Observation start time: 06:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 9.5 hours
Official Counter: Maili Waters
Observers: Bridget Watts, Mike Tetlow, Pat Lindsay, Shelly Rackovsky, Vid Killius
Visitors: 10
Weather: Today was similar to yesterday with a good number of birds on the move despite the east winds. The morning started off with light NW winds shifting to E, clear skies, and temps around 42F. Birds started to get up around 10am, but they were far inland, so we moved to follow them. At first, kettles of birds were right overhead, but they quickly got blown even further in by strengthening E winds...far beyond where we could see. Blue skies made it particularly difficult to spot anything in the afternoon. Temps reached a high of 60F.
Raptor Observations: The majority of birds today were, you guessed it, Broad-winged Hawks! We saw a total of 1,177, pushing the season total past 26,000. There were a lot of Sharp-shinned Hawks moving straight through the afternoon, with a total of 159. A smattering of other species included 3 Golden Eagles and all three species of falcons, including a gorgeous adult Peregrine. Today pushed our April total over 50,000 birds!
Non-raptor Observations: Around 2,500 Blue Jays moving in the morning. First of year Yellow Warbler, along with several Palm Warblers and Ruby-crowned Kinglets. Five Sandhill Cranes flew over. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Maili Waters (<mailirwaters...>) Braddock Bay information may be found at: http://www.bbrr.org/
