Counts
Osprey 4
Bald Eagle 7
Northern Harrier 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk 7
Broad-winged Hawk 112
American Kestrel 12
Merlin 2
Peregrine Falcon 2
unknown falcon 2
Total 149
Observation Period: 10:00AM – 5:15PM
Observers: Todd Watts, Richard Blacquiere, Hank Scarth, Kevin Hanley, Graham Forbes, and five others (sorry your names are in our log book at the site)
Weather: Dense fog with visibility under one kilometre for the first hour. The fog lifted above the hills during the second hour. 100% cloud-cover diminished to 5% around noon, then built to 65% before falling back to 5% by day’s end. Near calm at the start. During late morning, a WNW wind developed, building to 15-20 kmh with heavier gusts during early afternoon. Rh 100% dropping to 55%. Areas to the east of us were much slower to clear, reporting high Rh and headwinds into mid-afternoon.
Notes: Difficult to find a migrant until around 2:30PM when low flying birds passing directly overhead began to arrive in small, loose groups. This light movement came to an end a few minutes after 4PM. We didn’t get big numbers, but there was very good viewing of low flying birds in the late afternoon, which helped save the day.
Clarry Hill Maine, the closest site to regularly report large numbers of Broad-wings recorded a very modest movement today. Their counts suggest that relatively few birds left NB today.
Highlights: Quite a few low and close birds between 2:30 and 4:00PM. Good raptor interactions.
Birds going for the decoy: Sharp-shinned Hawk and a couple others came in but veered off as they noticed all the humans
Raptor interactions: Peregrine Falcon and Merlin, Merlin and American Kestrel, Merlin and Sharp-shinned Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk and American Kestrel, American Kestrel and Broad-winged Hawk, Bald Eagle and Osprey, Common Raven and Bald Eagle (aggressor listed first)
Non-raptors: Very few passerines moving.
The coming days: Looks like full sun and NW winds for tomorrow. A good flight of Broad-wings is likely. We have a naturalists club outing planned and a few other participants are expected. If we can keep focused on finding birds, it could be a good day.
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
buteobuz@gmail.com
506 321-2125