Hawk Watch Saturday September 10, 2011

Another fun and exciting day at the platform! We had our best day for hawks so far with just over 300 birds counted today. Osprey were certainly the dominant migrant today but we also had good numbers of American Kestrels and Merlin. I should probably mention the Bald Eagle show as well. We had Bald Eagles milling around for much of the day and at one point had a kettle of 8 eagles! It was really exciting to see that many Bald Eagles all circling in the same thermal (almost in the same binocular view!). At the end of the day, we had 8 American Kestrels hanging out at the back of the marsh zipping back and forth in their pursuit of dragonflies.

Cape May
Cape May Point, New Jersey, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 10, 2011
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Species            Day's Count    Month Total   Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture                0              0              0
Turkey Vulture               0              0              0
Osprey                     149            313            313
Bald Eagle                  12             15             15
Northern Harrier             9             19             19
Sharp-shinned Hawk           9             10             10
Cooper's Hawk               18             27             27
Northern Goshawk             0              0              0
Red-shouldered Hawk          0              0              0
Broad-winged Hawk            4              5              5
Red-tailed Hawk              2              6              6
Rough-legged Hawk            0              0              0
Golden Eagle                 0              0              0
American Kestrel            68            110            110
Merlin                      20             38             38
Peregrine Falcon            11             21             21
Unknown Accipiter            0              0              0
Unknown Buteo                0              0              0
Unknown Falcon               0              0              0
Unknown Eagle                0              0              0
Unknown Raptor               0              0              0

Total:                     302            564            564
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Observation start time: 05:30:00 
Observation end   time: 16:00:00 
Total observation time: 10.5 hours

Official Counter:        Melissa Roach

Observers:        

Weather:
Mostly light Southwest winds today with brief periods of WNW winds.  Poor
visibility in the morning with dense fog but becoming clear by late morning
with mostly clear skies.

Raptor Observations:
Our best day yet with just over 300 migrants and once again dominated by
Osprey.  We also had good numbers of American Kestrels and Merlin.  We had
a good showing of Bald Eagles as well with a kettle of 8 birds that
lingered around for a quite a while and provided great looks.

Non-raptor Observations:
1 Hudsonian Godwit, 2 Buff-breasted Sandpipers, 1 Cattle Egret, 3 Green
Herons, 9 American Wigeon, 2 Yellow-headed Blackbirds, 1 Gull-billed Tern
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Report submitted by Melissa Roach (roach.mc1@gmail.com)
Cape May Hawkwatch information may be found at:
http://www.njaudubon.org/Centers/CMBO/