Date: Sat, 16 Sep 2000 20:45:14 -0700 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Kevin Graff Subject: [BIRDHAWK] Backyard Hawk Watch Comments: To: BIRDHAWK@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Backyard Hawk Watch (est. 1992), Fall 2000 Reports: Kevin Graff (hawkwatch_21206@yahoo.com) Counter: Kevin Graff (Sept. 16th - 9am-1pm & 1:30pm-7pm)) (site manned, it depends on the weather, 8am-7pm (Aug.), available on Mon.-Fri. 8am-2pm, Sat 1pm-7pm, & Sun. 8am-7pm or 11:30am-7pm depend on work. Fall season runs August 1st to January 15th, but usually start early because of non-raptors passing through. Raptor 09/16 SEASON 1999 Turkey Vulture 1 34 608 Black Vulture 0 4 37 Golden Eagle 0 0 1 Bald Eagle (a & i) 0 9 32 Northern Harrier 1 9 37 Sharp-shinned Hawk 8 25 386 Cooper's Hawk 2 12 234 Northern Goshawk 0 0 4 Red-shouldered Hawk 3 14 194 Broad-winged Hawk 1,225 2,744 12,113 Red-tailed Hawk 1 9 893 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 5 Osprey 1 22 84 American Kestrel 1 24 136 Merlin 0 3 36 Peregrine Falcon 0 1 5 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 n/a Unidentified Accipiter 0 1 2 Unidentified Buteo 0 1 8 Unidentified Eagle 0 0 n/a Unidentified Falcon 0 1 2 Unidentified Raptor 0 1 2 1,243 2,914 14,819 Non-Raptor 09/16 SEASON 1999 Double-crested Cormorant 0 14 95 Great Blue Heron 0 3 11 Great Egret 0 2 n/a Mallard 0 3 n/a American Black Duck 0 2 2 Laughing Gull 1 1 1 Ring-billed Gull 15 82 135 Herring Gull 0 5 n/a Caspian Tern 0 3 n/a Common Nighthawk 0 45 63 Chimney Swift 510 1,835 2,082 Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1 12* 7 Belted Kingfisher 0 1 1 Eastern Phoebe 0 3 3 Least Flycatcher 1 2* 1 Eastern Kingbird 0 3 3 Purple Martin 0 26* 5 Barn Swallow 2 149 175 Cliff Swallow 0 7 n/a Bank Swallow 0 49 n/a Tree Swallow 0 411* 149 N. Rough-winged Swallow 0 73* 35 Unidentified swallow sp. 0 43 n/a Blue Jay 8 17 2,914 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 0 2 ? Red-breasted Nuthatch 0 2 6 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 0 1 107 Gray Catbird 0 1 8 American Robin 0 10 1,281 Cedar Waxwing 37 82 161 Nashville Warbler 0 1 ? Yellow Warbler 0 7* 1 Magnolia Warbler 0 2 n/a Prairie Warbler 1 2 n/a Cerulean Warbler 0 2 n/a American Redstart 0 3 4 Common Yellowthroat 0 1 ? Unidentified warbler sp. 2 12 ? Blue Grosbeak 0 1 ? Rose-breasted Grosbeak 2 2 n/a Unidentified sparrow sp. 0 15 281 Common Grackle 0 6 84 Baltimore Oriole 0 1 n/a American Goldfinch 4 41 136 Unidentified passerine 4 76 1,290 588 3,060 8,320 Butterfly 09/16 SEASON 1999 Monarch 244 444 6,595 Red Admiral 0 3 4 American Lady 0 2 11 Mourning Cloak 0 3 5 244 452 6,615 * refer to new season record Weather: am= S/PC pm= PC/S Temp. in the upper 60's. Another good NW wind and chilly. Mostly Sunny for a while until after 10am. Increasing clouds all morning and changed to overcast before 1pm and started to rain, well mostly light rain for at least half hour. Clouds breaking up for at least an 1 hour and 20 minutes before it get overcast again at 1:50pm and mix of light rain and drizzle until 3:20pm and sky clear up around 3:40pm with few clouds from the NWW. Raptor Migration Highlight: I thought it would be sunny all day, if that happen, it would be a major miss of BW flight's. But manage to spot a lot of high flying kettles, almost most of them are streaming along. Largest kettle today was 211 up to 10 birds wide in a 4 minutes stream at 10:29am headed SWW and the second largest kettle today was 190, also in a long stream for at least 3 or 4 minutes up to 4 or 5 birds wide. Second kettle was spotted at 2:30pm in a nearly overcast sky. After the rain was over, at 3:40pm a flock of 25 BW's took off from the north side of ridge and catch a thermal and form a nice kettle. Non-Raptor Migration Highlight: Another interesting grosbeak this week was a 1st fall male and a female Rose-breasted Grosbeaks at the tree top at 5:50pm for tem minutes and left for W at 6pm. Two nice kettles of swifts side by side with 133 and 281 at 3:46pm headed SWW. 3 flocks of waxwings today with 8, 11, amd 18. Butterfly Migration Highlight: Numbers are building up, but the numbers are low and behind schedules. Non-Migrants Highlight: Bunch of goldfinches again today and a House Wren in the alley. Standard hawk species identifier codes used: BV= Black Vulture, TV= Turkey Vulture, GE= Golden Eagle, BE= Bald Eagle, NH= Northern Harrier, SS= Sharp-shinned Hawk, CH= Cooper's Hawk, NG= Northern Goshawk, RS= Red- shouldered Hawk, BW= Broad-winged Hawk, RT= Red-tailed Hawk, RL= Rough-legged Hawk, OS= Osprey, AK= American Kestrel, ML= Merlin, PG= Peregrine Falcon, SW= Swainson's Hawk, UA= Unidentified Accipiter, UB= Unidentified Buteo, UE= Unidentified Eagle, UF= Unidentified Falcon, UR= Unidentified Raptor. Sky codes: S= Sunny, PS= Partly Sunny, PC= Partly Cloudy, MC= Mostly Cloudy, R= Rain Backyard Hawk Watch is located at 3812 White Ave., between Belair Rd. and Walther Ave. in the Gardenville section in northeast Baltimore City. Topography of the Site: - steep ridge about 180-200' above Belair Rd. - about 260' above sea level - It runs northeast to southwest - the first ridge west of the Chesapeake Bay - 12 miles from bay, 5 miles NW of Back River - my hawkwatch is 150 yards west of the ridge - Fairwood Ave runs along side of ridge My hawkwatch is located in my backyard. Most of the hawk flights arrive from the northeast and a few from the north and northeast-east. Questions or comment on this report to Kevin Graff at hawkwatch_21206@yahoo.com Kevin Graff Baltimore, MD hawkwatch_21206@yahoo.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! 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