Bake Oven Knob 2 miles North of Germansville, Pennsylvania, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Aug 21, 2025 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 8.07 hours
Official Counter: AB
Observers: Brody Ritter
Visitors: Brody Ritter who is a summer intern at LGNC joined me for most of the day. It was his last day of his internship before he headed back to school to finish up his degree. He patiently waited thru the foggy morning hours and the rain in the afternoon to catch a few migrating raptors. He was good help spotting birds and I hope he is able to make it back up this fall on one of his long weekends. Towards the end of the day Greg Grammes stopped by to visit.
7 hikers 1 AT hiker
Weather: A wet and unseasonably cool day on Blue Mountain. Winds were out of the ENE to NE for the entire count at 4-7mph peaking at 8-12mph early in the count at 09:00. Due to the northerly component to the wind the North Lookout was utilized. Visibility came and went in the early morning hours as fog and a light drizzle kept drifting over the Notch from the north. By noon the ceiling began to lift rapidly and visibility improved to 15 miles and by 14:00 were at a maximum of 30 miles. All of the precipitation the last few days made for ideal air quality. Mostly cloudy skies for the entire count. Low temperature of 13C at 08:00 and a high of 20C by the end of the count at 15:30. A light drizzle was tapering at the beginning of the count, but by 09:00 a steady drizzle blew over the OP for two hours. By 11:00 the drizzle stopped and conditions improved rapidly.
Raptor Observations: 8.07 hrs (46.58)
BV 1 (7) TV 6 (14) OS 1 (14) BE 2 (20) SS 1 (5) RS 1 (2) RT 1 (9) UR 1 (8) Total 14 (154)
BAEA (2): 14:24 I, 14:28 I
No migrating raptors were detected in the on again off again drizzle of the morning hours. By 11:00 when the precipitation stopped, we picked up our first migrant of the day far up ridge a lone SSHA. It worked hard to gain altitude, but once it did it got some help from the north wind. A lone RSHA was spotted low in the bowl in the noon hour as well as a near adult RTHA that Brody picked up. In the 13:00 hour two immature BE’s were spotted over the Lehigh River. It was beneficial to be at the North Lookout to get a better feel for these birds coming in off the north of the ridge. The day was closed out with a lone OSPR flying up the bowl and through the notch to the north.
No resident raptors were detected during the days survey, although a lone RTHA was heard over Lehigh Valley late in the afternoon.
Non-raptor Observations: In the morning hours we were visited by a nice foraging flock of TUTI followed by CSWA, PIWA and BTNW. A BGGN flitted about directly in front of the OP. The North Lookout definitely has better songbirds thus far this season.
Mourning Dove 5 Chimney Swift 2 Barred Owl 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Hairy Woodpecker 2 Pileated Woodpecker 2 Northern Flicker 1 Eastern Wood-Pewee 1 Red-eyed Vireo 4 Blue Jay 3 Fish Crow 1 Common Raven 2 Tufted Titmouse 2 Tree Swallow 12 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2 American Goldfinch 4 Chestnut-sided Warbler 1 Pine Warbler 1 Black-throated Green Warbler 1
Predictions: Sunny, with a high near 80. North wind around 5 mph. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Adam Richardson (<poecile.gambeli...>) Bake Oven Knob information may be found at: www.lgnc.org
