Bake Oven Knob 2 miles North of Germansville, Pennsylvania, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Aug 23, 2025 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 8.33 hours
Official Counter: AB
Observers: Ed Wanamaker, Makayla Hernandez
Visitors: Makayla Hernandez was up early this morning to help with outreach. She did a great job spotting high flying birds and her efforts connecting with visitors was greatly appreciated. We were also joined by Patricia Walters who made her first visit to Bake Oven Knob. She is going to be helping us volunteer on weekends and was getting her bearings on what to bring and expect at a world class migration site. Ed Wanamaker joined us late in the afternoon. He got on many of the high-flying BE’s in the 14:00 hour and really helped boost the day’s tally. I also appreciated hearing the history of the area and he pointed out some more of the landmarks on the horizon.
Weather: Nice south winds for the entire count starting at 1-3mph shortly after 07:00. By 10:00 they had increased to 4-7mph and peaked at 8-12mph at 13:00. There was a haze in the air in the morning hours limiting visibility to Slatington, PA at 7 miles. When the winds picked up at 10:00 it helped clear the haze and visibility improved greatly to 20 miles. By noon visibility was to 30 miles. A thin layer of stratus clouds was off to the north in the morning hours. By 15:00 stratus clouds began to form over Blue Mountain which aided in some of the sky-high migrant detections. Another inversion was in place this morning although the temperature variance wasn’t as big as yesterdays. Low temperature of 18C at 07:00 and a high of 25C by 11:00. Despite the warmer temperatures the steady south wind helped keep us cool at the OP.
Raptor Observations: South Lookout
8.33 hrs (63.42)
BV 5 (16) TV 15 (93) OS 1 (16) BE 7 (28) SS 1 (8) BW 4 (20) RT 6 (16) UR 1 (11) Total 40 (219)
BAEA (7): 09:20 U, 10:39 I, 14:12 A, 14:12 (2) U, 14:14 I, 14:25 A
The flight got underway in the 09:00 hour with a nice pulse of migrating raptors. BW (3) led this first pulse of birds. These early morning birds were mostly following the ridge top of Blue Mountain. There was a slow but steady taper after this and the flight came to a halt in the 13:00 hour. In the 14:00 hour the flight picked up again with BE’s leading this hour. These birds were sky high and it helped having some status clouds to help pick them out. Ed joked that 3 of the BE’s were travelling together on the “family plan”. It indeed looked like an adult and two unaged (possibly juvenile) eagles travelling closely together.
Two resident RT’s were spotted throughout the count frequently kiting over the Notch and further up ridge. One is an adult and the other is a near adult that is quite obvious. An adult and unaged BE was spotted soaring together over Allentown at noon. At 13:00 a SS was detected dogfighting with CORA over the Notch before moving back up ridge.
Non-raptor Observations: BAWW was singing in the canopy right near the OP first thing in the morning as I walked up to the OP. A RTHU came in on Makayla’s blaze orange vest and surprised her. It made a few other brief visits when the OP was least crowded. Two large groups of CORA flew from 1 to the OP to become better acquainted with BC our decoy.
Wild Turkey 1 Mourning Dove 1 Chimney Swift 1 Ruby-throated Hummingbird 2 Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Downy Woodpecker 1 Pileated Woodpecker 2 Northern Flicker 2 Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 1 Eastern Wood-Pewee 2 Red-eyed Vireo 4 Blue Jay 1 American Crow 1 Common Raven 17 Tree Swallow 3 Purple Martin 1 Barn Swallow 3 Cliff Swallow 2 White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Red-breasted Nuthatch 1 Eastern Bluebird 1 American Robin 1 Cedar Waxwing 1 American Goldfinch 1 Black-and-white Warbler 1
Predictions: A chance of showers, with thunderstorms also possible after 2pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 77. South wind around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
======================================================================== Report submitted by Adam Richardson (<poecile.gambeli...>) Bake Oven Knob information may be found at: www.lgnc.org
