Fort Smallwood Park (15 Apr 2024) 75 Raptors

[SUE RICCIARDI]

Fort Smallwood Park
Pasadena, Maryland, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 15, 2024
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	10	59	208
Turkey Vulture	48	2879	9045
Osprey	5	66	230
Bald Eagle	0	20	82
Northern Harrier	0	26	40
Sharp-shinned Hawk	4	229	310
Cooper's Hawk	3	91	173
American Goshawk	0	0	0
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	26	324
Broad-winged Hawk	2	105	105
Red-tailed Hawk	0	51	129
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	2	104	207
Merlin	1	22	31
Peregrine Falcon	0	1	1
Unknown Accipiter	0	1	4
Unknown Buteo	0	4	7
Unknown Falcon	0	5	6
Unknown Eagle	0	0	1
Unknown Raptor	0	14	16
Total:	75	3703	10919

Observation start time:	8:30 am
Observation end time:	2:30 pm Daylight Time
Total observation time:	6 hours
Official Counter	Chris Reed, Sue Ricciardi
Observers:	Chris Reed, Cindy Godwin, Fred Shaffer, Hal Wierenga, Ralph Geuder

Weather:
Partly cloudy; 65-84 degrees; fair to good visibility; winds on the light side, mostly with a westerly component 5-13 mph

Raptor Observations:
Light flight today, perhaps the light winds and not much in the pipeline after yesterday

Non-raptor Observations:
A Wilson's Snipe was present all day in the muddy edges of the rain-caused ponded area right in front of us. A real treat to see this bird so close, feeding and then freezing when unaware Park visitors came near. Tadpoles appearing after the Eastern Spadefoot mating frenzy a few days ago.

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Report submitted by Sue Ricciardi (susi...@comcast.net)
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]

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Site Description
Fort Smallwood Park is located on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay at the
mouth of the Patapsco River, 11 miles south of Baltimore, MD. Best winds are
from the southwest.