[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (20 Apr 2024) 25 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 20, 2024
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	355	628
Osprey	6	332	333
Bald Eagle	0	14	36
Northern Harrier	2	119	131
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1	286	304
Cooper's Hawk	0	12	24
American Goshawk	0	1	1
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	8	30
Broad-winged Hawk	15	727	727
Red-tailed Hawk	0	18	48
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	1	265	265
Merlin	0	15	21
Peregrine Falcon	0	1	2
Unknown Accipiter	0	7	7
Unknown Buteo	0	4	4
Unknown Falcon	0	8	9
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	13	13
Total:	25	2185	2583

Observation start time:	10:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	5.5 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Jim Pinfold, Joan Campbell

Visitors:
About 6 soaking wet visitors and 15 dry.

Weather:
I delayed the start until 11:30 am EST due to rain and patchy fog. I arrived as the last few raindrops were falling, or so I thought. Visibility was improving quickly and the clarity of images was excellent with no heat distortion. Some fog lingered near the coast and small finger-like projections would rise from the trees before evaporating. By early afternoon, the rain I expected to move through after the count period arrived early and soaked us for a good hour. We were prepared but the hikers and runners were not. The rain eventually passed and the skies started to clear with some nice breaks of sun. Temperature were pretty comfortable and winds were almost imperceivable for most of the time I was there with the exception of a light N breeze during the final hour

Raptor Observations:
This was not the afternoon I thought it might be. I look forward to the days when we get shut out by morning rain only to return to an empty park and lots of birds later in the afternoon. I think we might have had that happen if the second shower had moved further N of us. Seconds before we felt the rain, with skies darkening to the W, we suddenly had a kettle of 13 BW's pop up above the horizon line. The conditions felt great for a decent afternoon flight but with the passing shower the flights were grounded rather quickly. By the time the sun came out it was a little too late. A few local birds came back out to display in what seemed like a spotlight, as the sky was fairly dark but there was a narrow band of sun which was highlighting birds beautifully as they passed through it.

Non-raptor Observations:
It would appear there was a good flight last night and fallout conditions in some local migrant traps. However, that would have been hard to tell by the activity at the summit. Birds were relatively quiet and there wasn't much moving through either. I was pleased to be greeted by our first Blue-headed Vireo singing away as I crested the summit.

Predictions:
I think tomorrow will be busy with birds and people. Temps in the 50's with minimal cloud cover should be good for thermals, and a SW wind will be a nice push N for birds. Winds may gust a little in the afternoon which could sheer the tops off thermals and maybe bring birds lower. If birds are moving I'm hoping we get some good flight-lines going. This is one of the few days of solid SW winds predicted. I'll have my clickers ready to go!

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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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