Hawk Watch Friday November 19, 2010

It was quite the day at the Hawk Watch platform! Considering we're already halfway through November, we had a nice movement of raptors today accompanied by a good passerine flight in the morning. Although late for falcons, we saw all three species today including 2 adult Peregrines that were fighting with one another right over the parking lot! Another raptor highlight comes from a late-season adult Osprey. Not excited yet? Well, this Osprey was special because it clearly had some unique plumage details that I have never seen before. The "necklace" on this bird was quite apparent as it was heavily marked. Even more interesting, however, was the lack of a dark eye line. There was no eye line because the entire head and cheek were dark! Instead of just having an eye line, this bird appeared to have an entire dark "helmet". It was bizarre. Unfortunately, no one had a camera. Who knows, though, maybe it will show up tomorrow (fingers crossed).

Oh, and did I mention the adult Northern Goshawk that Doug Gochfeld found today?! Just after 1pm, the adult Goshawk was seen flying low over the cedar line, but soon flew out of sight. Keep your eyes peeled because you never know if it's still hanging around.

Cape May
Cape May Point, New Jersey, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 19, 2010
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Species            Day's Count    Month Total   Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture               16            241            417
Turkey Vulture              34           1129           2219
Osprey                       2             37           4567
Bald Eagle                   8             77            486
Northern Harrier            17            691           2322
Sharp-shinned Hawk          44           1898          19705
Cooper's Hawk                8            365           4050
Northern Goshawk             1             17             19
Red-shouldered Hawk         23            268            382
Broad-winged Hawk            0             15           1222
Red-tailed Hawk             28           1047           1629
Rough-legged Hawk            0              0              0
Golden Eagle                 0             17             25
American Kestrel             4             84           5645
Merlin                       2             67           2240
Peregrine Falcon             4             31           1400
Unknown Accipiter            0              0              0
Unknown Buteo                0              0              0
Unknown Falcon               0              1              2
Unknown Eagle                0              0              0
Unknown Raptor               0              0              0

Total:                     191           5985          46330
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Observation start time: 06:45:00
Observation end   time: 15:30:00
Total observation time: 8.75 hours

Official Counter:        Melissa Roach

Observers:       

Weather:
Light to moderate North (sometimes NNW) winds the entire day with some
clouds.

Raptor Observations:
Decent movement for mid-November with a good number of Bald Eagles,
Red-tailed Hawks, and Red-shouldered Hawks.  We had an interesting adult
Osprey; it had a heavily streaked "necklace" and instead of an eyeline, it
had a solid dark head with dark cheeks.  There were 2 adult Peregrine
Falcons interacting with each other (they didn't seem too pleased about it
either), but the highlight was the adult Northern Goshawk seen just after 1
pm.

Non-raptor Observations:
Lots of Northern Gannets for the first couple of hours (1270 in one scan),
2 Redhead, 2 Horned Larks, several flocks of Snow Bunting (one flock of
13), 1 Pectoral Sandpiper, 2 Belted Kingfishers, Northern Rough-winged
Swallow, Barn Swallow, a number of Cave Swallows

Predictions:
Moderate Southwest winds becoming West by 1pm for tomorrow so I'm not
expecting many birds.