Backyard Hawk Watch (est. 1992), Fall 1999 Site: 3812 White Ave., between Belair Rd. and Walther Ave. - northeast Baltimore City in the Gardenville section Topography of the Site: The promine tpeak in the area is a steep ridge about 180-200' above Belair Rd. and about 260' above sea level. It runs northeast to southwest and is the first ridge west of the Chesapeake Bay. It is about 12 miles from the bay, and is about 5 miles northwest of the head of Back River, an arm of the bay, and about 6 miles north of Baltimore's Inner Harbor. There is a long narrow old-growth of woods between 3-5 acres on top of the ridge. My hawkwatch site is about 150 yards west of the ridge. The only road that runs along side of ridge is Fairwood Ave., that connects from White Ave. to Parkmount Ave. The hawkwatch is located in my backyard. Most of the hawk flights arrive from the northeast and a few from the north and northeast-east. Reports: Kevin Graff (ggraff@erols.com) Counter: Kevin Graff (Aug. 30th - 10:15am-12:30pm & 12:45pm-2pm) (site manned, it depends on the weather, 8am-8pm (August), except Mon.-Thurs. 8am-2pm) SPECIES 8/30 SEASON 1998 1997 TV 0 4 525 362 BV 0 1 49 13 GE 0 0 1 3 BE (1 ad. & 3 imm.) 0 4 22 9 NH 1 2 48 25 SS 0 1 260 106 CH 0 2 153 82 NG 0 0 1 2 RS 2 3 108 51 BW 13 21 11,782 4,324 RT 5 7 526 339 RL 0 0 7 14 OS 4 13 48 20 AK 3 12 64 23 ML 0 1 15 7 PF 0 0 4 2 SH 0 0 1 n/a UA 0 0 3 4 UB 0 1 3 3 UF 0 0 1 0 UR 0 0 0 0 28 72 13,621 5,338 Non-Raptor 8/30 SEASON 1998 Short-billed Dowitcher 0 9 n/a Ring-billed Gull 6 14 467 Common Nighthawk 0 6 188 Chimney Swift 3 54 4,486 Ruby-th. Hummingbird 0 1 1 Belted Kingfisher 0 1 (male) n/a Least Flycatcher 1 1 n/a (new yardlist) Eastern Kingbird 0 3 n/a Purple Martin 0 4 n/a Barn Swallow 33 77* 3 Tree Swallow 4 25* 5 N. Rough-winged Swallow 6 26 n/a Red-breasted Nuthatch 2 2 n/a Am. Robin 0 4 866 Black-and-white Warbler 0 1 n/a Bobolink 0 3 n/a Common Grackle 2 41 n/a 57 272 10,256 (33 species) Butterfly 8/30 SEASON 1998 Monarch 5 39 7,399 5 39 7,399 Weather: am=MC pm=MC :Temp in the upper 70's. Strong chill wind from the SW and sometimes from the SWS and SWW. Partly Cloudy with sun came out at least twice for 3 seconds in pm. High wind prevent hawkwatch until 10:15am. Raptor Migration Highlight: New single day record for month of August. Broad-winged Hawks are on the move and Osprey too. No hawks seen on Fri. Non-Raptor Migration Highlight: Another good day for swallows and had new yardlist too. Adult Least Flycatcher was seen on telephone wire in the alley and spent all morning hanging around the small trees and scrubs and disappear right before I left for work. Red-breasted Nuthatch usually seen here in winter a few times, this is the first time I seen one in the summer. Note: 6 Barn Swallows and 4 Tree Swallows seen on Fri. and are including in the total list Butterfly Migration Highlight: n/a Standard hawk species identifier codes used: TV= Turkey Vulture, BV= Black Vulture, GE= Golden Eagle, BE= Bald Eagle, NH= N. Harrier, SS= Sharp-shinned Hawk, CH= Cooper's Hawk, NG= N. Goshawk, RS= Red-shouldered Hawk, BW= Broad-winged Hawk, RT= Red-tailed Hawk, RL= Rough-legged Hawk, OS= Osprey, AK= Am. Kestrel, ML= Merlin, PF= Peregrine Falcon, SH= Swainson's Hawk, UA= Unidentified Accipiter, UB= Unidentified Buteo, UF= Unidentified Falcon, UR= Unidentified Raptor. Sky codes: S= Sunny, MS= Mostly Sunny, PS= Partly Sunny, MC= Mostly Cloudy, PC= Partly Cloudy, R= Rain Questions or comments on this report to Kevin Graff at ggraff@erols.com Kevin Graff Baltimore, MD ggraff@erols.com