[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (26 Mar 2023) 11 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 26, 2023
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	7	120	120
Osprey	0	0	0
Bald Eagle	1	30	30
Northern Harrier	0	7	7
Sharp-shinned Hawk	0	11	11
Cooper's Hawk	0	7	7
Northern Goshawk	0	0	0
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	27	27
Broad-winged Hawk	0	0	0
Red-tailed Hawk	2	31	31
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	0	3	3
Merlin	1	1	1
Peregrine Falcon	0	1	1
Unknown Accipiter	0	1	1
Unknown Buteo	0	0	0
Unknown Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	0	0
Total:	11	239	239

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	8 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Dick Baker, Linda Hartzell, Rick Hartzell

Visitors:
Minimal foot traffic for a fairly sunny Sunday. 28 visitors in total. Lots of inquisitive kids with good questions and comments.

Weather:
A little bit of a wet start with yesterday's snow melting rapidly. Some lingering fog quickly burned off leaving a mix of clouds and sun during the count period. Winds were light in the morning but picked up later in the day. There were periods of calm followed by sudden gusts. Temps hovered right around 40 degrees. Visibility was about as good as it gets this afternoon. For the first time as official counter I could clearly read the time and temp sign in Portland, about 18 miles away.

Raptor Observations:
Slow going again. The weather hasn't been great for northbound birds the past few days plus we're still relatively early into the season. Not much was flying north or hunting today. A couple Cooper's were displaying off and on and Red-tails were seen here and there. We did get our first Merlin today but not really a satisfying look. The bird was backlit, pretty far out in powered flight, moving with purpose.

Non-raptor Observations:
The highlight of the day was the Sandhill Cranes. Three passed by to our W, which I caught just seconds before disappearing. They were in the sun and close enough to the summit that they jumped out in my periphery. About 90 minutes later two more Cranes passed overhead. They were visible long enough for me to point them out to a passerby who had just asked about them.

Predictions:
Tomorrow, clouds should be minimal with fairly warm temps reaching into the upper 40's. W and maybe some brief N winds should be switching around to SE and S during the afternoon. Hopefully the wind speeds remain light. Maybe the southerly wind will help push a few falcons in from the coast.

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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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