Hawk Watch Thursday October 14, 2010

With the string of impressive days we've had at the Hawk Watch recently, we were due for a slow day. Today's count started out with fair numbers of Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks, but turned sour about midday when birds were few and far between. With light rain for a few hours that became quite heavy and persisent by late afternoon, the count ended a tad early today.

Even though there weren't many raptors about, we had 4 Common Loon, 1 fairly close Red-throated Loon, 2 Wilson's Snipe, and a small flock of Brant that actually landed on Bunker Pond for a brief few minutes.

Cape May
Cape May Point, New Jersey, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 14, 2010
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Species            Day's Count    Month Total   Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture                0             53             99
Turkey Vulture               0            287            485
Osprey                       2           1566           4307
Bald Eagle                   0            149            325
Northern Harrier             2            540           1011
Sharp-shinned Hawk          72           7136          12356
Cooper's Hawk               10           1738           2622
Northern Goshawk             0              0              0
Red-shouldered Hawk          0             22             27
Broad-winged Hawk            0            689           1142
Red-tailed Hawk              0             98            237
Rough-legged Hawk            0              0              0
Golden Eagle                 0              0              0
American Kestrel             3           1490           4289
Merlin                       4            832           1653
Peregrine Falcon             8            825           1102
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:                     101          15425          29656
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Observation start time: 06:00:00 
Observation end   time: 14:00:00 
Total observation time: 8 hours

Official Counter:        Melissa Roach

Observers:        

Weather:
Variable East winds all day.  Clear skies early on quickly becoming cloudy
with scattered light rain becoming heavy in the afternoon.

Raptor Observations:
Some movement for the few first hours (mostly Sharp-shinneds) but then
slowing down drastically midday.

Non-raptor Observations:
4 Common Loon, 1 Red-throated Loon, Brant, 2 Wilson's Snipe

Predictions:
WNW winds turning to West for the majority of the day should produce a good
number of birds.  The winds, however, are going to be very strong with
gusts up to 40 mph which could hinder migration.