Bake Oven Knob 2 miles North of Germansville, Pennsylvania, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 01, 2025 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 8.53 hours
Official Counter: AB
Observers: Joe Farkas, Rick Klinger, Scott Keys
Visitors: Scott Keys was up early photographing songbirds before joining me at the OP. Always enjoy his company and happy to see his photos in a few days. We were joined by Rick Klinger and Joe Farkas in the morning as well. I appreciated their help spotting migrants slipping by that I would have missed. It wasn’t a particularly busy morning, but we did have a nice diversity of raptors while they were up. I also met two folks at the end of the day that had just become members of LGNC and weren’t aware of the hawk watch effort. I hope they both come back up again with bins.
22 hikers
Weather: Fairly breezy and cool in the morning with ENE winds at 8-12mph. By 09:00 the winds had subsided to 1-3 mph out of the E. By noon the wind had completely set down. Visibility was superb for the entire count at 25 miles or more. Bluebird day with only a few clouds far out on the eastern horizon. Low temperature of 13C at 07:00 and a high of 21C by 13:00.
Raptor Observations: BV 2 (125) TV 17 (715) OS 1 (170) BE 8 (235) NH 3 (30) SS 21 (781) BW 1 (14820) RT 2 (133) GE 1 AK 6 (85) UR 4 (106) Total 66 (17352)
BAEA (8): 07:53 A, 08:31 U, 09:13 A, 10:12 U, 11:25 U, 15:04 A, 15:08 A, 15:10 A
GOEA (1): 14:31 U
Despite the winds being out of the N in the morning the South Lookout was used. This was a good call as most of the morning detections were below eye level over Lehigh Valley. The flight got underway in the 08:00 hour with 8 raptors coming through. It shouldn’t be a surprise that the SS’s led this hour and the days flight again. The flight sputtered along at less than 10 raptors an hour until 11:00 when the flight tapered off drastically. It could have been that birds were so high at this point that they were difficult to spot in the blue sky of death. Despite the lull I kept on it scanning as best I could and my efforts paid off in the 14:00 hour. Our first GE of the season came in from the N side of the ridge and fed into the notch. Nice wing on views of this eagle and it looked sharp in the late day light. Closed out the day with a nice pulse of BE’s following nearly the same line.
I had an adult SS over Lehigh Valley in the morning that shot down into the canopy of the forest in the bowl at 08:17. Resident RT’s were quite active during the entire day. They were first detected in the morning hours over Lehigh Valley. I closed out the count with two immatures and two adults out over the notch. The two immatures were dogfighting and the two adults seemed to get along fine. This is the first time I have seen more than three over there and definitely the first time I have seen two immatures together. Perhaps that is why they weren’t getting along.
Non-raptor Observations: Waterbirds continue to move through in good numbers over Blue Mountain. I enjoy trying to find the flocks of CANG calling in close as it can be challenging. RCKI is starting to become a fixture at the OP and I enjoy his agitated call from the canopy. A BHVI was again heard giving its call in the canopy to the S of the OP basically were I spotted it yesterday. So far this season I have only spotted the occasional solo ROPI flying up the bowl. I was surprised today to see such a large tight flock moving through in close below the OP. They moved up the bowl to the N and flew over the notch.
Canada Goose 550 Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 30 Double-crested Cormorant 16 Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Hairy Woodpecker 1 Pileated Woodpecker 3 Northern Flicker 2 Eastern Phoebe 1 Blue-headed Vireo 1 Blue Jay 17 American Crow 8 Common Raven 5 Tufted Titmouse 1 Tree Swallow 270 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1 Carolina Wren 1 American Robin 1 Cedar Waxwing 1 Purple Finch 1 American Goldfinch 2 Tennessee Warbler 1 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 1
Predictions: Mostly sunny, with a high near 65. Northeast wind around 5 mph.
======================================================================== Report submitted by Adam Richardson (<poecile.gambeli...>) Bake Oven Knob information may be found at: www.lgnc.org
