Hawk Watch Tuesday October 26, 2010

Another unexpectedly decent flight for south winds. Over 200 Sharp-shinned Hawks flew by, and remained steady throughout the day. We hit a milestone for Peregrine Falcons today, as the 1,300th of the season passed by the Hawkwatch at 4:59 PM, with one minute to spare before the end of the count.

On the non-raptor front, the juvenile Blue Grosbeak continued right around the platform for most of the day associating loosely with at least 8 juvenile White-crowned Sparrows. 6 Pine Siskins, a Purple Finch, 3 Eastern Meadowlarks, a Great Cormorant, and a Pectoral Sandpiper were individual species highlights. The most interesting spectacles were the relatively large migrations of American Robins, Northern Gannets, and Swallows. The Swallow flight was comprised almost entirely of Tree Swallows (as expected), although a single Cliff Swallow and 5 Northern Rough-winged Swallows added some spice (however scant).

Location: Cape Island--CMPSP--Hawkwatch Platform (CMBO hawkwatch)
Observation date: 10/26/10
Number of species: 79

Canada Goose X
Mute Swan X
Gadwall X
American Wigeon X
American Black Duck X
Mallard X
Blue-winged Teal 1
Northern Shoveler X
Green-winged Teal X
Ring-necked Duck 1
Greater Scaup 13
Surf Scoter X
Black Scoter X
Ruddy Duck 52
Red-throated Loon 1
Common Loon 5
Pied-billed Grebe 4
Great Blue Heron 3
Great Egret 1
Black Vulture 2
Turkey Vulture 10
Osprey 6
Northern Harrier 23
Sharp-shinned Hawk 204
Cooper's Hawk 29
Red-tailed Hawk 1
American Kestrel 4
Merlin 26
Peregrine Falcon 39
Killdeer 4
Greater Yellowlegs 9
Lesser Yellowlegs 15
Sanderling 25
Semipalmated Sandpiper 8
Pectoral Sandpiper 1
Dunlin 18
Laughing Gull X
Ring-billed Gull X
Herring Gull X
Lesser Black-backed Gull 1
Great Black-backed Gull X
Forster's Tern 1
Royal Tern 600
Black Skimmer 280
Rock Pigeon X
Mourning Dove X
Belted Kingfisher 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 75
Blue Jay X
American Crow X
Fish Crow X
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 5
Tree Swallow 9000
Cliff Swallow 1
Carolina Chickadee X
Tufted Titmouse X
Carolina Wren X
Golden-crowned Kinglet X
American Robin 7500
Northern Mockingbird X
European Starling X
American Pipit 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) X
Song Sparrow 3
Swamp Sparrow 6
White-throated Sparrow 3
White-crowned Sparrow 8
Northern Cardinal X
Blue Grosbeak 1
Red-winged Blackbird X
Eastern Meadowlark 3
Common Grackle X
Brown-headed Cowbird 150
Purple Finch 1
House Finch 350
Pine Siskin 6
American Goldfinch X
House Sparrow X



Cape May
Cape May Point, New Jersey, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 26, 2010
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 82 128
Turkey Vulture 0 648 846
Osprey 6 1756 4497
Bald Eagle 0 209 385
Northern Harrier 23 829 1300
Sharp-shinned Hawk 204 10684 15904
Cooper's Hawk 29 2576 3460
Northern Goshawk 0 2 2
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 56 61
Broad-winged Hawk 0 748 1201
Red-tailed Hawk 0 253 392
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 3 3
American Kestrel 4 2329 5128
Merlin 26 1233 2054
Peregrine Falcon 39 1023 1300
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0
Unknown Buteo 0 0 0
Unknown Falcon 0 0 1
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 0 0

Total: 331 22431 36662
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Observation start time: 06:15:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 9.75 hours

Official Counter: Doug Gochfeld

Observers:

Weather:
SW/S Winds; Mostly cloudy all day.

Raptor Observations:
1,300th Peregrine Falcon of the season came by at 4:59 PM.

Non-raptor Observations:
Blue Grosbeak, Cliff Swallow, American Pipit, Eastern Meadowlark, Great
Cormorant, 5 Northern Rough-winged Swallows, Great Cormorant, 13 Greater
Scaup, Pectoral Sandpiper, 6+ Pine Siskin

Predictions:
S winds, intermittent thunderstorms. Hard to say but it could be decent for
Peregrines again with all the rain to our west.

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