[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (08 Apr 2024) 202 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 08, 2024
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	148	191	464
Osprey	26	32	33
Bald Eagle	1	5	27
Northern Harrier	6	12	24
Sharp-shinned Hawk	11	25	43
Cooper's Hawk	1	3	15
American Goshawk	0	0	0
Red-shouldered Hawk	1	3	25
Broad-winged Hawk	0	0	0
Red-tailed Hawk	1	5	35
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	5	11	11
Merlin	0	1	7
Peregrine Falcon	0	0	1
Unknown Accipiter	2	2	2
Unknown Buteo	0	0	0
Unknown Falcon	0	1	2
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	0	0
Total:	202	291	689

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	8 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Biz Houghton, Brandon Baldwin

Visitors:
I lost the popularity contest at the summit today. Only 10 people stopped to inquire about what I was doing and why we were looking E when the sun was to the W. I used the Broad-wing clicker to tally people at the summit for the light show. Just ~200 all packed onto the rock. As soon as people realized it wasn't going to get any darker, everyone skedaddled. Brandon, thanks for making me work today, that was rough.

Weather:
It was a beautiful blue sky day to be standing on the summit, waiting for birds and the eclipse. Winds were light and mostly from the NW and W. A few clouds started to fill in from the W as the day wrapped up but otherwise only a few plane contrails were visible to provide contrast for our eyes as we searched above. Temperatures started out around 40 and climbed up to 57. During the eclipse we lost 5 degrees Fahrenheit over the course of an hour. We didn't experience the total eclipse at the summit, only about 97% coverage which looked like a very bright crescent moon. At the peak the moon's shadow darkened the area enough to cause the light on Halfway Rock lighthouse to turn on. The visibility today was tough, with a little haze and lots of heat distortion. During the eclipse the heat shimmer disappeared and visibility was great despite being in lower light.

Raptor Observations:
Most of the day and especially the first half was very challenging to find and identify birds. With a light NW breeze most birds were far far away towards the coast. I would guess that most of what we were seeing in the morning was at least 6 miles out, judging by the distance to the south Freeport water tower, which is 5 miles away, and then using our impression of TV size as they pass directly behind it. These birds today were much smaller and were disappearing while starring right at them, suggesting they were wicked fah. During the eclipse we did have about a doubling of birds compared to previous hours. Hard to say if that is why we saw increased flight. What was interesting is that as the sky darkened we lost heat and likely thermal activity, which had birds flying at the same height, around eye level with us, and birds were mostly moving under powered flight. After the eclipse, more circling and different flight elevations returned. Large groups of TV's did take to the sky right about at the peak of darkness and continued to lift off after the eclipse. The final hour was the best hour, in terms of numbers. With a sample size of one, it is hard to say if anything we witnessed was a direct result of the eclipse but fun non the less. For anyone disappointed they missed the big flight, don't kick yourself. We only had a Coop and a 'Tail that were worth looking at, everything else was just data.

Non-raptor Observations:
Pretty limited passerine movement today. Tree swallows seem like there here for the summer now. We did have a few more flying insects present too. I finally counted a few more Canada Geese which have been hard to come by this season, maybe having moved early in the season. It would have been interesting to listen for bird song or calls during the eclipse, but I'm not sure a couple hundred people would have taken kindly to being shushed. If I gad an exit, it might have been a fun social experiment though.

Predictions:
Tomorrow should be fairly warm and in the mid 40's with less desirable winds coming from the NE and switching to SE around midday. Some clouds should be present.

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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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