Hawk Watch Wednesday November 10, 2010

Even though we had nice NNW/North winds all day, the raptor movement was fairly slow. That was probably due, in large part, to the overcast skies all day as well. Most activity occurred in the late morning just before noon and then came to a crawl by the afternoon. We did get a great view of a Northern Goshawk that popped up above the pavilion and proceeded to fly just a few yards from the platform.

Cape May
Cape May Point, New Jersey, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 10, 2010
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Species            Day's Count    Month Total   Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture               11            167            343
Turkey Vulture              18            918           2008
Osprey                       1             24           4554
Bald Eagle                   1             61            470
Northern Harrier            28            614           2245
Sharp-shinned Hawk          98           1624          19431
Cooper's Hawk                8            310           3995
Northern Goshawk             1             11             13
Red-shouldered Hawk          5            214            328
Broad-winged Hawk            1             13           1220
Red-tailed Hawk             16            933           1515
Rough-legged Hawk            0              0              0
Golden Eagle                 0             16             24
American Kestrel             3             66           5627
Merlin                       2             59           2232
Peregrine Falcon             2             17           1386
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:                     195           5047          45392
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Observation start time: 06:30:00 
Observation end   time: 15:30:00 
Total observation time: 9 hours

Official Counter:        Melissa Roach

Observers:        

Weather:
Overcast skies all day with light NNW winds for the first 3 hours becoming
North for the remainder of the day.  We did have great visibility as well.

Raptor Observations:
A fairly slow day with most activity just before midday, but becoming very
slow in the afternoon.  Another Northern Goshawk was counted today  after
it flew within a few yards of the observation platform.

Non-raptor Observations:
5 Wilson's Snipe, 1 male Hooded Merganser, Common Loons, scoters, Northern
Gannets, 1 Cattle Egret

Predictions:
Clear skies tomorrow with moderate NNE winds all day.  We should have a
decent amount of birds moving.