Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 15:00:00
Total observation time: 4.25 hours
Official Counter: Maili Waters
Observers:
Visitors:
0
Weather:
Today was an interesting day! Heavy snow squalls were mixed with partly
sunny breaks throughout the day. The winds were very strong from the west
at 25-35mph. Even when it wasn�t actually snowing, snow was almost
constantly getting blown around, limiting visibility at times. Temps were
in the low 20s all day.
Raptor Observations:
The count was conducted in bits and pieces around snow squalls. There were
a total of 3 birds that decided to move today and two of them were Golden
Eagles! Shortly after I got to the park in the morning, all the ducks and
gulls in the bay took flight. I looked around to see what might have caused
the disturbance, and sure enough there was an immature Golden Eagle! It
chased a gull and flew down the creek before moving on. The other bird was
a high flying adult that coasted over quickly in the strong west winds. The
third bird of the day was a young Bald Eagle. A couple local birds made
brief appearances throughout the day including two adult Bald Eagles, a
Northern Harrier, and an American Kestrel hunting the marsh.
Non-raptor Observations:
Due to the weather I only did one quick scan of the bay. Duck numbers seem
to continue in similar proportions. Gull numbers increased exponentially
over night, with almost a thousand birds in the bay, mostly being
Ring-billed Gulls.
Predictions:
Tomorrow�s weather: Mix of sun and clouds in the morning followed by cloudy
skies in the afternoon. Temps will reach a high of 36F. Winds will be SSW
at 5-10mph. With the SSW wind direction, I�m expecting some birds to be
moving, however they are light winds and might be overpowered by the lake
breeze in the late morning or afternoon.
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Report submitted by Maili Waters (<mailirwaters...>)
Braddock Bay information may be found at:
http://www.bbrr.org/
