Counts
Osprey 11
Bald Eagle 13
Northern Harrier 5
Sharp-shinned Hawk 14
Broad-winged Hawk 493
American Kestrel 14
Peregrine Falcon 2
unknown raptor 2
Total 554
Observation Period: 9:00AM – 6:00PM
Observers: Todd Watts, Hank and Carolyn Scarth, Richard Blacquiere, Mike Bamford, Amanda Goodyear Judith Dewer, John and Nancy Middleton, Tawnee Dwyer, Ann McAllister, Taylor LeBlanc, Brodie Braun, Liam Robinson, Randall Keith, John Taylor
Weather: Cloudless skies until a few fair weather clouds moved in after 3PM. NW winds 20-30 kmh dropping to 15-20. Rh 74% dropping to 44
Notes: Not the type of flight expected – A modest movement of Broad-wings occurred extremely tight to the coast on our southern horizon, the only place where we have any trees above eye level. Hard to find activity anywhere else, especially when it came to Broad-wings. Scanning the scattered late day clouds produced nothing. No late day spike of any type. We worked hard and came up with relatively little, considering the effort. Fortunately, there are better days. The largest kettle today contained roughly 60 birds. Most of the Broad-wings arrived in little groups of 5 to 15. Many were seen through the trees or near the limit of detection with a 25x scope.
Clarry Hill Maine, the closest hawk watch site to regularly report large numbers of Broad-wings recorded roughly the same number of birds as we did today. This strongly suggests that many of the species did not move.
Highlights: The birds tended to be distance, but there was good viewing here and there.
Birds going for the decoy: Sharp-shinned Hawk and American Kestrel
Raptor interactions: Sharp-shinned Hawk and American Kestrel, American Kestrel and Broad-winged Hawk, Bald Eagle and Osprey, Bald Eagle and Bald Eagle (aggressor listed first)
Non-raptors: Very few passerines moving.
The coming days: Poor conditions are expected for Sunday. No counts are planned. Monday and Tuesday (the 21st and 22nd) look promising. We still haven’t observed a big movement of Broad-wings and it hasn’t ever happened later than the 22nd, so…
Spotting hawks can be fun and will help support this project, so join me on Monday, if you are free.
More details can be found at https://www.hawkcount.org. Additional information on hawk migration can be found at https://www.hmana.org/
This project takes place on private land. Please contact the project co-ordinator before visiting the site.
Primary support comes from the New Brunswick Wildlife Trust Fund (NBWTF) with additional support from the New Brunswick Environmental Trust Fund, private donors and the volunteers. Purchasing conservation license plates supports the NBWTF and this project.
Todd Watts
Official Counter/Co-ordinator
Greenlaw Mountain Hawk Watch
Saint John Naturalists’ Club