Backyard Hawk Watch (est. 1992), Fall 1998 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 about 3+ acres on top of the ridge. My hawkwatch site is about 150 yards west of the ridge. From the west side of the ridge, going west past my site, the topography continues to rise for about 6/10 mile to a height even higher than 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) Counters: Kevin Graff and Elliot Kirschbaum (3:45-6pm) (site manned, it depends on the weather, 9am-6pm - mid. Oct.) SPECIES 10/15 SEASON 1997 Turkey Vulture 39 110 362 Black Vulture 0 15* 13 Golden Eagle 0 1 (imm. - 10/12) 3 Bald Eagle 1 15* (7 ad. & 8 imm.) 9 N. Harrier 0 39* 25 Sharp-shinned Hawk 40 153* 106 Cooper's Hawk 15 81 82 N. Goshawk 0 0 2 Red-shouldered Hawk 4 23 51 Broad-winged Hawk 0 11,779* 4,324 Red-tailed Hawk 6 49 339 Rough-legged Hawk 1 2 13 Osprey 1 47* 20 Am. Kestrel 0 55* 23 Merlin 0 9* 7 Peregrine Falcon 0 3* 2 Swainson's Hawk 0 1 (imm. light phrase - 9/16) n/a Unidentified Accipiter 0 2 4 Unidentified Buteo 0 2 3 Unidentified Falcon 0 1 0 Unidentified Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 107 12,387* 5,338 Weather: A very nice day with alot of sun and 50% cloud covers. Wind from the SW in am and NWW and NW in pm. Raptor Migration Highlight: A new single day record total for October compare to 67 on Oct. 16, 1997. Has a nice stream of Sharp-shinned Hawks at 2:43pm with 29 counted in 3 minutes with mixed flocks of RTH, CH, and RSH. Non-Raptor Migration Highlight: Pretty slow with 6 Am. Robin, 12 Blue Jay, 23 Chimney Swift and 5 Canada Geese flyby. Also 3 Monarch Butterflies. Note: Elliot came to watch hawks today, for 2 hrs. and 15 min. we counted 18 hawks including 7 Turkey Vulture, 4 Cooper's Hawk, 3 Sharp-shinned Hawk, 1 Red-shouldered Hawk, 1 Red-tailed Hawk, 1 imm. Bald Eagle (1st or 2nd winter), and 1 Osprey. I would like to say thanks to Elliot for helping me out watching, and also we enjoy watching a Carolina Wren in my neighbor's bushes. A brief note: I won't be watching hawks from Fri. to Sun (16th-18th) because I'm going to Essex Comm. College Educational trip to Fox Island just outside of Crisfield. I will be doing birding around the island for any possible early waterfowl migrate or seagulls. Will return to hawkwatch on Mon. Questions or comments on this report to Kevin Graff at ggraff@erols.com Kevin Graff Baltimore, MD ggraff@erols.com