Bake Oven Knob 2 miles North of Germansville, Pennsylvania, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 28, 2025 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 07:15:00 Observation end time: 17:00:00 Total observation time: 9.75 hours
Official Counter:
Observers: Rick Morrissey
Visitors: Only a family of four, two adults and two sub-adults. The sub-adults really wanted to turn back and not hike any further. Good to remain a neutral silent observer.
Weather: Low fog in the north and south valleys at the start of the count, a stunning way to continue to experience our unique Fall weather patterns. Plenty of sunshine, minimal cloud cover makes for a beautiful day, yet a challenge to spot high flying raptors. The low temperature was 62F, and the high temperature was 76F at 1500 EST. In my opinion, the light winds were pretty good for migration, mainly NW at 2-5 mph in early morning, then 4-7 mph with fairly regular gusts @ 8-10 mph. There were intermittent high gusts of 14 mph mainly late morning/early afternoon. With regard to today's winds, apparently the raptors thought otherwise, unless I missed high flying birds.
Raptor Observations: The day started with a Peregrine Falcon, yet that may have been due to the homeowner who lives at the base of the BOK bowl who regularly practices his target shooting EVERY Sunday morning, which started today at 0752 EST. A minute later, this Peregrine Falcon rose very low over the hump, then it dove back behind the slope popping up after the Pine Tree for a brief time for me to see field marks before it went speeding down ridge. Wow, things look good! Well, just a few highlights after that, like a great look at a high flying female Norther Harrier, a Merlin that flew 15 feet over my head, then the day ended with two Bald Eagles.
The identification of the Bald Eagle at 1448 is why I spend my time counting raptors at BOK. All by myself, I have to use the bits and pieces of skills to ID this magnificent raptor, easy peasy, right? The sun is setting in the West, so this Eagle's head is lighting up, yet the remaining raptor is dark, maybe the first Adult Golden Eagle of the season? Wow, first GE of the season, last year on my shift as well, woo whoo! Ok, let's review the facts, this Eagle flew on slightly droopy wings, wake up, its head is huge and the sun lighting it up, the sun factor happens on every sunny shift. So a young first year Bald Eagle, not bad for a slow day.
Yet, I was going home in 15 minutes, kind of hungry, dehydrated, but I was 'quigged', a long standing tradition that if you see an Eagle, Peregrine, maybe a Goshawk, of course a Goshawk, you stay an extra 30 minutes. So at 1625, 5 minutes before I met the 'quigg' standard, I see an adult Bald Eagle over slope number 4, maybe it goes East, yikes it is coming right over the notch headed toward the Pine tree. Well, I just enjoyed the fact that this kind of 'quigg' protocol set by a group of volunteer BOK hawk counters actually gave me a great view of a Bald Eagle flying West into the sun, close to the ridge, close enough for me to apologize that at first sight I thought 'oh crap', another 30 minutes. Like every sunset, take time to enjoy it, celebrate every Bald Eagle!
Peregrine Falcon (Adult) - 0753
Bald Eagles (2) - 1448 (Juv); 1530 (Adult)
Non-raptor Observations: The usual suspects, bluejays, chickadees, swifts, Ravens, Red-belled WP, a couple of Flickers, and a number of warblers which quite frankly I have lost the skill to ID confusing Fall warblers, at least 4 species. I will try to do better, I used to be better.
Predictions: Mostly sunny in the morning, then mostly cloudy in the afternoon. Highs in the upper 70's with Northeast winds around 5mph. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Lehigh Gap Nature Center (<mail...>) Bake Oven Knob information may be found at: www.lgnc.org
