Weather: The morning started out cloudy with temps in the 40s, and the sun peeked out a bit in the mid- to late-morning. Winds were out of the SW at around 10-20mph. At around noon, a cold front moved through bringing rain and snow. Temps dropped into the low 30s, with strong WNW winds increasing to around 30mph. Skies cleared at 3pm, but the strong winds shut down any potential for movement.
Raptor Observations: Today was a decent day with just over 400 individuals, almost all of which moved through in a short window just before the cold front. Most of the birds were Turkey Vultures although we did see a few Northern Harriers, Red-shouldered Hawks, and Sharp-shinned Hawks. For falcons we had 5 American Kestrels and 1 Merlin.
Non-raptor Observations: It was a 3 shorebird day! Killdeer was the first, and is a regular flyby at the platform, but today we also had a Pectoral Sandpiper and a Wilson's Snipe fly past. We also detected our first American Pipit of the season, calling as it went over.
Predictions: Tomorrow will be partly cloudy with a high of 34F. Winds from the NNE at 10-15mph. Given the wind direction, there will probably be very few migrants tomorrow. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Maili Waters (<mailirwaters...>) Braddock Bay information may be found at: http://www.bbrr.org/
