Hawk Watch Thursday October 21, 2010

How was it today, you might ask. Let's just say I stepped out of my car this morning and was almost blown into the car parked beside me. It was windy this morning. I mean, really windy. As such, there wasn't much in the way of raptors early on. Most birds were having a very hard time in the wind and seemed to be hanging around and/or foraging for much of the morning. The winds did die down a bit after the first few hours, much to the raptors' (and my) relief. We proceeded to have a good day at the platform with a good showing of Sharp-shinned Hawks, Merlins, Northern Harriers, and Peregrine Falcons. We got some excellent views of raptors hunting down the songbirds which is always thrilling to see, even though I'm never quite sure who to route for.

We also had some really great views of Northern Gannets today, which were both numerous and close to shore. There were just a ton of Scoters (mostly Black Scoters) moving out the bay today as well, and we even had a Common Loon fly right over the platform on its way back to sea. There was also the Tree Swallow spectacle this morning as literally thousands of swallows fly across Bunker Pond and the platform. It was simply mesmerizing.

It looks like tomorrow should be a good day with WNW winds forecasted for the entire day. Let's keep our fingers crossed!

Cape May
Cape May Point, New Jersey, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 21, 2010
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Species            Day's Count    Month Total   Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture                7             76            122
Turkey Vulture              15            490            688
Osprey                      17           1715           4456
Bald Eagle                   0            179            355
Northern Harrier            20            674           1145
Sharp-shinned Hawk         255           8881          14101
Cooper's Hawk               18           2314           3198
Northern Goshawk             0              1              1
Red-shouldered Hawk          0             51             56
Broad-winged Hawk            2            733           1186
Red-tailed Hawk              4            196            335
Rough-legged Hawk            0              0              0
Golden Eagle                 0              1              1
American Kestrel            11           2015           4814
Merlin                      76           1106           1927
Peregrine Falcon            16            938           1215
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:                     441          19370          33601
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Observation start time: 06:45:00 
Observation end   time: 16:00:00 
Total observation time: 9.25 hours

Official Counter:        Melissa Roach

Observers:        

Weather:
Very strong SW winds for the first few hours.  The winds eventually died
down a bit and slowly turned West throughout the day, with a Northwest wind
for the last hour.  It was partly cloudy throughout the day with 2 spurts
of rain in the late afternoon.

Raptor Observations:
Good number of birds today with Sharp-shinned Hawks being the dominant
species.  We also had good numbers of Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, and
Northern Harrier.  Osprey have significantly decreased in numbers.

Non-raptor Observations:
Numerous Northern Gannet (some very close views), really good Scoter
movement (mostly Black Scoter), 1 Common Loon fly over the platform, 1
Chimney Swift, 1 Pectoral Sandpiper

Predictions:
Fairly strong WNW winds are called for all day tomorrow so there should be
a good number of low birds moving.