Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (15 May 2021) 64 Raptors

[Derek Lovitch]

And the 15th Annual Bradbury Mountain Spring Hawkwatch, sponsored by Freeport Wild Bird Supply, has come to a close. 

This was a great way to finish! A big thanks to our 2021 Official Counter, Andrew Sharp, and our hosts Bradbury Mountain State Park. We’ll have a quick synopsis of the season posted to our website in the near future. 

-Derek

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: May 15, 2021
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	2
Turkey Vulture	0	0	603
Osprey	3	110	390
Bald Eagle	3	22	127
Northern Harrier	0	18	91
Sharp-shinned Hawk	3	237	736
Cooper's Hawk	2	18	100
Northern Goshawk	0	2	4
Red-shouldered Hawk	1	6	129
Broad-winged Hawk	36	559	1962
Red-tailed Hawk	5	23	180
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	4	56	334
Merlin	3	23	71
Peregrine Falcon	1	3	13
Unknown Accipiter	0	2	12
Unknown Buteo	0	1	9
Unknown Falcon	1	4	8
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	2	11	46
Total:	64	1095	4817

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	8 hours
Official Counter	Andrew Sharp
Observers:	Biz Houghton, Dave Fensore, Derek Lovitch, Jim Pinfold, Pablo DaCosta, Tony Federer, Zane Baker

Visitors:
23 visitors today, not including a cat on a leash.

Weather:
Probably the most beautiful weather of the season today. Mostly sunny. Weak and variable winds early turned to moderate south winds as the day progressed. Temps peaked at 73 F.

Raptor Observations:
Great day, especially for the last day of the season! 2nd-year Broad-wings were migrating past the summit fairly consistently until the last 2 hours of the day. One last Peregrine rounded out a great Peregrine season.

Non-raptor Observations:
The star of the show today was a flock of 58 White-winged Scoters that flew overhead in the last minute of the count. Other non-raptors deemed migratory are as follows: -Double-crested Cormorant: 30 -Swallow Spp.: 6 -Tree Swallow: 4 -Ruby-throated Hummingbird: 2 -Pine Siskin: 1 -Eastern Kingbird: 2 35 species were detected from the summit, including FOS Scarlet Tanager and FOS Prairie Warbler.

Predictions:
Thanks for a great season, everyone! I would like to thank all the folks who came up this season to help us look for raptors up at Bradbury. A special shoutout to Jim Pinfold for being such a loyal observer this year. Without your company, I probably would have gone crazy on a few slow days! It was a pleasure meeting everyone this spring, take care! -Andrew

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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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[duch...@midmaine.com]

I'm just saying it was a little freaky this morning on Kittridge Road in
Bangor. As I stood next to the old landfill, prior to entering Bangor City
Forest, I heard simultaneously northern cardinal, tufted titmouse,
red-bellied woodpecker, and Carolina wren. It sounded more like Maryland
than Maine. Ouch.

Bob Duchesne

[Dana Valleau]

That is kinda freaky. When I was birding in that area in the ‘70s and 80s in and around the bog, Veazie railroad, and north to Mud Pond you could get spruce grouse, gray jay, blackpoll warbler and rusty blackbird. It’s a different world.

Dana Valleau

Sent from my iPhone

> On May 18, 2021, at 11:28 AM, duch...@midmaine.com wrote:
>
> I'm just saying it was a little freaky this morning on Kittridge Road in

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[chr...@myfairpoint.net]

I wouldn't say "ouch."  I'd say, "hurrah!"

Bird populations have never been static.   Enjoy the diversity.

Keep your eyes peeled for California Condors.  😉

Wally S.

[Stan DeOrsey]

Which of the following species have more or less "always" been in Maine from Colonial days (say 1700s) to now? For extra credit, any which were not in Maine in the 1700s, where were they in the 1700s?

Glossy Ibis
Double-crested Cormorant
Mourning Dove
Evening Grosbeak
Brown-headed Cowbird

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-- 
Stan DeOrsey  js...@att.net

[chr...@myfairpoint.net]

I'd  bet that Meadowlarks and Bobolinks weren't here in the 1700's, because the State was  mostly forested.  And now, Meadowlarks have become scarce--a mystery, since Bobolinks are still common in the places where I used to find Meadowlarks.

As to your question, I have no idea, but I suspect that Mourning Dove was not present.

Wally S.

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[duch...@midmaine.com]

I'll go out on a limb, without research, to say that none of them were
present. For instance, evening grosbeak was first discovered in the
Pacific Northwest. Brown-headed cowbirds evolved to follow buffalo herds.
I still think of glossy ibis as a southern wader, unfairly, I admit. (And
don't get me started on white-faced ibis.) Mourning doves probably moved
in after settlers cleared forest. Maine is sufficiently at the northern
end of their range that we're still one of the few states that doesn't
have a hunting season on them - the most hunted gamebird in America,
believe it or not.

OK, I think dc cormorants were probably here, but I don't know
specifically about Maine.

> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/maine-birds/1621365508.ei3usr0s8w0ow8s0%40webmail.myfairpoint.net.
>

[Stan DeOrsey]

Bob is good and gets just about full credit. The DC Cormorant was the
one likely here "always."

The Evening Grosbeak was a western North America bird only coming far
east in the 1890s.

The Brown-headed Cowbird as Bob says was a plains bird but the plains
extended to Ohio and western NY and Penn. I do not know when the Cowbird
first became established in Maine but likely 1790 to 1830 something like
that.

The Glossy Ibis is my favorite and a bit confusing. It was native to
North Africa / Mediterranean area and, like the Cattle Egret, with
favorable winds reached South America and / or the West Indies in the
early-1800s (Cattle Egret was 1880s in South America). There are
specimen records from NY, etc. in the 1850s then they disappeared
returning to first nest in Florida about 1940 and since have expanded north.

The Mourning Dove was / is a southern bird ... read Knight's Birds of
Maine and he literally lists every sighting up to 1909 (more or less).

As for Wally's Bobolink and Meadowlark, I do believe they were "always"
here but surely in less numbers in the colonial period.

--
Stan DeOrsey js...@att.net

[Bill Sheehan]

Northern Mockingbirds, Pine Warblers, Cooper's Hawks and Turkey Vultures in the County.  

Bill

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Bill Sheehan
Woodland, Aroostook Co., Maine
http://northernmainebirds.blogspot.com/

[Craig Kesselheim]

And then there's the flocks of tourists on MDI who stay well into November now....!

This has been a fun thread,

Craig K

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[Boots.]

Yes, Bob! I have daily sightings in my own backyard in Franklin, ME of those same 4 species. 

On Tue, May 18, 2021 at 11:28 AM <duch...@midmaine.com> wrote:

--

~Boots.

[chr...@myfairpoint.net]

I don't remember how rare it was, but I got both Cardinal and Mockingbird in New Brunswick (near Perth-Andover) 40 years ago, as well as a Mockingbird in Aroostook County.

Wally S.

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[Sarah Caputo]

Cardinals were pretty rare except maybe southern Maine when I was a kid 40 ish years ago, I remember how exciting it was seeing them in St. Louis when we visited family.  Titmice were not here.  Mockingbirds still scarce in the mid coast but I do remember seeing them in Orono in the late 90s as they seemed to come up that river corridor.  The flip side of this is I used to see Boreal chickadees at Great Wass late 80/90's and have not as an adult.

Sarah

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[Sharon F.]

I heard the saw and heard my first Mockingbird in Ocean Park in summer 1968 in a large hemlock tree by the library. It was quite an event for the Florida snowbirds who were there for the summer and myself as well!

First cardinals (early 70's)and titmice (1980 or so) were in the Granite Point area of Biddeford.

Sharon F. / Saco

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From: maine...@googlegroups.com <maine...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Sarah Caputo <catbi...@hotmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 19, 2021 6:52 AM
To: chr...@myfairpoint.net <chr...@myfairpoint.net>; maine birds <maine...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [Maine-birds] Southern birds

 

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