At long last, I finally had a good day at the hawk watch. I got my first migrating raptor before I even had a chance to unpack my gear as I arrived at the platform. Things stayed pretty steady for the rest of the day and in the end, I counted 109 migrating raptors. Thanks to Rob Stone and Rob Pirie (who I met for the first time today) for their help counting. Here’s my report from the day:
Mount Peter
Warwick, New York, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 18, 2014
——————————————————————-
Species Day’s Count / Month Total / Season Total
—————— ———– ————– ————–
Black Vulture 0 2 3
Turkey Vulture 0 46 49
Osprey 3 27 102
Bald Eagle 1 6 53
Northern Harrier 1 11 25
Sharp-shinned Hk 83 381 683
Cooper’s Hawk 7 36 53
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hk 0 11 16
Broad-winged Hk 0 8 5684
Red-tailed Hawk 0 5 6
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 6 26 105
Merlin 5 11 15
Peregrine Falcon 1 4 9
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0
Unknown Buteo 1 5 13
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Falcon 1 2 3
Unknown Raptor 0 4 19
Total: 109 585 6838
———————————————————————-
Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 8 hours
Official Counter: Matt Zeitler
Observers: Rob Stone
Visitors:
Rob Pirie, Rob Stone, Anthony Stone, Kyle Dudgeon, and James & Darlene
Mussi.
Weather:
Cloudy and cool with W winds at approximately 20 km/hr. Temperatures ranged
from 12 to 18 degrees Celsius.
Raptor Observations:
Migrating raptors included: (1) Adult Bald Eagle, (1) Male Northern
Harrier, (5) Unknown American Kestrels, and (1) Female American Kestrel.
Non-migrating raptors included (4) Red-tailed Hawks, many Turkey and Black
Vultures, and a Peregrine Falcon which was seen several times to the north
of the platform but was not seen moving through.
Non-raptor Observations:
Other Species: Blue Jay (112), Tufted Titmouse (4), Black-capped Chickadee
(6), Palm Warbler (1), Canada Goose (84), American Goldfinch (24), Rock
Pigeon (4), American Robin (2), American Crow (23), Red-bellied Woodpecker
(2), Pileated Woodpecker (1), Downy Woodpecker (1), Northern Flicker (1),
Common Raven (2), and Monarch Butterfly (18)
