Fort Smallwood Park (12 Apr 2026) 125 Raptors

[SUE RICCIARDI]

Fort Smallwood Park

Pasadena, Maryland, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 12, 2026
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	6	30	89
Turkey Vulture	83	1577	7251
Osprey	2	75	191
Bald Eagle	3	19	65
Northern Harrier	6	21	27
Sharp-shinned Hawk	8	99	147
Cooper's Hawk	1	33	82
American Goshawk	0	0	0
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	17	255
Broad-winged Hawk	0	4	4
Red-tailed Hawk	4	12	70
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	5	40	75
Merlin	5	13	14
Peregrine Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Accipitrine	0	2	4
Unknown Buteo	0	2	6
Unknown Falcon	2	3	4
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	4	5
Swallow-tailed Kite	0	1	1
Total:	125	1952	8290

Observation start time:	9:00 am Daylight Time
Observation end time:	3:oo pm
Total observation time:	6 hours
Official Counter	Chris Reed
Observers:	Cristians Rivas, Sue Ricciardi

Weather:
Sunny becoming partly cloudy; 55-65 degrees; good visibility; winds mostly with a SE component 5-14 mph gusting to 23 mph

Raptor Observations:
Surprisingly good flight on usually unfavorable winds. Perhaps the winds were more southerly rather than easterly south of us and kept the flight overhead. The flight got very high in the pm, but we managed to snare 5 kestrels and 5 Merlins, with 2 small falcons unidentified. The six harriers were a treat.

Non-raptor Observations: Ruby-crowned Kinglet

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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.