Fwd: Fort Smallwood Park (31 May 2025) 8 Raptors

[SUE RICCIARDI]

Fort Smallwood Park
Pasadena, Maryland, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: May 31, 2025
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	46	317
Turkey Vulture	2	820	9171
Osprey	2	29	385
Bald Eagle	1	44	133
Northern Harrier	0	8	110
Sharp-shinned Hawk	0	53	1068
Cooper's Hawk	0	12	323
American Goshawk	0	0	0
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	0	258
Broad-winged Hawk	1	219	513
Red-tailed Hawk	1	15	124
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	0	3	145
Merlin	0	2	52
Peregrine Falcon	0	0	2
Unknown Accipitrine	0	1	10
Unknown Buteo	0	11	24
Unknown Falcon	0	0	10
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	5	23
Mississippi Kite	0	9	9
Swallow-tailed Kite	1	2	2
Total:	8	1279	12679

Observation start time:	9:00 am
Observation end time:	1:00 pm Daylight Time
Total observation time:	4 hours
Official Counter	Chris Reed
Observers:	Cindy Godwin, Cristians Rivas, Hal Wierenga, Lynn Davidson, Sue Ricciardi

Visitors:  Michael Bongiorno

Weather:
Partly to mostly cloudy; 65-71 degrees; fair visibility with some haze; winds strong from the west, 13-21 mph gusting to 35 mph

Raptor Observations:
Weather radar indicated a strong thunderstorm would be in the area at 1 pm clock time. We held out as long as we could and were rewarded with a Swallow-tailed Kite! It appeared at 12:19 and was in view for three minutes as it flew on a steady NNE path. The long swallow tails indicated it was an adult. Second SK of the season. The Red-tailed Hawk was an adult and may have been a northern "abietacola".

Non-raptor Observations:
Three broken Eastern Kingbird eggs were on the ground this morning, probably dumped from the nest during last night's strong storms. The eggs were likely very recently laid since there was only yolk visible inside. The pair of kingbirds were around all day and visited the nest a few times, so they may be going to try again.

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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.