Well, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, I had another slow day at the hawk watch with a total of 24 migrating raptors (a lot less than the 122 from the day before!). The highlight for me was stumbling upon a Hermit Thrush when I first arrived at the watch in the morning. It’s a miracle that I had the camera out and was able to get a shot. Here’s a shot of a low flying Turkey Vulture:
And, here is my report for the day:
Mount Peter
Warwick, New York, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 19, 2013
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Species Day’s Count Month Total Season Total
—————— ———– ————– ————–
Black Vulture 0 20 45
Turkey Vulture 0 4 7
Osprey 1 16 119
Bald Eagle 0 14 85
Northern Harrier 0 7 34
Sharp-shinned Hawk 18 354 754
Cooper’s Hawk 3 21 45
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 11 32
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 7611
Red-tailed Hawk 0 3 9
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 1 18 108
Merlin 1 6 11
Peregrine Falcon 0 6 12
Unknown Accipiter 0 2 2
Unknown Buteo 0 1 4
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Falcon 0 0 1
Unknown Raptor 0 1 19
Total: 24 484 8898
———————————————————————-
Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 14:30:00
Total observation time: 6.5 hours
Official Counter: Matt Zeitler
Observers:
Visitors:
Lynne Snyder, Eileen Fox, and Allen Herron.
Weather:
Cool and sunny at the start of the watch with very little wind.
Temperatures and clouds both increased and wind picked up from the south as
the day progressed. Temperatures ranged from 11 to 18 degrees Celsius.
Raptor Observations:
The height of the flight was highly variable today with some birds flying
just over the observation platforms and others at the limit of binoculars.
For migrating raptors we had (1) unknown American Kestrel. In the third
hour of the watch (2) adult Bald Eagles were spotted to the west of the
platform and eventually headed northeast. In the fourth hour of the watch a
single adult Bald Eagle soared over the valley for a while before heading
north.
Non-raptor Observations:
Non-raptor species: Brant (10), Blue Jay (11), Tufted Titmouse (4),
Black-capped Chickadee (2), Cedar Waxwing (16), Canada Goose (102), Downy
Woodpecker (1), Red-bellied Woodpecker (1), Northern Flicker (1), American
Robin (2), Common Raven (2), American Crow (6).