I thought I would hit it out of the park today: September 16. A good WNW wind. Clouds in the sky. With timing and the conditions like this, I expected a “big” day for Broad-winged Hawks. Alas, it was not to be. But, it still was a a pretty darn good day. I tallied 269 migrating raptors, 226 of which were Broad-wings. I had a lot of quality help up there today too: Linda Scrima, Tom Millard, Rick Hansen, and Ken Witkowski all put in some serious time helping me. The payoff was a good variety of migrants – we had a total of (9) different species of migrating raptors (Osprey, B. Eagle, N. Harrier, Sharp-shinned, Cooper’s, Broad-winged, Red-tailed, Am. Kestrel, & Peregrine Falcons). My favorite had to be an adult female and an immature Northern Harrier passing high over the platform together during the first hour of the watch. As always, my Hawkcount.org report is included at the bottom of this post.
Was a State Line on Fri. Afternoon and got my first broadwings A few days before that had a good warbler day at Sandy Hook. Including a fleeting look at Connecticut Brought my warbler count up to 29
Good stuff, Bruce. It’s been a few years since I’ve had a Connecticut, and our best spot for them is closed this fall. Thanks for checking in. Matt