Hawk Watch Wednesday October 12, 2011

It was quite the slow day with overcast skies, scattered showers, and strong East-northeast winds. Even though I only counted 25 migrants, the day wasn't a total bust since there were a few Merlins and Peregrines foraging pretty much the entire day. They helped keep me awake.


Cape May
Cape May Point, New Jersey, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 12, 2011
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 24 39
Turkey Vulture 0 130 151
Osprey 6 1019 2366
Bald Eagle 1 140 265
Northern Harrier 2 253 424
Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 5703 9374
Cooper's Hawk 1 1324 1808
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 21 30
Broad-winged Hawk 0 844 923
Red-tailed Hawk 0 62 105
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 1 1
American Kestrel 0 2448 4658
Merlin 6 538 1296
Peregrine Falcon 9 371 900
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: 25 12879 22343
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Observation start time: 06:30:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 9.5 hours

Official Counter: Melissa Roach

Observers:

Weather:
The count was delayed by 30 minutes due to heavy rain this morning, and
moderate to light rain continued until about 7:30 (STD). The rest of the
day saw East-northeast (eventually turning straight East for the last two
hours) and overcast skies.

Raptor Observations:
A very slow day for migrants but we were treatly to foraging Merlins and
Peregrines periodically throughout the day and an immature Red-tailed Hawk
that perched just feet away from the platform.

Non-raptor Observations:
4 Parasitic Jaegers, 4 Wilson's Snipe, 2 White-crowned Sparrows, 1
Orange-crowned Warbler, 3 Common Loons, 50 Royal Terns, 60 Forster's Terns,
4 Common Terns, 3 Pied-billed Grebes, 9 Northern Pintail, 1 Eurasian
Wigeon, 1 Cattle Egret, 1 Chimney Swift

Predictions:
Tomorrow looks even worse than today as the wind is supposed to shift to
the Southeast. Bad news for us.
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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/

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