Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (19 Apr 2023) 236 Raptors

[Derek Lovitch]

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 19, 2023
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	190	500
Osprey	19	188	188
Bald Eagle	0	8	45
Northern Harrier	0	45	69
Sharp-shinned Hawk	21	139	159
Cooper's Hawk	0	7	18
Northern Goshawk	0	2	2
Red-shouldered Hawk	1	14	47
Broad-winged Hawk	184	1140	1140
Red-tailed Hawk	1	12	63
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	6	193	201
Merlin	2	21	28
Peregrine Falcon	0	2	3
Unknown Accipiter	1	5	7
Unknown Buteo	0	0	0
Unknown Falcon	0	3	3
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	1	10	12
Total:	236	1979	2485

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	8 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Dave Fensore, Dick Baker, Don Thompson

Visitors:
16 visitors today

Weather:
With cloudy skies and cool dry air, we had excellent visibility today, all day. Temps were a little chilly compared to recent days only getting into the mid 40's. Winds were pretty light and coming from the W mostly.

Raptor Observations:
It was a pretty good day overall but unfortunately a lot of the birds were far away to our SE. The jetport to our S had been reporting higher winds with strong gusts from the NW which likely contributed to birds being blown towards the coast. Early in the day birds appeared to be coming in from over the ocean or islands, traveling straight towards us from the SE. Our day's total likely would have been lower if we didn't have such exquisite visibility. Early in the count the thick clouds moving E had parted, leaving a swath of open sky which allowed sunlight to scan over the landscape like a giant Xerox machine. Birds seemed to be just lagging behind, as though that brief sun was enough to create a little thermal activity to get things going. As clouds thickened the flights started to ease. The afternoon was fairly quiet.

Non-raptor Observations:
It was back to being a rather quiet day for songbirds. There were many instances today when we couldn't hear a single birds song or call, just silence. In the morning hours we had one of our best looks at a Common Loon flying by the summit, feet trailing to the rear. 22 species were seen or heard today

Predictions:
Tomorrow should be a little warmer, in the 50's but there could be a little wind chill as we're supposed to be feeling some more NW winds and possibly some gusts. There is a chance the winds shift to the SW later in the afternoon. With more sun tomorrow I'm hoping there are some thermals and birds left in the pipeline.

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Report submitted by Jeannette Lovitch (freeport...@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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