Fort Smallwood Park (03 Apr 2026) 450 Raptors

[SUE RICCIARDI]

Fort Smallwood Park

Pasadena, Maryland, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 03, 2026
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	2	5	64
Turkey Vulture	340	533	6207
Osprey	29	31	147
Bald Eagle	2	2	48
Northern Harrier	6	6	12
Sharp-shinned Hawk	24	25	73
Cooper's Hawk	9	12	61
American Goshawk	0	0	0
Red-shouldered Hawk	5	5	243
Broad-winged Hawk	0	0	0
Red-tailed Hawk	1	1	59
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	24	24	59
Merlin	4	4	5
Peregrine Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Accipitrine	0	0	2
Unknown Buteo	0	0	4
Unknown Falcon	1	1	2
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	2	3	4
Swallow-tailed Kite	1	1	1
Total:	450	653	6991

Observation start time:	9:30 am Daylight Time
Observation end time:	4:30 pm
Total observation time:	7 hours
Official Counter	Chris Reed, Lynn Davidson
Observers:	Alan Young, Cindy Godwin, Fred Shaffer, Hal Wierenga, Lynn Davidson, Steve Steimel, Sue Ricciardi, Sue Young

Visitors: Al Hafner, 2

Weather:
Drizzle and fog to start, becoming mostly cloudy, still with light fog; 49-74 degrees; poor to fair visibility; winds light at first becoming stronger and with a SW component.

Raptor Observations:
Memorable day! The flight started before the fog lifted appreciably with several falcons and Ospreys. The two hours from 1 to 3 pm daylight time provided 391 individuals of nine species, with 24 Ospreys, 6 Northern Harriers, 22 Sharp-shinned Hawks, and 13 American Kestrels. But the prize appeared earlier at 12:16 pm: a Swallow-tailed Kite! A probable adult, it came in from the waterside behind us, glided SW to the back of the pond, circled a few times and then continued SW, never flapping its wings. We managed a few photos, but with the poor visibility, they were not of good quality; nor was the view crisp as it flew. However, the swallow tails and black and white pattern underneath made the ID unmistakable. Interestingly, we also had two Ospreys of the aircraft kind, which encouraged us to be more specific when a migrant Osprey or harrier of the avian kind was called out. :)

Non-raptor Observations:
First Purple Martin of the season, Lesser Yellowlegs 3, Cedar Waxwing 160, Horned Grebe 41, almost 600 scaup, mostly Greater of those that were id'd.

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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.