[Maine-birds] Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (04 May 2024) 35 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: May 04, 2024
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	0	628
Osprey	4	15	408
Bald Eagle	0	10	57
Northern Harrier	1	6	144
Sharp-shinned Hawk	13	67	454
Cooper's Hawk	0	3	33
American Goshawk	0	0	1
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	0	30
Broad-winged Hawk	8	146	1357
Red-tailed Hawk	0	0	50
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	3	11	305
Merlin	6	7	52
Peregrine Falcon	0	1	3
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:	35	269	3563

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	8 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Jim Pinfold, Oskar Mattes, Ted Michalek

Visitors:
37 visitors on this busy Saturday.

Weather:
Mostly cloudy with a few brief periods of diffuse sun. Winds started out light and from the NNE and moved E before settling on SSE, bringing in ocean air and dropping the high temps in the mid 50's by a couple degrees. A rather chilly day overall. Visibility was very good at the start but deteriorated due to heat shimmer.

Raptor Observations:
Not much took place today. Wind direction was consistent throughout the region which may have affected today's migration. Maybe the birds we saw yesterday were all that was waiting at the moment. Birds could have been pushed inland also, especially with the E and SE afternoon winds. Hard telling not knowing, but whatever the reason, birds weren't flying by in big numbers. It seems as though there's more on the way, including immature birds and I hope they come by the mountain when the show up.

Non-raptor Observations:
Judging by the new species I was hearing at sunrise this morning I was hopeful there had been a good flight overnight and we would have a bunch of new songbirds at the summit. Unfortunately it was pretty quiet. I was pleased by a Blackburnian Warbler in plain sight when I arrived but it didn't stay too long. One other new bird and a species we don't see too often was a Prairie Warbler which perched in the top of an Oak tree for a few moments.

Predictions:
I hope overnight fog clears early so we can get some time before rain gets here in the afternoon. Potential for rain starts to increase around 2pm EDT which could be good timing for pushing birds. Probably not a lot of thermals with cloudy skies and temps may remain in the 40's. Winds don't look great but hopefully they stay light before the afternoon gusts, from the SE.

---

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]

---