[Maine-birds] Fw: Bradbury Mountain State Park (27 Apr 2023) 602 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 27, 2023
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	2	2
Turkey Vulture	0	190	500
Osprey	17	244	244
Bald Eagle	6	15	52
Northern Harrier	2	51	75
Sharp-shinned Hawk	74	248	268
Cooper's Hawk	6	20	31
Northern Goshawk	0	2	2
Red-shouldered Hawk	1	17	50
Broad-winged Hawk	472	1849	1849
Red-tailed Hawk	0	14	65
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	15	224	232
Merlin	7	36	43
Peregrine Falcon	0	2	3
Unknown Accipiter	0	5	7
Unknown Buteo	0	1	1
Unknown Falcon	1	4	4
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	1	12	14
Total:	602	2936	3442

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	8 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Biz Houghton, Dave Fensore, Dick Baker, Jim Pinfold

Visitors:
9 Visitors

Weather:
Today was nice overall with temps reaching into the 50's once the morning clouds moved out. The summit was sprayed with a little passing shower around 3pm EDT, just missing the heavy soaking which landed slightly to our S. Winds were mostly very light and coming from the SSE. Visibility was very good but diminished slightly due to heat shimmer once the sun came out.

Raptor Observations:
Another good flight on southerly winds today. Birds were on the move right out of the gate this morning. It was a couple hours before birds really hit their stride with triple digit hour totals. Many birds were counted far to our SE only as a result of the good visibility. Some birds were coming over the mountain and even to our NW. Not many birds were spotted in the middle distance in front of us today. Many birds, especially this morning, were moving in an E heading which seemed a bit odd given the winds were pushing inland. In my time on the mountain southerly winds often push birds closer to us and inland and today birds seemed to be flying right towards the coast. There was a good variety of species today along with more Eagles which seemed to be moving with purpose. One Eagle had interesting plumage on the underwing which looked like two equals signs running from leading to trailing edge of the wing. After the rain the BW flight quieted down but Sharp-shinned continued on.

Non-raptor Observations:
We had our first-of-season Blue-headed Vireo start to sing briefly today which seemed about right for this time. We were able to tally 32 species for the day list. Northbound birds seemed more plentiful with many warblers and finch but I was seeing them peripherally while identifying raptors. Northbound migrants include: 177 Double-crested Cormorants 52 Tree Swallows 33 Red-winged Blackbirds 15 Purple Finches 8 Brown-headed Cowbirds 7 Common Grackles 5 Common Loons 1 Eastern Bluebird 1 American Goldfinch 1 Great Blue Heron

Predictions:
Tomorrow should have abundant sunshine and warmer temps in the 50's. Winds don't look all that promising but there are still plenty of birds which need to get N. Winds may start out from the N and slowly move clockwise throughout the day before hitting SSE by day's end.

---

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]

---