[Maine-birds] Fw: Bradbury Mountain State Park (05 May 2023) 58 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: May 05, 2023
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	2
Turkey Vulture	0	0	500
Osprey	7	9	260
Bald Eagle	7	7	60
Northern Harrier	0	0	76
Sharp-shinned Hawk	16	19	330
Cooper's Hawk	0	0	32
Northern Goshawk	0	0	2
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	0	50
Broad-winged Hawk	22	25	1912
Red-tailed Hawk	0	0	66
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	1	1	1
American Kestrel	1	2	253
Merlin	3	8	60
Peregrine Falcon	0	0	4
Unknown Accipiter	0	0	7
Unknown Buteo	0	0	1
Unknown Falcon	0	0	4
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	1	1	17
Total:	58	72	3637

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	8 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Derek Lovitch, Dick Baker, Joan Campbell

Visitors:
20 Visitors today. Scarborough Middle School stopped by with 60 students for a great outdoor fieldtrip. Shout out to the class who has been following the daily posts about the count site. It was nice talking with you.

Weather:
Quite a welcome change in weather atop the mountain today, with a nice mix of sun, clouds and bright blue sky. Winds were light and mostly from the NNE and NNW. Temps were very pleasant and in the low 60's. Visibility was pretty good all day.

Raptor Observations:
It wasn't too difficult to break yesterday's total. We a had a slow drip of birds during the count period. Eagles were on the move once again with multiple birds taking the same flight path. At about 10:30EDT I watched as three Bald Eagles headed to the NNW over the summit. I was skeptical about these birds being migrants and was making a bet with myself that at least a couple would turn back. So before I put them on the official tally sheet I faced N and waited for a minute. Sure enough one Eagle coming back. "I caught you" I thought to myself. For some reason I put the bird back in the scope and noticed this Eagle was the best impersonation of a Golden Eagle's underwing plumage. Unfortunately the Bird had a white head. But something was amiss, as the head also appeared short as it projected out from the body. As the bird came closer and before passing overhead the light changed and I realized the white head was a lighting effect from the angle of the sun. I had myself a genuine Golden Eagle in the flesh! I panicked a bit when I realized the camera was buried at the bottom of my pack. Without losing sight of the bird I managed to retrieve the device, hoping the batteries still had a charged. The bird was very high and not visible through the viewfinder but I somehow managed to capture some photos. If the camera had not been working I thought I may have to keep this sighting to myself, as this would have been an unlikely story with zero witnesses. I can hear it now, "this dope sees zero birds one day then the next spots a Golden, yeah sure."

Non-raptor Observations:
Did you see the part about the Golden Eagle?

Predictions:
Hmm. Tomorrow's conditions look okay except for the gusty wind speeds. NW is predicted for the day, which isn't a terrible direction for the site historically. Winds may be blowing in the 'teens and gusting into the 20's. Temps could be warmer than today, in the upper 60's. Still waiting on a lot of immature birds. They're out there.

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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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