Hawk Watch Sunday October 16, 2011

A beautiful autumn day filled with migrating raptors. It doesn't get much better than that :)

Cape May
Cape May Point, New Jersey, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 16, 2011
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Species            Day's Count    Month Total   Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture                0             24             39
Turkey Vulture               0            130            151
Osprey                      39           1081           2428
Bald Eagle                  15            159            284
Northern Harrier            10            264            435
Sharp-shinned Hawk         384           6146           9817
Cooper's Hawk               40           1375           1859
Northern Goshawk             0              0              0
Red-shouldered Hawk          0             21             30
Broad-winged Hawk            1            845            924
Red-tailed Hawk              1             63            106
Rough-legged Hawk            0              0              0
Golden Eagle                 0              1              1
American Kestrel           174           2671           4881
Merlin                      38            606           1364
Peregrine Falcon            15            417            946
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
Swainson's Hawk              0              1              3

Total:                     717          13804          23268
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Observation start time: 06:00:00 
Observation end   time: 16:00:00 
Total observation time: 10 hours

Official Counter:        Melissa Roach

Observers:        Tom Johnson, Vince Elia

Weather:
Much less wind today with minimal cloud coverage.  The day started with
West winds, that turned sligtly North for about 2 hours, then back to West,
and eventually Southwest for the last 2 hours of the day.  

Raptor Observations:
A very good day on the platform with over 700 birds counted.  Sharp-shins
were the dominant species by far, but American Kestrels put on a nice late
push.  

Non-raptor Observations:

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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/