Hawk Watch Thursday November 10, 2011

Today was more like a fog watch than a hawk watch. The point was blanketed in heavy fog for almost the entire day. In fact, the fog only lifted for about an hour in the afternoon...when it rained. That being the case, there were the occassional things to look at. I mentioned in an earlier post about a Cooper's Hawk drowning an American Coot and dubbed him as the new Cooter. For those of you who aren't quite familiar with last year's happenings, I'll get you up to date. Last year, we had an adult Great Black-backed Gull picking off the American Coots on Bunker Pond. It only took a few meals for him to get the nickname Cooter. Well, it appears that Cooter passed on his genes to a new generation as we witnessed a young Great Black-backed Gull try to make a snack out of an American Coot today. Even though the gull latched onto the coot's breast twice (and shake it around!), the coot managed to escape...which is not usually the case.

Cape May
Cape May Point, New Jersey, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 10, 2011
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Species            Day's Count    Month Total   Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture                0              0             49
Turkey Vulture               0              0            408
Osprey                       0             10           2619
Bald Eagle                   0             21            393
Northern Harrier             0             26            662
Sharp-shinned Hawk           0            264          14783
Cooper's Hawk                0             53           2863
Northern Goshawk             0              0              0
Red-shouldered Hawk          0             37            166
Broad-winged Hawk            0              4            990
Red-tailed Hawk              0            109            389
Rough-legged Hawk            0              0              0
Golden Eagle                 0              0              5
American Kestrel             0              8           5232
Merlin                       0              4           1596
Peregrine Falcon             1             17           1075
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              0              6

Total:                       1            553          31236
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Observation start time: 06:45:00 
Observation end   time: 15:00:00 
Total observation time: 8.25 hours

Official Counter:        Melissa Roach

Observers:        

Weather:
Fog, fog, fog, rain...then more fog.  

Raptor Observations:
Only one countable bird today: a molting adult Peregrine.

Non-raptor Observations:
176 American Coots, 16 Mute Swans, 5 American Pipits, 1 Red-breasted
Nuthatch, 1 Common Gallinule, 4 Swamp Sparrows, 2 Wilson's Snipe, 2
Blackpoll Warblers, 1 Brown Thrasher, 1 Royal Tern, 27 Forster's Terns, 1
Sanderling, 1 Blue-winged Teal

Predictions:
Hopefully tomorrow's West winds and clear skies will bring some raptors our
way.  
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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/