Fort Smallwood Park (23 Mar 2026) 145 Raptors

[SUE RICCIARDI]

Fort Smallwood Park

Pasadena, Maryland, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 23, 2026
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	37	37
Turkey Vulture	141	3167	3210
Osprey	0	55	55
Bald Eagle	1	27	27
Northern Harrier	0	2	2
Sharp-shinned Hawk	0	20	20
Cooper's Hawk	0	37	37
American Goshawk	0	0	0
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	204	205
Broad-winged Hawk	0	0	0
Red-tailed Hawk	0	26	26
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	3	15	15
Merlin	0	1	1
Peregrine Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Accipitrine	0	1	1
Unknown Buteo	0	3	3
Unknown Falcon	0	1	1
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	1	1
Total:	145	3597	3641

Observation start time:	9:00 am Daylight Time
Observation end time:	300 pm
Total observation time:	6 hours
Official Counter	Chris Reed
Observers:	Sue Ricciardi

Weather:
Some residual fog after the overnight rain. Temperature started out at 59 degrees, rose to 64 degrees, then declined to 52 degrees as the cold front passed by. Dense dark cloud layer brightened with some sunny breaks by the end of the count. Poor to good visibility; winds westerly at first 3-9 mph, becoming northerly often with a NW component, 13-21 mph gusting to 37 mph

Raptor Observations:
Over 100 Turkey Vultures stacked up and swirled around repeatedly until they finally migrated out of the area. Three American Kestrels bouncing around as they made their way north in the strong winds.

Non-raptor Observations:  300 Buffleheads

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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.