Bake Oven Knob 2 miles North of Germansville, Pennsylvania, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 11, 2025 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 06:00:00 Observation end time: 17:00:00 Total observation time: 10.25 hours
Official Counter: AB
Observers: Ed Sinkler
Visitors: Christine Kennedy and Ron Depack were up in the morning to enjoy the migration. They were able to see several migrating groups of BW’s and several species of smaller raptor come in hard on BG the decoy. Alex Hayes also joined us in the afternoon and was able to see some of the BE’s moving through. Brian, a local pizza delivery driver was back up again and got to see some of the last of the days flight which happened to be the busiest.
5 visitors 15 hikers
Weather: Mostly N winds for the beginning of the count at 1-3mph. By 13:00 they had shifted to the S at 1-3 mph. Visibility was superb for the entire survey maxing out at 30 miles. Welcome cirrus clouds for most of the count to the east made spotting high streaming BW’s a little easier. Low temperature of 15C at 06:00 and a high of 25C by 11:00.
Raptor Observations: South Lookout
10.27 hours (220.75)
BV 3 (71) TV 17 (338) BE 12 (113) NH 1 (6) SS 14 (72) CH 4 (12) BW 271 (488) RT 3 (69) AK 3 (15) ML 3 (9) UR 2 (28) Total 333 (1299)
BAEA (12): 09:44 A (2), 09:49 I, 09:49 U, 10:22 A, 12:05 I, 13:41 A (3), 14:27 I, 14:54 A, 15:16 U
Building on where we left off yesterday, BW’s again led the flight. The flight got underway in the 09:00 hour with 19 BW’s lifting off at scattered locations throughout the Lehigh Valley. There was a nice smattering of BE’s as well. In the 11:00 hour SS’s led the flight with a total of 6 passing by the OP and many taking swipes at BG the decoy. By 13:00 I was picking up high streaming BW’s mostly to the SW of the OP. I was lucky there was faint cirrus clouds during most of the count to pick up these high flying buteos. Like yesterday I was still unaware of where these high streaming birds were coming in from. At the top of the 15:00 hour 17 BW’s were picked up streaming on this same line as in the afternoon. At this point I realized I wouldn’t be calling it a day at 15:30. The extra time spent was well worth it. With BW’s streaming high this late in the day the thermals must have been good. I picked up a sky high NOHA in some welcome evening clouds near the turnpike. Shortly after this detection I eventually answered my question as to where these high-flying BW’s were streaming in from. I stumbled upon a kettle above the turnpike high above some clouds. I was able to get them in the scope and what originally looked like 75 birds was counted individually as a group of 109 as they streamed out. There were several more pulses of stragglers from this vicinity that helped close out the 16:00 hour with 200 BW’s.
The local RT’s were out, but less active then yesterday. A resident PEFA was spotted in close naked eye possibly checking out BG the decoy. It then dropped below the cliff face at the OP and Ed Sinkler and I were able to track this large falcon hunting above the forest in the bowl as it moved up ridge. At 13:59 an immature RSHA was spotted again bubbling up from the bowl to continue up ridge. At 14:48 a MERL came in and perched briefly in a prominent snag at the back of the OP. It was awesome to spend a brief moment enjoying this small falcons company.
Non-raptor Observations: YTVI singing down in the bowl most of the morning. Nice foraging flock of warblers joined the TUTI and BCCH behind the OP in the canopy as well during the morning hours.
Wild Turkey 1 Mourning Dove 1 Ruby-throated Hummingbird 6 Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Downy Woodpecker 1 Hairy Woodpecker 1 Pileated Woodpecker 2 Northern Flicker 3 Eastern Wood-Pewee 1 Yellow-throated Vireo 1 Red-eyed Vireo 2 Blue Jay 2 American Crow 2 Common Raven 4 Black-capped Chickadee 1 Tufted Titmouse 1 Tree Swallow 16 White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Red-breasted Nuthatch 1 Carolina Wren 2 Cedar Waxwing 3 American Goldfinch 2 Cape May Warbler 2 Magnolia Warbler 2 Black-throated Green Warbler 2 Scarlet Tanager 1
Predictions: Sunny, with a high near 76. Northeast wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the morning. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Adam Richardson (<poecile.gambeli...>) Bake Oven Knob information may be found at: www.lgnc.org
