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 Friday report. Went to Williamsburg in VA for Living History Camp Friday afternoon, and was cancelled on Sat afternoon as we get heavy rain all day from the TS Dennis and continued through the night. Came home on Sun morning after spend the night at the motel (camp was set down on Sat night by heavy wind and rain). Today hawkwatch at 4pm was called off as the wind from the leftover TS Dennis still moving. I'm still waiting for any early Broad-winged Hawks movements before the major peak begins on Sept 11 and continue until Sept 18th. Reports: Kevin Graff (ggraff@erols.com) Counter: Kevin Graff (Sept. 3rd - 9am-3pm) (site manned, it depends on the weather, 8am-7:30pm? (Sept.), except Mon.-Thurs. 8am-2pm) SPECIES 9/03 SEASON 1998 1997 TV 0 4 525 362 BV 0 1 49 13 GE 0 0 1 3 BE (1 ad. & 4 imm.) 1 (1st w.) 5 22 9 NH 0 2 48 25 SS 5 7 260 106 CH 0 3 153 82 NG 0 0 1 2 RS 0 3 108 51 BW 2 24 11,782 4,324 RT 0 7 526 339 RL 0 0 7 14 OS 0 13 48 20 AK 4 16 64 23 ML 0 1 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 0 UR 0 0 0 0 12 87 13,621 5,338 Non-Raptor 9/03 SEASON 1998 Great Blue Heron 1 1 4 Short-billed Dowitcher 0 9 n/a Ring-billed Gull 0 14 467 Common Nighthawk 0 8 188 Chimney Swift 7 64 4,486 Ruby-th. Hummingbird 0 1 1 Belted Kingfisher 0 1 (male) n/a Least Flycatcher 0 1 n/a Eastern Kingbird 0 3 n/a Purple Martin 0 4 n/a Barn Swallow 6 90* 3 Tree Swallow 2 29* 5 N. Rough-winged Swallow 0 30 n/a Red-breasted Nuthatch 0 2 n/a Am. Robin 0 4 866 Yellow Warbler 1 (imm.) 1 1 Black-th. Blue Warbler 1 (female) 1 n/a (new yardlist?) Black-and-white Warbler 0 1 n/a Am. Redstart 0 4 n/a Bobolink 0 3 n/a Chipping Sparrow 1 4 ? Swamp Sparrow 0 1 n/a Unid. sparrow sp. 4 33 ? Common Grackle 0 41 n/a Am. Goldfinch 2 4 50 Unid. non-raptor sp. 5 5 4,283 (including sparrow) 30 359 14,539 (33 species) Butterfly 9/03 SEASON 1998 Monarch 13 58 7,399 13 58 7,399 Weather: am=PC pm=PC/MC ;Temp in the mid 80's. Again more wind from the NE from TS Dennis brought low numbers. Clouds increase in late pm and called off at 3pm. Raptor Migration Highlight: A single 1st winter Bald Eagle at 1:27pm. Non-Raptor Migration Highlight: Season first Great Blue Heron at 1:13pm and headed SE. More warblers in the alley and some unid. warblers flyby. Butterfly Migration Highlight: n/a 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, MS= Mostly Sunny, MC= Mostly Cloudy, PC= Partly Cloudy, R= Rain Questions or comments on this report to Kevin Graff at ggraff@erols.com Kevin Graff Baltimore, MD ggraff@erols.com