Hawk Watch Friday October 7, 2011

Cape May
Cape May Point, New Jersey, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 07, 2011
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Species            Day's Count    Month Total   Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture                0             13             28
Turkey Vulture               0             85            106
Osprey                      37            888           2235
Bald Eagle                  11            118            243
Northern Harrier            19            209            380
Sharp-shinned Hawk         170           4499           8170
Cooper's Hawk              107            966           1450
Northern Goshawk             0              0              0
Red-shouldered Hawk          2             18             27
Broad-winged Hawk            0            775            854
Red-tailed Hawk              4             39             82
Rough-legged Hawk            0              0              0
Golden Eagle                 0              0              0
American Kestrel             6           2320           4530
Merlin                      24            484           1242
Peregrine Falcon            23            186            715
Unknown Accipiter            0              0              0
Unknown Buteo                0              0              0
Unknown Falcon               0              0              0
Unknown Eagle                0              0              0
Unknown Raptor               0              0              0
Swainson's Hawk              0              1              3

Total:                     403          10601          20065
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Observation start time: 06:00:00 
Observation end   time: 16:00:00 
Total observation time: 10 hours

Official Counter:        Melissa Roach

Observers:        

Weather:
Very light North winds to start with, but as the wind turned to the East,
it also picked up in intensity as well.  Clear blue skies for the vast
majority of the day again with a couple of hours in the afternoon with
significant clouds (yay).  

Raptor Observations:
A much slower day today with just over 400 birds counted.  

Non-raptor Observations:


Predictions:
It looks like the day will be dominated by Northwest skies which is perfect
for us.  However, the winds will be very light and there will be zero cloud
coverage which means that the birds will be flying extremely high up in the
blue (making them very hard to see). 
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Report submitted by Melissa Roach (roach.mc1@gmail.com)
Cape May Hawkwatch information may be found at:
http://www.njaudubon.org/Centers/CMBO/