[BIRDHAWK] Backyard Hawk Watch
Geoff Graff (ggraff@erols.com)
Mon, 02 Nov 1998 21:42:09 -0500
Backyard Hawk Watch (est. 1992), Fall 1998
Site: 3812 White Ave., between Belaird 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)
Counter: Kevin Graff
(site manned, it depends on the weather, 9am-5pm through Dec. 15th)
SPECIES 10/30 11/02 SEASON 1997
Turkey Vulture 28 8 403* 362
Black Vulture 0 0 43* 13
Golden Eagle 0 0 1 3
Bald Eagle 0 0 19* (7 ad. & 12 imm.) 9
N. Harrier 0 1 46* 25
Sharp-shinned Hawk 3 1 218* 106
Cooper's Hawk 4 0 122* 82
N. Goshawk 0 0 1 2
Red-shouldered Hawk 18 4 83* 51
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 11,782* 4,324
Red-tailed Hawk 53 27 259 339
Rough-legged Hawk 0 1 5 13
Osprey 0 0 48* 20
Am. Kestrel 0 0 62* 23
Merlin 0 0 14* 7
Peregrine Falcon 0 0 3* 2
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1 (imm. light phase) n/a
Unidentified Accipiter 0 0 3 4
Unidentified Buteo 0 0 2 3
Unidentified Falcon 0 0 1 0
Unidentified Raptor 0 0 0 0
Total: 106 42 13,116* 5,338
Weather: On Fri. (9am-12:30pm), a nice partly cloudy day with a few
sunshine and wind from NWW. Today (Mon.), Mostly partly cloudy with some
sunshine, cloud cover was about 90%. Wind mostly from the W.
Raptor Migration Highlight: Yahoo!!! 13,000+ hawks so far from Fri.
Red-tailed Hawks are going strong again on both days and Red-shouldered
Hawks on Fri. As weather is getting cooler at night, will get more
strong movement this week starting on Wed. (college on Tues.).
Non-Raptor Migration Highlight: Forgot to add Ring-billed Gulls in the
past week, over 400 has counted so far, including 14 today in V-form.
Note: I may have at least about an hour to watch hawks tomorrow, but I
have to go to class at college and go to election to vote.
While I was away at my grandparent's in Delaware, I haven't has time
to do some birding because has to go christmas shopping with my
grandmother and her sister (my aunt) on Sat. but did some birding at my
cousin's farm on Rt 364 in Worcester Co. while building new hunting
blind for my deer hunting during Thanksgiving week. While at my cousin's
farm, saw a White-crowned Sparrow, 2 Fox Sparrows and some nice kettle
of 22 Black Vultures and 17 or 18 Turkey Vultures.
Questions or comments on this report to Kevin Graff at
ggraff@erols.com
Kevin Graff
Baltimore, MD
ggraff@erols.com