Bake Oven Knob 2 miles North of Germansville, Pennsylvania, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 29, 2025 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 8.55 hours
Official Counter: AB
Observers: Cynthia Berger, Jay George, Mark Boyd, Rick Gaeta
Visitors: Moondog and Frank were up early whom you may remember from earlier in the season. They maintain the AT along this section of Blue Mountain. Apparently, there was a permanent camp set up at the shelter to the south of the parking lot and it took several of their weekends to pack out all the trash. They also had some big blowdowns to clear. Moondog felt my frustration at having our sign vandalized and related a story about dealing with kids from one of the local high schools repeatedly trashing another shelter on the AT they maintain. Moondog did eventually prevail. Cynthia Berger was up in the morning and great help spotting as always. She dropped off another lovely care package of homegrown vegetables. I am looking forward to making some more tomatillo salsa. Jay George an 86-year-old hawk watcher was up to enjoy the day and spotted several of the days SS’s. It was interesting to hear his stories from back in the day. He got to see a diverse mix of raptors and visiting with him took my mind off the vandalism that occurred the night prior. Rick Gaeta was up in the afternoon and found Head Honcho our juvenile PEFA out zipping around amongst the TV’s. Mark Boyd also joined us in the afternoon and started picking up sky high SS’s which helped the count greatly. Always enjoy getting to bird with him.
21 hikers
Weather: East winds at 8-12mph to start the count decreasing hourly in the morning. By 09:00 they had set down to 1-3mph. Visibility was good for most of the count to 12 miles. Mostly cloudy skies for the entire count made for superb spotting conditions. Low temperature of 18C at 07:00 and a high of 23C by 11:00.
Raptor Observations: South Lookout
8.55 hrs (382.52)
BV 5 (120) TV 37 (672) OS 7 (168) BE 5 (214) NH 5 (25) SS 65 (734) CH 3 (71) BW 17 (14814) AK 1 (74) ML 1 (40) PG 2 (25) UR 6 (98) Total 154 (17194)
BAEA (5): 08:38 I, 10:34 A (2), 12:33 A, 14:31 A
PEFA (2): 08:27 A, 08:34 A
Solid late September flight with the accipiters back in the lead for a change. The flight got underway early which was awesome as it took my mind off of the realization that someone had vandalized our awesome raptor silhouette signage that was given to us by the Pennsylvania State Game Commission. The first SS’s were moving at 07:35 and the first BW’s were soon to follow at 07:44. All were low on the slope of 1 so my plan to count from the South Lookout vs the N despite the N winds in the morning paid off. The first peak of the flight occurred early as well in the 08:00 hour with a nice diversity of 6 species. SS’s really picked up and set the tone for the days flight with all flying far out over Lehigh Valley and all below eye level. NH’s began to trickle through too. The second peak of the flight occurred in the 10:00 hour with 22 migrants moving through the bulk of them SS’s. Another nice pulse of raptors moved through in the 13:00 hour with a nice grey ghost NH for the discerning hawk watcher picked up far out over 4. The flight tapered pretty fast after this and the day was called off at 15:30.
Resident raptors were active pretty early this morning as well. At 07:50 an adult female AK mobbed BG then moved up ridge. At 07:55 a fierce battle occurred between an adult male AK and an immature SS. It appeared the AK wanted to kite over the canopy of the forest to the N of the OP, but the immature SS wanted to dogfight which seemed to irritate the AK. Of course, the AK had the upper hand and was much more maneuverable than the SS. A hiker walked into the clearing and asked if I had been seeing anything and I said yes, I am watching this AK and SS dogfight right in front of you. He then saw them and was treated to the same spectacle I had been watching for seven minutes. At 12:51 Rick found Head Honcho the immature PEFA out over Lehigh Valley possibly kicking up the TV’s. He buzzed by fairly close to inspect BG then zipped over the notch to the N. No sooner did the falcon disappear over the notch then a flock of CORA appeared. I have no doubt the PEFA took some swipes at them that kicked this group up. At 13:41 the blue tagged BV was spotted again to the north of the notch.
Non-raptor Observations: I had fun picking out distant waterbirds in the morning hours. The surprise being a lone SACR far to the east over Lehigh Valley. I was able to share this siting with Mark Boyd and Rick Gaeta in the scope. BLJA continue to migrate through in good numbers in the morning as well.
Canada Goose 85 Sandhill Crane 1 Double-crested Cormorant 15 Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Downy Woodpecker 1 Hairy Woodpecker 1 Pileated Woodpecker 2 Northern Flicker 1 Blue Jay 86 American Crow 1 Common Raven 10 Tufted Titmouse 1 Red-breasted Nuthatch 1 Carolina Wren 1 Cedar Waxwing 12 American Goldfinch 2 Black-throated Blue Warbler 2 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 1
Predictions: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 79. Northeast wind around 5 mph. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Adam Richardson (<poecile.gambeli...>) Bake Oven Knob information may be found at: www.lgnc.org
