Hawk Watch Tuesday September 7, 2010

Strong South winds were happening all day today in Cape May. I don't need to elaborate on that much for it to be evident that there wasn't much of a raptor flight.

However on the non-raptor the front the birding, as usual, was pretty good. First 3 Whimbrel flew by the platform at point blank range calling, before heading across the parking lot, much to the delight of the field trip gathered there. The 4 Black-bellied Whistling Ducks dropped into Bunker Pond for a change and stayed for over 3 hours before disappearing back in the direction of Lighthouse Pond. A Sandwich Tern was on the beach for most of the day, and was joined by a 2nd individual in the evening, and a Brown Pelican flew by as well.

As it stands now, things are shaping up so that the raptor flight from Thursday into the weekend will be good.

Cape May
Cape May Point, New Jersey, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 07, 2010
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Species            Day's Count    Month Total   Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture                0              0              0
Turkey Vulture               0             22             22
Osprey                      10            274            274
Bald Eagle                   0             24             24
Northern Harrier             0             23             23
Sharp-shinned Hawk           1             31             31
Cooper's Hawk                3             27             27
Northern Goshawk             0              0              0
Red-shouldered Hawk          0              0              0
Broad-winged Hawk            0              3              3
Red-tailed Hawk              0              9              9
Rough-legged Hawk            0              0              0
Golden Eagle                 0              0              0
American Kestrel             2            187            187
Merlin                       0              7              7
Peregrine Falcon             0              2              2
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

Total:                      16            609            609
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Observation start time: 05:30:00 
Observation end   time: 16:00:00 
Total observation time: 10.5 hours

Official Counter:        Doug Gochfeld

Observers:        

Weather:
SSW/S Winds all day, fairly strong for most of the day. Clear sky, with
some clouds forming/moving in late in the count period.

Raptor Observations:
Barely any. A local Cooper's Hawk made a bunch of visits to the immediate
area of the platform throughout the day.

Non-raptor Observations:
4 Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, 3 flyby Whimbrels, White-rumped Sandpiper,
Sandwich Tern, Brown Pelican, Cape May Warbler.

Predictions:
SSW shifting to the west and then WNW by the afternoon, but probably not
quite in time for a raptor flight to develop. Thursday is when it should
really start getting good.