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. 20th - 9am-1:30pm) (site manned, it depends on the weather, 8am-7pm (Sept.), except Mon.-Thurs. 8am-2pm) SPECIES 9/20 SEASON 1998 1997 TV 0 24 525 362 BV 0 3 49 13 GE 0 0 1 3 BE (3 ad. & 9 imm.) 0 12 22 9 NH 0 6 48 25 SS 3 37 260 106 CH 0 16 153 82 NG 0 0 1 2 RS 0 6 108 51 BW 46 9,718 11,782 4,324 RT 0 10 526 339 RL 0 0 7 14 OS 5 32 48 20 AK 0 32 64 23 ML 0 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 54 10,085 13,621 5,338 Non-Raptor 9/20 SEASON 1998 Great Blue Heron 0 1 4 Canada Goose 0 50 2,934 Short-billed Dowitcher 0 9 n/a Ring-billed Gull 0 14 467 Common Nighthawk 0 51 188 (1 - 9/19) Chimney Swift 9 288 4,486 Ruby-th. Hummingbird 0 7* 1 Belted Kingfisher 0 1 (male) n/a Eastern Phoebe 0 2 ? Least Flycatcher 0 1 n/a Eastern Kingbird 0 3 n/a Purple Martin 0 5 n/a Barn Swallow 0 170* 3 Tree Swallow 0 92* 5 N. Rough-winged Swallow 0 34 n/a Red-breasted Nuthatch 0 2 n/a Am. Robin 5 14 866 Blue Jay 6 6 576 Cedar Waxwing 0 53* 30 Yellow Warbler 0 1 (imm.) 1 Black-th. Blue Warbler 0 1 (female) n/a Black-and-white Warbler 1 2 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. 4 70 ? Common Grackle 0 41 n/a Am. Goldfinch 2 9 50 Unid. non-raptor sp. 9 69 4,283 (including sparrow) 36 1,008 14,539 (33 species) Butterfly 9/20 SEASON 1998 Monarch 396 3,838 7,399 Weather: am=S/PC pm=PC :Temp in the upper 70's and lower 80's. Wind from the S and sometimes SSE. Cold Front tomorrow from the NW wind will brings rain. Raptor Migration Highlight: Slow day for Broadwings, a kettle of 45 at 1:04pm headed SWW. I still need at least 2,064 more Broadwings to break a new season record. Hope for good day on Wed. after a cold front tomorrow. Another good day for Osprey. Non-Raptor Migration Highlight: Season first Blue Jay at 9am. Butterfly Migration Highlight: More Monarch are picking up and up to 40 took a rest at the bushes for a while and left for south. Standard hawk species identifier codes used: TV= Turkey Vulture, BV= Black Vulture, GE= Golden Eagle, BE= Baled 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