Fwd: Bradbury Mountain State Park (10 May 2018) 8 Raptors

[Derek Lovitch]

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: May 10, 2018
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	0	564
Osprey	2	54	329
Bald Eagle	0	1	76
Northern Harrier	1	6	84
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1	123	465
Cooper's Hawk	1	8	77
Northern Goshawk	0	2	8
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	2	78
Broad-winged Hawk	1	386	1614
Red-tailed Hawk	0	6	190
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	0	75	317
Merlin	2	18	54
Peregrine Falcon	0	4	6
Unknown Accipiter	0	1	8
Unknown Buteo	0	2	8
Unknown Falcon	0	0	1
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	10	25
Total:	8	698	3904

Observation start time:	09:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	6.33 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Steve Barker

Visitors:
15 visitors today.

Weather:
The start of the count was delayed, due to morning fog and mist. The fog started to clear out by mid morning, at which point I officially opened for business. Visibility wasn't great today due to some lingering moisture in the air. The sky remained mostly cloudy, with a fairly low ceiling. Temps barely reached 60 degrees. In the afternoon wind from the SSE began to increase, becoming steady, and dropping the temperature. By 4:00 pm EST the wind had become very strong, with large trees swaying in constant motion. Along with the wind came the fog again, plus some drizzle. The poor visibility shut down the count 40 minutes early.

Raptor Observations:
The SSE winds caused birds to take haphazard routes past the mountain, creating a little confusion as to whether they were locals or migrants. I was watching an immature Coop who seemed to be lingering near the summit, when two adult Coops popped up, and started displaying, one of whom took a pass at the young bird. The two adults escorted the young bird far away from the mountain to the east. If the young bird thought it was done with migration, it was wrong.

Non-raptor Observations:
30 species were seen or heard today. One new arrival to the summit today was a Lincoln's Sparrow, who remained shy, but would occasionally, and cautiously come out from the Junipers to feed in the grass on the edge of the granite outcropping.

Predictions:
Tomorrow should be dry, as more high pressure moves in. Skies should remain pretty clear, allowing for some thermal production. Temperatures may climb into the mid 60's. Winds are predicted to shift around to more NW for the day, maybe becoming straight W by the end of the count. Hopefully, if wind speeds remain light, we could see a nice push of immature Broad-wings tomorrow. NW isn't bad, and should keep birds from heading to far inland before reaching the mountain. Only 96 more birds to hit that nice 4000 mark. I think we can do it.

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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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