Bake Oven Knob 2 miles North of Germansville, Pennsylvania, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 12, 2025 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 06:00:00 Observation end time: 17:00:00 Total observation time: 10.25 hours
Official Counter: AB
Observers:
Visitors: 50 hikers
Weather: Mostly light E winds at 1-3mph. Visibility was limited to 15 miles from 09:00 to 13:00 due to haze in the valley. By 13:00 it gradually improved for the rest of the count. Blue skies for most of the morning, but welcome clouds built in rapidly from noon on. This made for superb afternoon spotting conditions. Low temperature of 17C at 06:45 and a high of 26C by 11:00.
Raptor Observations: South Lookout
10.25 hrs (230.98)
BV 5 (76)TV 18 (356) OS 2 (66) BE 17 (130) SS 16 (88) CH 3 (23) BW 1189 (1677) RT 7 (76) AK 6 (21) ML 1 (10) UR 7 (35) Total 1271 (2570)
BAEA (17): 08:42 U, 09:11 A, 10:06 I, 10:09 A, 10:13 I, 11:23 I, 12:58 A, 13:07 I, 13:21 A, 13:28 I, 13:53 A, 13:58 A, 14:02 U, 14:33 A, 15:39 U, 16:14 A, 16:36 A
Decent lift off of BW’s with 53 bubbling up from the south slope of Blue Mountain in the 07:00 hour. Nice showing of accipiters throughout the day. AK’s seem to be picking up as well. From 13:00 on the flight continued to build and again like yesterday staying late to mop up all the BW’s paid off. The 16:00 hour saw 828 come through with the largest kettle spotted at 16:24 that numbered 455 individuals. Towards the end of the count BW’s were seen meandering in the bowl and hooking it down into the canopy steeply. Since they were bedding down for the night tomorrow should see an excellent lift off in the 07:00 hour.
Resident RT’s were active during the count and the immature worked up the courage to do battle with BG the decoy. It was really ticked off coming in multiple times and crying at it. It would bank back over the canopy of the forest and climb high on the morning thermal to get another run at it. I thoroughly enjoyed watching it head on coming in on the decoy. The intent is deadly for the RT. In other news – Stubby the tailless TV is back and cruised through at 11:36 heading up ridge.
Non-raptor Observations: Another CONI came ripping through the notch before heading S over the bowl. The light was really good on this migrant as it winged S.
Wild Turkey 1 Mourning Dove 1 Common Nighthawk 1 Chimney Swift 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Downy Woodpecker 1 Pileated Woodpecker 2 Northern Flicker 1 Yellow-throated Vireo 1 Blue Jay 3 American Crow 2 Common Raven 3 Black-capped Chickadee 2 Tufted Titmouse 1 Red-breasted Nuthatch 2 Carolina Wren 1 Cedar Waxwing 32 American Goldfinch 2 Scarlet Tanager 1
Predictions: Patchy fog before 9am. Otherwise, mostly sunny, with a high near 79. Calm wind becoming southwest around 5 mph in the afternoon.
======================================================================== Report submitted by Adam Richardson (<poecile.gambeli...>) Bake Oven Knob information may be found at: www.lgnc.org
