[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (11 May 2024) 6 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: May 11, 2024
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	0	628
Osprey	2	28	421
Bald Eagle	0	14	61
Northern Harrier	0	13	151
Sharp-shinned Hawk	2	104	491
Cooper's Hawk	0	9	39
American Goshawk	0	0	1
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	0	30
Broad-winged Hawk	0	198	1409
Red-tailed Hawk	1	2	52
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	1	16	310
Merlin	0	13	58
Peregrine Falcon	0	2	4
Unknown Accipiter	0	0	9
Unknown Buteo	0	0	4
Unknown Falcon	0	0	11
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	3	17
Total:	6	402	3696

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	7 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Dave Fensore, Dick Baker, Jim Pinfold

Visitors:
Only 23 visitors on this Saturday. I'm not sure how I have never measured this before now but I take 568 steps from the head of the Summit Trail to the summit and 532 steps coming down.

Weather:
It was a chilly start to the day, with temps just into the 40's and a light breeze from the N. The air did warm up a bit throughout the day but it was unseasonably cool. Rain showers plagued us in the midday hours, coming and going with brief periods of dry air before filling back in with more drizzle. Sun could be seen through the rain, hitting the surrounding landscape. Blue sky finally showed back up in the afternoon, just in time for the light onshore breeze. Visibility was okay, all things considered.

Raptor Observations:
Not much to share today. All birds were hard to find, local or migrating. The best bird of the day was a Merlin, cruising quickly at us from the E and making a pass over the summit in the nice afternoon light. I finally found our first immature Broad-winged Hawk but it was coming in high above, from the N and continued directly S.

Non-raptor Observations:
Really struggling to think of something to say here. I didn't record any new species for the season and almost nothing was moving N. We all commented on the times where we couldn't hear a single bird calling or singing, just silence.

Predictions:
Tomorrow is hopefully a little warmer and closer to 60 degrees than 50. Winds look a little variable but more northerly in the morning and SSE in the afternoon. Skies will likely be mostly cloudy. These are rookie numbers up to this point, we gotta get them up, if we can.

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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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