Bake Oven Knob 2 miles North of Germansville, Pennsylvania, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 19, 2025 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 06:00:00 Observation end time: 18:00:00 Total observation time: 10.75 hours
Official Counter: AB
Observers: Bob Astelford, Brody Ritter, Guitar Dave, Heidi Forgione, Richard, Scott Keys
Visitors: Scott Keys was up with a friend Rob photographing songbirds early in the morning. Brody Ritter was up early and was very helpful spotting migrants for the entire count. I hope he makes it back up again when he gets a break from his last semester in college. Heidi Forgione also joined us early in the morning and proved to be an excellent spotter. I hope she makes it back up if she can on weekdays to help me out. Pete the porcupine made a brief appearance behind the OP in the forest. Later Chad, Anna and Felice brought up 30 6th graders from S S Palmer. The kids got to see an AK, TV’s a few BW’s and a SS that came in the owl. Richard showed up shortly after the kids departed and found us our only NOHA for the day. A fellow named Joe stopped by who had been down at the N lookout most of the morning and hadn’t seen many migrants. Bob Astleford joined us towards the end of the count and was great help spotting accipiters and BW’s down at the N Lookout. Bob and I were joined by Guitar Dave who hadn’t brought his bins but was great help spotting migrating raptors naked eye.
30 hikers
Weather: Mostly light N winds at 1-3 mph for the morning. When we switched to the N Lookout at 14:00 we had NNW winds at 8-12 mph which was a welcome relief as it made the heat more bearable. Visibility was limited due to a haze in the Lehigh Valley in the morning, but began to improve by noon. Very few clouds out on the horizon for most of the day. Blue skies made detecting high-flying raptors difficult. Low temperature of 18C at 06:45 and a high of 28C by 11:00.
Raptor Observations: South Lookout 06:45 – 13:00
North Lookout 13:00 – 18:00
10.75 hours (302.28)
BV 1 (95) TV 14 (468) OS 1 (120) BE 2 (177) NH 1 (12) SS 32 (313) BW 49 (12868) RT 2 (106) AK 4 (51) ML 3 (28) UR 6 (65) Total 115 (14362)
BE (2): 10:29 U, 17:06 I
The flight got underway in the 08:00 hour with SS’s nearly edging out the BW’s. The 09:00 hour saw 22 raptors come through with SS’s trailing the BW’s by one bird. At 10:00 Brody spotted our one and only kettle of the day N of the Notch. This kettle contained 15 BW’s and passed by the OP at 10:20. At 13:00 I figured we had nothing to lose by heading down to the N Lookout. It was also good to go down there with experienced observers like Richard and Bob Astleford. It helped to hear their observations on the flight lines down there. I have still yet to get a hang of the N lookout this season. The move did seem to improve our detections as we went from 3 birds an hour to 18 by the 16:00 hour. Many of the SS’s were coming in low into the bowl, then crossing the notch up ridge of the lookout. They would then move to the N side of the ridge and appear somewhere above the tall pine tree. We got a nice pulse of BW’s late in the day as well as some small falcons.
Resident raptors were not that active along the ridge, but the local RT’s were picked up a few times far up ridge on the N side.
Non-raptor Observations: Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 2 Chimney Swift 3 Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Hairy Woodpecker 1 Pileated Woodpecker 1 Northern Flicker 1 Least Flycatcher 188 Yellow-throated Vireo 1 Blue Jay 2 American Crow 2 Common Raven 1 Black-capped Chickadee 1 Tufted Titmouse 1 Tree Swallow 13 Red-breasted Nuthatch 1 Carolina Wren 1 Cedar Waxwing 15 American Goldfinch 2 Northern Parula 1 Black-throated Green Warbler 1 Scarlet Tanager 1
Predictions: Sunny, with a high near 74. Northeast wind around 5 mph. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Adam Richardson (<poecile.gambeli...>) Bake Oven Knob information may be found at: www.lgnc.org
