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. Reports: Kevin Graff (ggraff@erols.com) Counter: Kevin Graff (Sept. 10th - 9am-11:45am, 12:15pm-2:30pm, & 3pm-7:30pm) (site manned, it depends on the weather, 8am-7:30pm (Sept.), except Mon.-Thurs. 8am-2pm) SPECIES 9/10 SEASON 1998 1997 TV 0 6 525 362 BV 0 1 49 13 GE 0 0 1 3 BE (1 ad. & 4 imm.) 0 5 22 9 NH 0 4 48 25 SS 2 15 260 106 CH 2 8 153 82 NG 0 0 1 2 RS 0 4 108 51 BW 83 126 11,782 4,324 RT 1 8 526 339 RL 0 0 7 14 OS 0 13 48 20 AK 3 20 64 23 ML 1 2 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 92 213 13,621 5,338 Non-Raptor 9/10 SEASON 1998 Great Blue Heron 0 1 4 Short-billed Dowitcher 0 9 n/a Ring-billed Gull 0 14 467 Common Nighthawk 31 40 188 Chimney Swift 124 223 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 5 n/a Barn Swallow 2 163* 3 Tree Swallow 6 85* 5 N. Rough-winged Swallow 0 34 n/a Red-breasted Nuthatch 0 2 n/a Am. Robin 0 4 866 Cedar Waxwing 0 13 30 Yellow Warbler 0 1 (imm.) 1 Black-th. Blue Warbler 0 1 (female) n/a Black-and-white Warbler 0 1 n/a Am. Redstart 0 4 n/a Bobolink 0 3 n/a Chipping Sparrow 0 4 ? Swamp Sparrow 0 1 n/a Unid. sparrow sp. 11 44 ? Common Grackle 0 41 n/a Am. Goldfinch 0 4 50 Unid. non-raptor sp. 5 19 4,283 (including sparrow) 169 712 14,539 (33 species) Butterfly 9/10 SEASON 1998 Monarch 19 97 7,399 19 97 7,399 Weather: am=PC pm=PC :Temp in the upper 80's. Some wind from the NW, but not strong enough. NW wind mixed with SW and sometimes NWN and SWS. Raptor Migration Highlight: Season first large kettle arrive at 5:17pm, but seen far east side of the ridge. This is a low record for Sept. 10th, same time last year I had 642 Broadwings. Second Merlin of the season at 4:51pm. Non-Raptor Migration Highlight: Good day for nighthawks and swifts. Male fall plumage Common Yellowthroat seen in yard along with Eastern Phoebe. Butterfly Migration Highlight: Slow start this past week, compare to several hundreds Monarch same time last year. 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, 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