Fort Smallwood Park (02 May 2026) 66 Raptors

[Sue Ricciardi]

Fort Smallwood Park
Pasadena, Maryland, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: May 02, 2026
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	2	4	122
Turkey Vulture	44	90	8422
Osprey	5	7	229
Bald Eagle	3	3	92
Northern Harrier	1	1	48
Sharp-shinned Hawk	8	9	600
Cooper's Hawk	2	3	172
American Goshawk	0	0	0
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	0	256
Broad-winged Hawk	0	0	83
Red-tailed Hawk	0	0	83
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	0	0	96
Merlin	1	1	32
Peregrine Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Accipitrine	0	0	9
Unknown Buteo	0	0	8
Unknown Falcon	0	0	7
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	1	15
Swallow-tailed Kite	0	0	2
Total:	66	119	10276

Observation start time:	8:30 am Daylight Time
Observation end time:	4:00 pm
Total observation time:	7.5 hours
Official Counter	Chris Reed
Observers:	Cindy Godwin, Cristians Rivas, Fred Shaffer, Sue Ricciardi

Visitors:
Wendy Crowe, J.B. Churchill, Joanne Howl, Jon Ranson

Weather:
Mostly cloudy, changing from near overcast to cumulus clouds; 49-59 degrees; winds northerly at first 6-10 mph then light and variable in the last three hours.

Raptor Observations:
Flight light but steady and more productive after the cloud cover changed from overcast to cumulus clouds.

Non-raptor Observations:
The bird of the day was a first Park sighting of a Black-necked Stilt! It flew in calling at 9:15 am Daylight Time and stayed for the entire day. Photo, by Chris Reed who first spotted it, can be found here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S331473587

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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.