Hawk Watch Friday October 29, 2010

Words simply can't do today justice (not my words at least). It was simply breathtaking. No, wait, awe-inspiring. How about unbelievable? Why don't we just go with all of the above! I was literally speechless during today's amazing passerine flight. I don't think I said more than a couple of complete sentences the first few hours of daylight, and that was in direct correlation with the vast amount of birds flying all around me.

The raptor flight was not too shabby either. With over 1000 birds today, we had a really good push of Sharp-shinned Hawks, American Kestrels, and Northern Harriers. We added another 2 Golden Eagles to the count for the season, one of which was caught by the banders and brought to the platform around 4:30.

Cape May
Cape May Point, New Jersey, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 29, 2010
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Species            Day's Count    Month Total   Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture                7             89            135
Turkey Vulture              60            708            906
Osprey                       8           1771           4512
Bald Eagle                   8            217            393
Northern Harrier            88            962           1433
Sharp-shinned Hawk         556          11698          16918
Cooper's Hawk               39           2670           3554
Northern Goshawk             0              2              2
Red-shouldered Hawk          5             62             67
Broad-winged Hawk            1            749           1202
Red-tailed Hawk             27            284            423
Rough-legged Hawk            0              0              0
Golden Eagle                 2              5              5
American Kestrel           241           2680           5479
Merlin                      41           1331           2152
Peregrine Falcon            13           1082           1359
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:                    1096          24310          38541
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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:
Light to moderate Northwest winds all day with partly cloudy skies.

Raptor Observations:
Very nice movement of raptors today with a good push of Sharp-shinned
Hawks, American Kestrels, and Northern Harriers.

Non-raptor Observations:
LOTS of passerine movement today!  Tons of American Robins, Yellow-rumped
Warblers, Red-winged Blackbirds, finches, and sparrows.  We also had 1
Stilt Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpipers, 5 Cattle Egrets, 40 Cave Swallows,
and Common Loons.

Predictions:
Starting out with Northwest winds for the first couple hours should produce
a nice movement of birds early on, but the winds will be gradually turning
to the Southwest throughout the day.