Bake Oven Knob 2 miles North of Germansville, Pennsylvania, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 18, 2025 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 06:00:00 Observation end time: 17:00:00 Total observation time: 9.75 hours
Official Counter: AB
Observers: Bob Astleford, Richard, Sam Arnold, Scott Keyes, Shelly Culbertson, Shelly Culbertson
Visitors: Scott Keys was up early to photograph songbirds at the South Lookout. I appreciate all of his early morning raptor detections which helped with the day’s totals. Apologies to him for spelling his last name wrong on the observer effort. Shelly Culbertson was up in the morning too and great help getting the day going by picking off distant specks that proved to be accipiters and BW’s. Felice Cragin and Chad Schwartz of Lehigh Gap Nature Center guided approximately 35 6th graders to Bake Oven Knob in the morning. The kids were from S S Palmer Elementary and were able to spot TV’s, BW’s and even a bold SS came in on the owl decoy. Jason Beale and Bill Car of Pennsylvania Game Commission also joined us and were working with Chad to see what they could do to help promote the site. As mentioned earlier this season the Pennsylvania Game Commission provides financial and logistical support for Bake Oven Knob Hawk Watch. It was good to get to meet them. Richard joined us after the kids had to go back to school and he was great help spotting even though it was a slow day. Bob Astleford and Sam Arnold also joined us towards the end of the day and both helped the day finish strong picking out distant birds over Lehigh Valley. I also appreciate Sam texting me the final count and getting numbers from him for earlier this week. We were also joined by many other visitors including; Ken, Maria Kauzmann, Shirley & Rich and Karen & Vicki. I hope to see many folks back up later this season.
51 visitors
25 hikers
Weather: Trace amount of rain overnight. Otherwise, it was a scorcher up at the OP. Light and variable winds with a slight northerly component at 1-3 mph. Visibility was limited for most of the morning at 12 miles, but later in the afternoon when the sun was behind us the visibility improved to 20+ miles. Very little clouds for the entire survey, most of which were out far on the horizon. This made for poor spotting conditions in the vast blue sky. Low temperature of 17C at 06:45 and a high of 28C by noon.
Raptor Observations: South Lookout
9.75 hrs (291.53)
BV 2 (94) TV 32 (454) BE 9 (175) SS 24 (281) BW 149 (12819) RT 5 (104) AK 4 (47) ML 1 (25) UR 2 (59) Total 228 (14247)
BAEA (9): 10:49 A, 14:32 A, 15:09 U (2), 15:09 I, 15:13 I (2), 16:17 A, 16:19 A
These last six days have spoiled us to where it feels like a 200+ bird day feels slow. BW’s once again led the flight with a total of 149 moving past Bake Oven Knob primarily in the 09:00 hour. BW’s were detected up ridge on the slope of 5 coming S in small groups. The largest kettle of the day was at 09:54 and these 64 BW’s were quite distant to the north of the turnpike. I barely got on them with bin’s and was lucky to line them back up in the scope before they disappeared into the haze. These birds appeared from our vantage point to be moving towards Allentown and not coming down the Lehigh Valley past Bake Oven Knob. After this the flight came to a halt and the rest of the survey effort was spent picking off distant BW’s, AK’s and SS’s. We did get a nice pulse of BE’s late in the day.
The two adult and one immature RT’s were spotted frequently up ridge kiting over prey. Occasionally they got into dogfights with migrants as they moved through. At 14:32 the light blue tagged BV was spotted again on top of 3.
Non-raptor Observations: LEFL was back up and singing in the morning. 2 NOPA were foraging together along the top of the cliff near Scott and my feet. Richard picked us out some BTNW in the evening and Bob found us a CONI.
Common Nighthawk 1 Chimney Swift 3 Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Hairy Woodpecker 1 Pileated Woodpecker 1 Northern Flicker 1 Least Flycatcher 1 Eastern Phoebe 1 Blue Jay 5 American Crow 1 Common Raven 2 Black-capped Chickadee 2 Tufted Titmouse 2 White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Carolina Wren 2 Purple Finch 1 American Goldfinch 2 Northern Parula 2 Black-throated Green Warbler 3 Scarlet Tanager 1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1
Predictions: Sunny, with a high near 80. Northwest wind around 5 mph. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Adam Richardson (<poecile.gambeli...>) Bake Oven Knob information may be found at: www.lgnc.org
