[MDOsprey] [BIRDHAWK] Backyard Hawk Watch
Geoff Graff (ggraff@erols.com)
Sat, 11 Sep 1999 22:09:02 -0400
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: The Broadwings flights has been slow this past two days across the
Northeast, same time last year we had thousands of them witha good NW
wind here and the other hawkwatches across Northeast. But it might get
better in the next 2 or three days, as we got a report late today from
Vermont with 345 Broadwings, from Connecticut with 245 Broadwings and
from New Hampshire (mispelling) with 76 Broadwings. Nobody knows why the
Broadwings is off to a slow start with a good NW wind across the
Northeast, possible the change in weather from the drought made the warm
weather stays longer.
Reports: Kevin Graff (ggraff@erols.com)
Counters: Kevin Graff (Sept. 11th - 9am-6pm & 7pm)
Pete Webb (9am-6pm), Jim Myers, David Thorndill, & Rhode ?
(site manned, it depends on the weather, 8am-7:30pm (Sept.), except
Mon.-Thurs. 8am-2pm)
SPECIES 9/11 SEASON 1998 1997
TV 0 6 525 362
BV 0 1 49 13
GE 0 0 1 3
BE (1 ad. & 6 imm.) 2 7 22 9
NH 0 4 48 25
SS 5 20 260 106
CH 1 9 153 82
NG 0 0 1 2
RS 0 4 108 51
BW 41 167 11,782 4,324
RT 0 8 526 339
RL 0 0 7 14
OS 3 16 48 20
AK 4 24 64 23
ML 2 4 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 n/a
UR 1 1 n/a n/a
59 272 13,621 5,338
Non-Raptor 9/11 SEASON 1998
Great Blue Heron 0 1 4
Short-billed Dowitcher 0 9 n/a
Ring-billed Gull 0 14 467
Common Nighthawk 5 45 188
Chimney Swift 0 223 4,486
Ruby-th. Hummingbird 2 3* 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 5 168* 3
Tree Swallow 2 87* 5
N. Rough-winged Swallow 0 34 n/a
Red-breasted Nuthatch 0 2 n/a
Am. Robin 5 9 866
Cedar Waxwing 31 44* 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. 8 52 ?
Common Grackle 0 41 n/a
Am. Goldfinch 1 5 50
Unid. non-raptor sp. 5 24 4,283 (including sparrow)
64 776 14,539 (33 species)
Butterfly 9/11 SEASON 1998
Monarch 40 137 7,399
Weather: am= PC pmPC/S :Temp in the upper 70's and lower 80's.
Wind from the NW and sometimes from the NWN and NWW. Chilly wind is
probably not good for the BW to catch thermal, but in late pm, calm wind
brought some.
Raptor Migration Highlight: 2 imm. 1st winter eagle spent 8 minutes
display a aggressive flight while catching thermal. First Broadwings
kettle today at 5:06pm with 4, then 3, 3, 2, 1, 4, 9. Many of these
birds are flying over the east side of the ridge and then Pete and I
went up there at 5:30pm and got a BW at 5:31pm, a AK at 5:32pm and a OS
at 5:40pm, all flying at east end of the ridge and at around 6pm Pete
saw a possible a flock about 50 ducks in flight headed for Sparrow Point
(Blue-winged Teal???, but remain a unid. birds).
Non-Raptor Migration Highlight: Seen some good flight of Cedar Waxwing
with 19, 3, 1 and 8. 2 RT Hummers zip by headed SW and a non-migrant
hummer seen about 5 times around my yard. Few migrants seen and heard
during a field trip at the ridge in early am with Rose-breasted
Grosbeak, Red-eyed Vireo, Tufted Titmouse, male Black-throated Blue
Warbler, Swainson's Thrush, Red-breasted Nuthatch, and a Ovenbird.
Butterfly Migration Highlight: Monarch are on the move.
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