Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 17:30:00 Total observation time: 10.5 hours
Official Counter: David Brown
Observers: Anthony Capone, Carol Ralph, Carol Spease, Charlotte Rose, Ian Teaell, Joe Swertinski, Kim Steininger, Lana Glass, Mike Fowles
Visitors: 21
Weather: Cloudy with a short period of sprinkles in the morning. Becoming sunny throughout the afternoon with nearly clear skies at sunset. Quite warm with high humidity dropping throughout the day. Light northerly winds.
Raptor Observations: The morning started out slow with only a handful of migrants each hour. As the sun came out the migration picked up to become moderate with a good mix of species, but no broad-wings until after noon clock time.
The highlight of the morning was an adult PEREGRINE FALCON that crossed in front of us from right to left heading towards the notch where it stooped on a pair of Rock Pigeons, knocking one of them out of the sky then swooping and catching it from midair before carrying it across in front of us for a nice view! Incredible!
By mid-afternoon Broad-winged Hawk numbers were starting to build with 18 in the 2-3pm clock time hour, then two hours with more than a hundred. Finally in the 5-6pm hour the floodgates opened! Various groups in different parts of the sky had totaled around 500 birds when we spotted a large stream passing to our right. The stream was steady for several minutes and included around 500 broad-wings, including many streaming across the face of the moon!
With the clicker just below a thousand for the hour I wanted a few more. Plus all of them had been just streaming and we wanted to see a kettle! Ian T. saved the day by spotting a huge kettle off to the north. Not only was the kettle quite tall, stretching several glasses upwards from the horizon, but we spotted several other kettles feeding into each other as the hawks concentrated in the final thermals of the day. A last closer group closed out the hour at just over 1,600 broad-wings! The last half hour of the count brought another 50 broad-wings gliding low to settle in for the night. We watched one adult broad-wing drop in near the creek for a few minutes before it rose again and headed off towards the notch.
The final Broad-winged Hawk total was 1,931. Other notable totals included 25 Ospreys, 53 sharpies, and 15 kestrels. We saw all raptor species expected this time of the season with the exception of Merlin. In total we had 2,061 migrating raptors. What a day for those present for the final hours, which included a handful of visitors with great timing!
Non-raptor Observations: 35 Canada Geese, 6 Common Nighthawks, 4 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, 2 Double-crested Cormorants, 2 Great Blue Herons, 2 Belted Kingfishers, 2 RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS, 80 Blue Jays, 2 Common Ravens, American Redstart, Meadow Fritillary, 251 monarchs https://ebird.org/checklist/S394046136
Predictions: TOMORROW: Partly cloudy. High 74F. Winds NE shifting E at 5-10mph. Given the huge late-day flight here and the high numbers stretching from New Jersey through New England there is likely a large number of Broad-winged Hawks nearby ready to lift off and no shortage of supply behind them. There are never any promises in hawk watching, but a large broad-winged hawk liftoff in the morning seems highly probable. The first broad-wings will likely start getting up around 8:30-9am. The 9-11am period will likely be the most active. After that is a big question mark. As the hawks gets higher and the winds shift more easterly it is possible that we will lose the flight line as the birds get pushed west of us. It is also possible that we hold onto a flight with groups of broad-wings throughout the day. If you want to see a lot of Broad-winged Hawks this fall then tomorrow morning is probably your last good chance.
SUNDAY: Cloudy with showers. High 76F. Winds SSW at 5-10mph. Poor conditions overall. Count may be shortened.
MONDAY: More clouds than sun. High near 70F. Winds NE at 10-15mph. Decent conditions overall. Perhaps a chance of more broad-wings depending on what happens tomorrow. The best weather of an otherwise rainy week. ======================================================================== Report submitted by David Brown (<davidebrownpa...>) Ashland Nature Center information may be found at: www.delnature.org
