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 Bob Ringler (9:05-11:15am) (site manned, it depends on the weather, 9am-5pm through Dec. 15th) SPECIES 10/24 SEASON 1997 Turkey Vulture 8 276 362 Black Vulture 0 33* 13 Golden Eagle 0 1 (imm. - 10/12) 3 Bald Eagle 0 18* (7 ad. & 11 imm.) 9 N. Harrier 1 45* 25 Sharp-shinned Hawk 4 186* 106 Cooper's Hawk 3 106* 82 N. Goshawk 0 1 (imm. - 10/22) 2 Red-shouldered Hawk 3 42 51 Broad-winged Hawk 0 11,781* 4,324 Red-tailed Hawk 4 96 339 Rough-legged Hawk 0 3 13 Osprey 0 48* 20 Am. Kestrel 0 61* 23 Merlin 0 11* 7 Peregrine Falcon 0 3* 2 Swainson's Hawk 0 1 (imm. light phrase - 9/16) n/a Unidentified Accipiter 0 3 4 Unidentified Buteo 0 2 3 Unidentified Falcon 0 1 0 Unidentified Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 23 12,718* 5,338 Weather: Bummer, no cloud overhead. Most of the clouds are on east side of the ridge. A nice clear day with good sunshine and warm again. Wind from the SWW. Raptor Migration Highlight: A slow morning. Non-Raptor Migration Highlight: 8 Blue Jay and 6 Am. Robin flyby. Also 3 more Monarch Butterflies. Note: Before doing our hawkwatching, Bob Ringler and I went up to the ridge to check out some birds and looking for a possible site for hawkwatch platform. We saw 2 Hermit Thrush, 2-3 E. Phoebe and Bob heard several Juncos. Back at the hawkwatch, We saw a Hermit Thrush at the bushes in the alley next to my backyard and he heard a Winter Wren twice in my backyard, but we couldn't find the bird. Now back to the hawks, we counted 13 hawks including 3 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 3 Cooper's Hawks, 3 Red-shouldered Hawks, 2 Red-tailed Hawks, 1 N. Harrier, and 1 Turkey Vulture. I would like to say thanks to Bob for joining me and he is planning to come back again on Nov. to see strong movement of Red-tailed Hawks. The reason I has a few hawks today is because I went to Arundel Sand and Gravel Co., north of Harve De Grace with my aunt (she work there) to records birds and other animals for the Wildlife Habitat Council. The Quarry is 600 acres plus 200 more acres north of it, and the owner is building 2 wetlands for wildlife, nestboxes, bird and butterfly gardens. The owner want to know what animals can be found and which habitat they likes. My aunt and I counted 30 species of birds, dozens species of butterflies, 2 does (deer) and saw some fresh tracks of racoons. Questions or comments on this report to Kevin Graff at ggraff@erols.com Kevin Graff Baltimore, MD ggraff@erols.com