Bake Oven Knob 2 miles North of Germansville, Pennsylvania, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 02, 2025 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 8.52 hours
Official Counter: AB
Observers:
Visitors: Al and Bob Grout were up in the late morning to pick up a few migrating SS’s. I appreciate their help spotting and hope they have an excellent Cape May trip. Mike and Jordy were up in the late afternoon to pick up a few migrating SS’s as well. Mike and his wife just became members of LGNC and I hope to see more of them this season. Heidi Forgione, her husband and another hiker stopped by to say hello as they walked the AT south bound. They had started in Lehigh Gap and were out for several days. Heidi mentioned she would be back up soon which is good as she is an excellent spotter. I also met a fellow named Marco whom I have seen walking his dog in the evenings regularly. He brought bins this time and I helped get him on a few birds as they migrated through. He was unaware of LGNC so I gave him one of our brochures and I hope he makes it over to our trail system.
27 hikers
Weather: Some of the coolest weather yet this season with ENE winds at 8-12mph to start the count. By 13:00 the winds slowly shifted to the south at 1-3mph. The air quality has been superb the last few days and visibility has been good as a result. Mostly good views to 20 miles for the first half of the survey. The count was closed with views to 30 miles. Partly cloudy skies in the morning gave way to mostly cloudy skies by 09:00. By noon it was just high cirrus clouds with a few cumulus drifting through. Low temperature of 12C by 08:00 and a high of 18C by noon.
Raptor Observations: South Lookout
BV 2 (127) TV 15 (171) OS 1 (171) BE 4 (239) SS 56 (837) CH 4 (76) RS 1 (13) RT 8 (141) AK 3 (88) ML 1 (42) UR 6 (112) Total 105 (17457)
BAEA (4): 08:30 A, 11:34 I, 13:59 A (2)
Another decent flight with SS’s leading again. The South Lookout was used again despite the N winds in the morning and the results were good considering most morning detections were below eye level over Lehigh Valley. Many were scope distance birds. The 08:00 hour saw a good pulse of 17 raptors including a few BW’s straggling through. The flight peaked early today with 30 migrants moving through in the 09:00 hour of 6 species. Today would mark the first day this season that the RT’s outnumbered the BW’s. The resident RT’s get in and mix it up with the migrants so it requires some extra effort to see who is staying and who is going. After the 09:00 hour the flight tapered to 5-9 birds an hour for the remainder of the count.
The adult SS continues near the OP. It was detected at 07:40 talons down parachuting at prey below the cliff face over the bowl. At 09:24 one of the adult RT’s was performing a roller coaster display to the S of the OP over Lehigh Valley. This is the first time I have seen any of the resident raptors doing this as it is a territorial display. As the day progressed and I picked up several RT’s migrating it made sense the locals were letting the migrants know whose territory they were in. The resident immature RT helps with spotting migrating RT’s too as it lets out its raspy call and usually the two adults join the fray.
Non-raptor Observations: I was greeted by WTSP singing in the lot first thing this morning which is a new detection. CANG continue to move through in good numbers with DCCO’s increasing in numbers as well. One CORA mobbed BG which was a first for the season at 09:24. There was a big CORA party late in the afternoon almost directly to the S of the OP.
Canada Goose 469 Wild Turkey 1 Chimney Swift 1 Double-crested Cormorant 40 Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Downy Woodpecker 1 Hairy Woodpecker 1 Pileated Woodpecker 1 Northern Flicker 1 Eastern Phoebe 1 Blue Jay 8 American Crow 2 Common Raven 16 Black-capped Chickadee 2 Tufted Titmouse 2 Tree Swallow 340 Red-breasted Nuthatch 1 Carolina Wren 1 American Robin 1 House Finch 1 American Goldfinch 3 White-throated Sparrow 3
Predictions: Sunny, with a high near 70. Calm wind becoming southwest around 5 mph in the afternoon. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Adam Richardson (<poecile.gambeli...>) Bake Oven Knob information may be found at: www.lgnc.org
