Bradbury Mountain State ParkPownal, Maine, USA
| Daily Raptor Counts: May 11, 2023 |
| Species | Day's Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Black Vulture | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 500 |
| Osprey | 0 | 22 | 273 |
| Bald Eagle | 3 | 13 | 66 |
| Northern Harrier | 1 | 5 | 81 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 0 | 70 | 381 |
| Cooper's Hawk | 1 | 4 | 36 |
| Northern Goshawk | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Red-shouldered Hawk | 2 | 4 | 54 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 8 | 121 | 2008 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 2 | 9 | 75 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Golden Eagle | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 14 | 265 |
| Merlin | 1 | 14 | 66 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Unknown Accipiter | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 5 | 21 |
| Total: | 18 | 286 | 3851 |
| Observation start time: | 08:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 16:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 8 hours |
| Official Counter | Zane Baker |
| Observers: | Dave Fensore |
Visitors:10 visitors.
Weather:Sunny skies turned partly cloudy during the afternoon with temperatures just breaking 80. Visibility was fair with a good amount of haze out towards the coast. Winds were mostly calm but there were brief gusts coming from the W.
Raptor Observations:I was starting to think that maybe the migration had come to an abrupt end after the low numbers the past couple of days. Today however there was a glimmer of hope as there appears to be more birds out there trying to get N. We finally had our first of the immature Broad-wings flying by the summit. Birds were scattered around the sky as they moved northward but there was no trouble finding elevation. The afternoon was more productive than the morning with the first half of the day shaping up like the previous two. It took six hours before I spotted the first Eagle for the day, which typically is not a difficult task from this site. In the afternoon I got some entertainment from a pair of 'tails just in front of me facing the mountain, as they sort of leapfrogged passed each other taking turns kiting into the winds. Being so close you could see all the fine micro adjustments they were making with their wings to remain locked in place as they peered towards the ground below.
Non-raptor Observations:There was definitely more bird song at the summit compared to yesterday but it still seemed a little quiet for the second week of May. In the afternoon we were treated to a male Scarlet Tanager which perched in the open for a brief moment, the brilliant red coloring looking like it was about to start dripping off the bird. New species for the day include: American Redstart Northern Parula Gray Catbird Northern Rough-winged Swallow Scarlet Tanager
Predictions:Tomorrow's predicted weather looks like good conditions for counting. If we truly get some WSW winds this could be interesting. Are we not seeing many birds because the conditions haven't been ideal? If the forecast I'm seeing holds true then we might get a good pulse on whether there are more birds out there waiting to fly. Purely speculation as to why so many birds are below our season average and where all the immatures are.
Report submitted by Jeannette Lovitch (
freeportwildbird@yahoo.com)
Bradbury Mountain State Park information may be found at:
www.freeportwildbirdsupply.com/bradbury-mountain-hawkwatchMore information at
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