Observation start time: 05:00:00 Observation end time: 17:00:00 Total observation time: 11 hours
Official Counter: Maili Waters
Observers: Bridget Watts, Greg Sanda, Luke Seitz, Mark Kimble , Mike Tetlow, Mitch Barry, Shannon Sanda, Vid Killius
Visitors: 10
Weather: Mostly cloudy in the morning with high thin clouds, temps in the mid 40s, and light south winds. Gradually those clouds started to disappear, soon replaced by big puffy clouds that lasted for the rest of the day. Between 10 and 10:30 the lake breeze kicked in pushing the flight inland and we followed. Initially, there were some birds over Frisbee Hill, but with the sustained lake breeze, they got pushed further in, out of sight. Around 3 PM the southerly breeze picked back up so we moved back to the platform. Temps reached a high of 68F. Some scattered sprinkles after 5 PM.
Raptor Observations: Today was another day of high altitude raptors. We tallied just over 1000 birds with the majority being Broad-winged Hawks. The ratio of juveniles to adults continues to increase. Sharp-shinned Hawks are still on the move with a total of 184 for the day. Bald Eagles remain numerous with a total of 31. There was a high flying Peregrine Falcon along with a few kestrels bringing us to a total of 10 species for the day.
Non-raptor Observations: South winds overnight pushed some new birds into the area. The morning flight consisted of mostly American Goldfinches with some decent sized flocks of American Pipits. There were a handful of warblers but most were heard-only flight calls. Both species of yellowlegs flew over, along with two Dunlin, two Solitary Sandpipers, and a peep sp. The numbers of White-crowned Sparrows continue along the hedge rows with over 25 seen at once. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Maili Waters (<mailirwaters...>) Braddock Bay information may be found at: http://www.bbrr.org/
