Bake Oven Knob 2 miles North of Germansville, Pennsylvania, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 17, 2025 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 17:00:00 Total observation time: 9.8 hours
Official Counter: AB
Observers: Shelly Culbertson
Visitors: Shelly Culbertson was up for the morning and was great help picking out distant SS’s and BW’s over Lehigh Valley. Aaron Frantz was up in the morning as well and great help spotting raptors coming in off the notch.
Weather: Trace amount of rain overnight. E winds at 4-7mph for most of the count. Visibility was mostly good at 20 miles. Mostly cloudy skies for the entire survey made for superb spotting conditions. Low temperature of 15C at 07:00 and a high of 21C by 13:00. In the 14:00 hour it drizzled for approximately 30 seconds. Bands of rain could be seen to the NE in this hour, however much of it appeared to fall as virga.
Raptor Observations: South Lookout
9.8 hours (281.32)
BV 4 (92) TV 16 (422) OS 3 (119) BE 3 (166) SS 26 (255) CH 2 (47) BW 585 (12668) RT 1 (99) Total 640 (14014)
BAEA (3): 08:41 I, 11:43 I, 12:42 A
The survey started with 2 SS’s mobbing the owl within minutes of setting it up. SS’s continued to move through in good numbers throughout the entire survey. BW’s were scattered in small groups or solo throughout the Lehigh Valley and occasionally up on the ridge. At 14:00 I started to pick up on a distant kettle up ridge over 3. This group swung down off Blue Mountain to join a large kettle forming to the N of the ridge on the slope of 5. There were bands of rain moving through to the N and it was awesome to see the BW’s streaming in beneath the virga. This group eventually came back over the notch and kettled nicely over the bowl before moving SW on the S side of Blue Mountain. Shortly after this in the 16:00 hour another kettle was forming to the N of the ridge in the same area. However, this group did not make it up over the ridge. They stayed to the N of the ridge and moved SW. Unfortunately, I may have missed some birds in this group as the trees to the north of the South Lookout obscured their view before streaming out well below horizon. I got a count of approximately 287 out of these last two kettles, but I have a feeling there may have been more building underneath the higher birds that I never got a good look at.
An OSPR mobbed the owl at 11:06 which is the first time I have ever had an OSPR mob an owl decoy. The resident immature RT was observed over the notch and in the bowl for most of the afternoon. At 12:28 an adult BE was spotted on the slope of 1 flying up ridge towards Lehigh Gap.
Non-raptor Observations: Large flock of TRES in the morning foraging over the bowl and Lehigh Valley.
Mourning Dove 2 Killdeer 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Downy Woodpecker 1 Pileated Woodpecker 1 Northern Flicker 1 Least Flycatcher 1 Blue Jay 3 American Crow 3 Common Raven 4 Black-capped Chickadee 6 Tree Swallow 165 Barn Swallow 2 Red-breasted Nuthatch 1 Carolina Wren 1 American Goldfinch 1
Predictions: Areas of fog before 9am. Otherwise, mostly sunny, with a high near 81. Calm wind becoming northwest around 5 mph in the afternoon.
======================================================================== Report submitted by Adam Richardson (<poecile.gambeli...>) Bake Oven Knob information may be found at: www.lgnc.org
