Bake Oven Knob 2 miles North of Germansville, Pennsylvania, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 14, 2026 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 07:30:00 Observation end time: 14:00:00 Total observation time: 6.5 hours
Official Counter: Andre Vu
Observers:
Visitors: About 35 visitors today, mostly from a field trip out of Salisbury Middle School - a very fun group of kids to hang out with. Mr. Byers' dry humor kept us entertained in between action. The boy who was holding the yellow jacket made sure to tell me I was the man before leaving. Right back at you buddy!
Weather: 63-71 degrees F, intermittent light rain all day. Light west wind. Although overcast skies would dampen the view most of the day, the autumn forest was absolutely breathtaking this morning.
Raptor Observations: Some surprisingly big groups of sharpies in the rain, as many as 7 birds as a time, but had no birds for 90 minutes by the time the count ended, with more rain on the horizon.
The field trip kids got to see a peregrine falcon, which would have been super cool... except this was the lamest falcon encounter of all time. It kind of just hovered in the air, wing-on and very silhouetted so you could barely make out what it was, and then slowly let itself get blown north (so that one wasn't even countable). I never thought I'd see the day a bunch of eager kids would rather play in the dirt than see the fastest animal in the world, but it really wasn't giving us much. Hopefully other upcoming field trips have better luck!
Non-raptor Observations: Even if raptors were slow, the kids were thrilled by close looks at a yellow-billed cuckoo, ravens, tree swallows, and dragonflies. A couple young entomologists were picking up wooly bears and yellow jackets(!!) to show me. I had a few hermit thrushes on the way out.
Predictions: Mostly sunny, with a high near 64. North wind around 5 mph becoming east in the afternoon. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Lehigh Gap Nature Center (<mail...>) Bake Oven Knob information may be found at: www.lgnc.org
