Bradbury Mountain State ParkPownal, Maine, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: May 13, 2022 |
Species | Day's Count | Month Total | Season Total |
Black Vulture | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 470 |
Osprey | 3 | 56 | 284 |
Bald Eagle | 0 | 14 | 96 |
Northern Harrier | 0 | 10 | 83 |
Sharp-shinned Hawk | 22 | 184 | 666 |
Cooper's Hawk | 3 | 11 | 55 |
Northern Goshawk | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Red-shouldered Hawk | 0 | 3 | 123 |
Broad-winged Hawk | 60 | 398 | 1631 |
Red-tailed Hawk | 3 | 6 | 139 |
Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Golden Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
American Kestrel | 2 | 62 | 302 |
Merlin | 2 | 38 | 77 |
Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 3 | 6 |
Unknown Accipiter | 0 | 0 | 6 |
Unknown Buteo | 0 | 0 | 5 |
Unknown Falcon | 1 | 2 | 5 |
Unknown Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Unknown Raptor | 3 | 9 | 22 |
Total: | 99 | 796 | 3974 |
Observation start time: | 08:00:00 |
Observation end time: | 16:00:00 |
Total observation time: | 8 hours |
Official Counter | Zane Baker |
Observers: | Biz Houghton, Carolyn Fensore, Dave Fensore |
Visitors:The park seemed empty on such a nice day. Only 11 visitors, all of whom
were very quiet and pleasant. It was a very peaceful and calm afternoon
atop The Brad.
Weather:Another beautiful day in the neighborhood. Very minimal light clouds in the
morning cleared out leaving solid blue skies all around. A very dense and
tail fog bank lingered all day at the coast, barely budging an inch. Our
view of Eagle Island was totally obscured. Temps were comfortable, in the
70's. Winds started out light from the SSW but didn't last long before
switching to more SSE and some ESE. By the afternoon wind speeds increased
and became persistent. The final hour of the count was very breezy but
thankfully it wasn't chilly.
Raptor Observations:Finally some immature birds! Where have they been, hanging to our south or
getting pushed inland on the southerly winds we've been experiencing? Or
some other reason entirely? Birds were scattered about despite having
steady winds, some very far away towards the coast which I was a little
surprised by. That's where many of today's unidentified birds came into
play. The close birds I was generally able to age and a good chunk of
todays count was immature birds, many young BW's and some 'tails. We had a
nice display of our local gang of Turkey Vultures, about 15, which seemed
to appear out of nowhere and came in close over the summit. I pointed out
some of the closer birds to an amature photographer trying out a new camera
who got some nice shots of a Kestrel and Red-tail before his battery died.
Non-raptor Observations:In the first hour a first-of-season Indigo Bunting landed in the Oak tree
directly in front of the summit. I was able to share the bird in my scope
with an onlooker who had a minor interest in birds. I recalled I had
digiscoped an Indigo Bunting in that tree a few years ago, so I checked my
old photos and to my surprise today's bird was in the same branch as the
bird in 2018, on this date within the same 15 minute time window. Pretty
uncanny. Other FOY's for the day were a Scarlet Tanager which called twice
before taking flight over the trees and a Savannah Sparrow which gave a few
chip notes before spending a brief moment in the top of a Pine to our SW.
Another bird of note was a Palm Warbler hanging around the summit. I tried
to listen for other new Warblers but I came up short, and once the winds
picked up it became more difficult to hear.
Predictions:Tomorrow could feel like a scortcha' compared to what we've had in the past
week with highs getting into the upper 70's. Clouds should be minimal and
the winds may be light with a slight SW heading for the morning and
switching more S midday. I'll take it. I have a feeling we'll see some more
young birds and many more people.
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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