[MDOsprey] [BIRDHAWK] Backyard Hawk Watch - new BW record
Geoff Graff (ggraff@erols.com)
Sun, 19 Sep 1999 21:31:51 -0400
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 prominent peak 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.
Note: This is a Saturday report (Sept. 18th). Went to Cromwell Valley
Park at 8am and went back to my backyard at 9:50am. Many BW's seen take
off at the park at 9am.
Reports: Kevin Graff (ggraff@erols.com)
Counter: Kevin Graff (Sept. 18th - 9:50am-12:00pm & 12:20pm-6:30pm)
(site manned, it depends on the weather, 8am-7:30pm (Sept.), except
Mon.-Thurs. 8am-2pm)
SPECIES 9/18 SEASON 1998 1997
TV 2 24 525 362
BV 0 3 49 13
GE 0 0 1 3
BE (3 ad. & 9 imm.) 2 12 22 9
NH 1 6 48 25
SS 4 34 260 106
CH 2 16 153 82
NG 0 0 1 2
RS 1 6 108 51
BW 7,002* 9,672 11,782 4,324
RT 0 10 526 339
RL 0 0 7 14
OS 8 27 48 20
AK 4 32 64 23
ML 1 6 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 n/a
UR 0 1 n/a n/a
7,027* 10,031 13,621 5,338
Non-Raptor 9/18 SEASON 1998
Great Blue Heron 0 1 4
Canada Goose 50 50 2,934
Short-billed Dowitcher 0 9 n/a
Ring-billed Gull 0 14 467
Common Nighthawk 1 50 188
Chimney Swift 6 279 4,286
Ruby-th. Hummingbird 1 7* 1
Belted Kingfisher 0 1 (male) n/a
Eastern Phoebe 0 2 (date unknown -2 weeks ago?)
Least Flycatcher 0 1 n/a
Eastern Kingbird 0 3 n/a
Purple Martin 0 5 n/a
Barn Swallow 1 170* 3
Tree Swallow 0 92* 5
N. Rough-winged Swallow 0 34 n/a
Red-breasted Nuthatch 0 2 n/a
Am. Robin 0 9 866
Cedar Waxwing 0 53* 30
Yellow Warbler 0 1 (imm.) 1
Black-th. Blue Warbler 0 1 (female) n/a
Black-and-white Warbler 0 1 n/a
Am. Redstart 0 4 n/a
Bobolink 0 3 n/a
Chipping Sparrow 0 4 ?
Swamp Sparrow 0 1 n/a
Unid. sparrow sp. 0 66 ?
Common Grackle 0 41 n/a
Am. Goldfinch 2 7 50
Unid. non-raptor sp. 3 60 4,283 (including sparrow)
64 959 14,539 (33 species)
Butterfly 9/18 SEASON 1998
Monarch 3,066 3,442 7,399
3,066 3,442 7,399
Weather: am=PC pm=PC :Temp in the upper 70's. Good wind from the
NW and shifted back to SWW rest of the day and sometimes from the W and
SW.
Raptor Migration Highlight: WOWEE!!!!! A new single day record for
Broadwings, with previous old record was 3,201 on Sept. 25, 1998. First
movement at 9:50am with 25 birds and last kettles came in at 4:27pm with
22 and last hawk pass by at 6:00pm. One largest kettle today at 11:00am
with 1,201 and second largest at 11:21am with 1,054 and largest kettles
under 1,000 is 701 at 11:34am, more than 90 percent of Broadwings headed
SWW with few to W and less than 10 percent headed SE. More Broadwings
still reported up in NY and NJ (one hawkwatch had more than 7,400? and
other has 6,000), look like I might get new season record for Broadwings
this week ( I need 2,111 more to beat the season record). Good day for
Osprey.
Non-Raptor Migration Highlight: Season first geese migration today with
a flock of 50 birds headed SE at 12:41pm. This is the earliest record
for the geese, last fall first geese migrants on Sept 24, 1998, I think.
Butterfly Migration Highlight: First major movement of Monarch all day,
but not a new single day record, last fall, 5,883 recorded on Sept. 17,
1998.
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, PC= Partly Cloudy, MC= Mostly Cloudy, R= Rain
Questions or comments on this report to Kevin Graff at
ggraff@erols.com
Kevin Graff
Baltimore, MD
ggraff@erols.com