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 Saturday report (Sept. 18th). Went to Cromwell Valley Park at 8am and went back to my backyard at 9:50am. Many BW's seen take off at the park at 9am. Reports: Kevin Graff (ggraff@erols.com) Counter: Kevin Graff (Sept. 18th - 9:50am-12:00pm & 12:20pm-6:30pm) (site manned, it depends on the weather, 8am-7:30pm (Sept.), except Mon.-Thurs. 8am-2pm) SPECIES 9/18 SEASON 1998 1997 TV 2 24 525 362 BV 0 3 49 13 GE 0 0 1 3 BE (3 ad. & 9 imm.) 2 12 22 9 NH 1 6 48 25 SS 4 34 260 106 CH 2 16 153 82 NG 0 0 1 2 RS 1 6 108 51 BW 7,002* 9,672 11,782 4,324 RT 0 10 526 339 RL 0 0 7 14 OS 8 27 48 20 AK 4 32 64 23 ML 1 6 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 0 1 n/a n/a 7,027* 10,031 13,621 5,338 Non-Raptor 9/18 SEASON 1998 Great Blue Heron 0 1 4 Canada Goose 50 50 2,934 Short-billed Dowitcher 0 9 n/a Ring-billed Gull 0 14 467 Common Nighthawk 1 50 188 Chimney Swift 6 279 4,286 Ruby-th. Hummingbird 1 7* 1 Belted Kingfisher 0 1 (male) n/a Eastern Phoebe 0 2 (date unknown -2 weeks ago?) Least Flycatcher 0 1 n/a Eastern Kingbird 0 3 n/a Purple Martin 0 5 n/a Barn Swallow 1 170* 3 Tree Swallow 0 92* 5 N. Rough-winged Swallow 0 34 n/a Red-breasted Nuthatch 0 2 n/a Am. Robin 0 9 866 Cedar Waxwing 0 53* 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. 0 66 ? Common Grackle 0 41 n/a Am. Goldfinch 2 7 50 Unid. non-raptor sp. 3 60 4,283 (including sparrow) 64 959 14,539 (33 species) Butterfly 9/18 SEASON 1998 Monarch 3,066 3,442 7,399 3,066 3,442 7,399 Weather: am=PC pm=PC :Temp in the upper 70's. Good wind from the NW and shifted back to SWW rest of the day and sometimes from the W and SW. Raptor Migration Highlight: WOWEE!!!!! A new single day record for Broadwings, with previous old record was 3,201 on Sept. 25, 1998. First movement at 9:50am with 25 birds and last kettles came in at 4:27pm with 22 and last hawk pass by at 6:00pm. One largest kettle today at 11:00am with 1,201 and second largest at 11:21am with 1,054 and largest kettles under 1,000 is 701 at 11:34am, more than 90 percent of Broadwings headed SWW with few to W and less than 10 percent headed SE. More Broadwings still reported up in NY and NJ (one hawkwatch had more than 7,400? and other has 6,000), look like I might get new season record for Broadwings this week ( I need 2,111 more to beat the season record). Good day for Osprey. Non-Raptor Migration Highlight: Season first geese migration today with a flock of 50 birds headed SE at 12:41pm. This is the earliest record for the geese, last fall first geese migrants on Sept 24, 1998, I think. Butterfly Migration Highlight: First major movement of Monarch all day, but not a new single day record, last fall, 5,883 recorded on Sept. 17, 1998. 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, PC= Partly Cloudy, MC= Mostly Cloudy, R= Rain Questions or comments on this report to Kevin Graff at ggraff@erols.com Kevin Graff Baltimore, MD ggraff@erols.com