Bradbury Mountain State ParkPownal, Maine, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: May 15, 2022 |
Species | Day's Count | Month Total | Season Total |
Black Vulture | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 470 |
Osprey | 0 | 58 | 286 |
Bald Eagle | 0 | 15 | 97 |
Northern Harrier | 0 | 11 | 84 |
Sharp-shinned Hawk | 1 | 188 | 670 |
Cooper's Hawk | 0 | 12 | 56 |
Northern Goshawk | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Red-shouldered Hawk | 0 | 3 | 123 |
Broad-winged Hawk | 5 | 418 | 1651 |
Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 7 | 140 |
Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Golden Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
American Kestrel | 1 | 65 | 305 |
Merlin | 0 | 38 | 77 |
Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 3 | 6 |
Unknown Accipiter | 0 | 2 | 8 |
Unknown Buteo | 0 | 1 | 6 |
Unknown Falcon | 0 | 2 | 5 |
Unknown Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Unknown Raptor | 0 | 10 | 23 |
Total: | 7 | 833 | 4011 |
Observation start time: | 07:00:00 |
Observation end time: | 16:00:00 |
Total observation time: | 8.5 hours |
Official Counter | Zane Baker |
Observers: | Biz Houghton, Dave Fensore, Derek Lovitch, Jim Pinfold |
Visitors:Thanks to Bradbury Mountain State Park for allowing this project to
continue for another season and hosting the Feathers Over Freeport annual
event which helps to promote hawkwatching and birding in general. Thank you
to Jeannette and Derek Lovitch and Freeport Wild Bird Supply who host and sponsor this project. I never
intended on being much of a birder (I pretend) let alone run a Hawkwatch
and if it wasn't for those two I probably wouldn't have even known about hawk watching. I guess they decided my potato eating habit wouldn't
interfere with the data collection and they asked me back for my fourth
season, and for that I am appreciative. After years of coming to this site
I've never been able to pinpoint what it is about the project that I enjoy
so much but it feels good. Maybe staring out at the landscape under the
sun for eight hours a day tickles some primal brain regions that don't get
much action in modern life.
Let me get this negativity about the final day out of the way first. We
ended the day with a pair of immature Red-handed Looters, what a couple
$%#&!'s (Jim knows). C'mon people! I digress. It seemed more like a weekday
than a Sunday in the park. A few people came and went without much fanfare.
Overall, having interacted with hundreds of people during the past two
months my experience with the public was a good one in net. This site
brings people of all walks of life and you never know what conversations
you might overhear or what you may witness take place. It can be pleasant,
frustrating, perplexing or intriguing. Just for fun I decided to keep a
tally on the number of times people asked about the Steller's Sea Eagle
which came to a grand total of 66. I only tallied one claimed sighting by a
women who said it flew over her yard. She was confident.
On to the MVP's. Thanks to Jim Pinfold for spending so much time up there
with me helping spot birds, running interference with the public and
providing some good laughs. I loved the big-hearted gift giving to young
birders. Thanks to Dave Fensore, the return of a friend from seasons past.
Dave may be the most vigilant of them all. Rarely does his binocular strap
tug at his neck. He can find birds like nobody else and has the patience to
track a bird across the sky until Rhabdo' sets in. That allows me to ID
fast moving birds before trying to find his. He also helped box out people
from entering the paint. Thanks to Matthew Gilbert who we didn't see a lot
of this season but he has bigger, more important things to tend to.
Matthew's ID skills are fantastic which allows me to put faith in his calls
if I don't get to see a particular bird. He is also helpful in answering
questions from the public when I'm a little busy. I hear it's gorgeous where
you’re headed Matthew, I hope you have a great time. There are many other
people who also spent time up there with me even on the slower days,
searching for just one more. Thanks to everybody, it was a pleasure to see
old faces and meet some new ones. The season's numbers are a result of a
team effort, thanks. I never realized just how many people see these
reports, and I'm a little embarrassed. I've received many kind words, which
means a lot to me. I absolutely hate writing and creating the daily
reports, actually I abhor it. I often add references only people involved
will understand or an old movie reference which people may not get but it
started as a way to try and make this entertaining for myself. Thanks for
putting up with me for another season. Happy birding.
Weather:A bit of a drab day to end the count season but we at least got a full day
in. Winds remained light all day coming from the SSE and E. Temps were
comfortable, starting out in the lower 60's and climbing to the upper 60's.
Cloud cover was dense all day with only a brief, and slightly surprising
period of patchy blue skies. Fog hindered our view for the count period,
coming and going from the coast not quite allowing us to see the ocean to
the SSE. Midday the fog crept in and brought some heavy mist and a very
minor shower, if that even qualified as a shower. It was enough to grab the
rain gear and cover our packs. By early afternoon the moisture had passed
and the visibility had improved enough to see Portland 18 miles to our SW.
However, the view to the E was now caped in fog. The fog seemed to rotate
in an arc around the mountain and later in the day it was the E which had
clear views and Portland had again disappeared. The day finally ended with
the fog marching ever closer to the mountain as if the curtains were being
closed on the final act.
All in all from the perspective of being a hawkwatcher there wasn't much to
complain about this season. The summit was dry, free of ice and snow from
start to finish, the temps were quite tolerable and I managed to stay
pretty dry. Sure, there were days I didn't care for and I really despise
the wind but things could always be worse.
Raptor Observations:At least there was something to look at on the final day, unlike one of my
previous seasons. Bird activity in the raptor category didn't get started
until later in the day. Although we did have a Coop buzz the tower this
morning, shooting out from the trees at about waist height and following
the contour of the granite summit right in front of us. That was the
closest bird of the season. It winked.
As soon as the clouds had started to break apart for a moment a few birds
took flight. First it was a Merlin right off the face of the hill. The bird
circled a few times before we were starring at tail feathers. Shortly after
a kettle of 4 BW's, 3 immatures and one adult, kettled together to the N
before all streaming off in a glide. It took some time but I did finally
see an Eagle. I was getting nervous there. Would I not see one of our most
common sights on the final day? Phew! Even though this wasn't a record year
there was something left to be desired, specifically young Broad-wings. We
only started to see multiple immatures coming in on the penultimate day of
the count, and not many. Where are the rest of them? Maybe a lot of birds
were pushed inland to the north of the mountain with the southerly winds we
had or maybe there will be a prolonged migration season as birds are held
up to the south. I wish I had an answer but it's all speculation. The
season certainly started with a bang. We probably missed some birds moving
early since we experienced a very mild and pleasant early March. It's
pretty remarkable for this site to be seeing those numbers for the first
days of the count. It wasn't long though before we started experiencing a
lot of wind, mostly form directions that tend to reduce our daily numbers;
N, E, S and everything in between. We rarely had any sustained SW which is
our preferred direction. Our biggest day of 489 on April 15th occurred with
mostly W winds. When we think of a big day at Bradbury we might expect
somewhere between 1000-2000 birds. Even the other days this year with
tallies in the hundreds birds weren't coming through steadily from start to
finish. It was often an abrupt push then maybe a lull, then another push
which usually correlated with the winds shifting and passing through a more
southerly direction. If only we had a day or two of sustained SW.
Non-raptor Observations:I ended the season with fewer overall species than I thought we'd get. The
weather just wasn't on our side or maybe even the birds. The warblers today
which were around put on a good show. A male and female Blackburnian were
out in the open many times along with our resident Pine Warbler which has
been seen collecting nesting material. An Indigo Bunting perched in the tip
of an oak long enough to train the scope on it and snag a photo.
Hummingbirds were seen on multiple occasions zipping back and forth at the
summit. Here is a list of the species from this season:
Canada Goose, Wood Duck, American Black Duck, Mallard, Common Merganser,
Wild Turkey, Common Loon, Great Blue Heron, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture,
Osprey, Bald Eagle, Northern Harrier, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawk,
Northern Goshawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk,
American Kestrel, Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, Sandhill Crane, Ring-billed
Gull, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull (first from Bradbury), Great
Black-backed Gull, Seagull, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Barred Owl, Chimney
Swift, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Belted Kingfisher, Red-bellied
Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker,
Northern Flicker, Eastern Phoebe, Eastern Kingbird, Blue-headed Vireo, Blue
Jay, American Crow, Common Raven, Horned Lark, Purple Martin, Tree Swallow,
Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Bank Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Barn Swallow,
Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Red-breasted Nuthatch,
White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Golden-crowned Kinglet,
Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Hermit Thrush, European Starling, Cedar Waxwing,
Northern Parula, Magnolia Warbler, Cape May Warbler, Black-throated Blue
Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Blackburnian
Warbler, Pine Warbler, Palm Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, Ovenbird,
Scarlet Tanager, Chipping Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, White-throated
Sparrow, Jack Sparrow, Dark Eyed Junco, Northern Cardinal, Indigo Bunting,
Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird, Purple Finch,
House Finch, American Goldfinch. I should have used the codes.
Report submitted by Jeannette Lovitch (
freeport...@yahoo.com)
Bradbury Mountain State Park information may be found at:
www.freeportwildbirdsupply.com/bradbury-mountain-hawkwatchMore information at
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