bradbury), Great Black-backed Gull, Seagull, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Barred Owl, Chimney Swift, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Belted Kingfisher, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Eastern Phoebe, Eastern Kingbird, Blue-headed Vireo, Blue Jay, American Crow, Common Raven, Horned Lark, Purple Martin, Tree Swallow, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Bank Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Barn Swallow, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Red-breasted Nuthatch, White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Hermit Thrush, European Starling, Cedar Waxwing, Northern Parula, Magnolia Warbler, Cape May Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Pine Warbler, Palm Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, Ovenbird, Scarlet Tanager, Chipping Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Jack Sparrow, Dark Eyed Junco, Northern Cardinal, Indigo Bunting, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird, Purple Finch, House Finch, American Goldfinch. I should have used the codes.

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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