Hawk Watch Friday October 15, 2010

It was certainly a brisk and blustery day at the Hawk Watch platform, but there was still plenty to be seen. The raptors were moving steadily throughout the day, and the strong winds kept the birds low the entire day. Somewhat surprisingly, we had over 100 American Kestrels braving the winds today even though it is getting fairly late for their migration period.

There were some standout highlights today as well. A Sandhill Crane was picked up at distance just before 2 pm and slowly, but surely, made its way closer to the platform. It was later seen again flying across the meadows and actually landed on the beach! We also got a great look at a Cattle Egret that flew right in front of the platform. There were numerous Northern Gannets feeding offshore, some of which flew fairly close. We even had 2 River Otters on the pond! Yes, I know they aren't birds, but it was still really exciting to see them make their way across Bunker Pond. What can I say? Otters are awesome.


Cape May
Cape May Point, New Jersey, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 15, 2010
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 53 99
Turkey Vulture 0 287 485
Osprey 41 1607 4348
Bald Eagle 2 151 327
Northern Harrier 5 545 1016
Sharp-shinned Hawk 258 7394 12614
Cooper's Hawk 44 1782 2666
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 22 27
Broad-winged Hawk 2 691 1144
Red-tailed Hawk 1 99 238
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 106 1596 4395
Merlin 34 866 1687
Peregrine Falcon 21 846 1123
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: 514 15939 30170
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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 strong WNW winds turning to NW for the majority of the day. Clear
skies becoming partly cloudy.

Raptor Observations:
All birds stayed very low today because of the strong winds, but there were
good numbers of Sharp-shinneds and falcons.

Non-raptor Observations:
Sandhill Crane, Cattle Egret, Snow Goose, numerous Northern Gannets

Predictions:
Much similar to today's weather with very strong WNW winds becoming NW by
the end of the day.

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