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. 22nd - 9am-2pm) (site manned, it depends on the weather, 8am-7pm (Sept.), except Mon.-Thurs. 8am-2pm) SPECIES 9/22 SEASON 1998 1997 TV 1 25 525 362 BV 0 3 49 13 GE 0 0 1 3 BE (3 ad. & 9 imm.) 0 12 22 9 NH 1 7 48 25 SS 2 39 260 106 CH 1 17 153 82 NG 0 0 1 2 RS 2 8 108 51 BW 251 9,969 11,782 4,324 RT 0 10 526 339 RL 0 0 7 14 OS 2 34 48 20 AK 12* 44 64 23 ML 1 7 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 273 10,358 13,621 5,338 Non-Raptor 9/22 SEASON 1998 Great Blue Heron 0 1 4 Canada Goose 133 183 2,934 Short-billed Dowitcher 0 9 n/a Ring-billed Gull 1 15 467 Common Nighthawk 0 51 188 Chimney Swift 55 343 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 18 32 866 Blue Jay 15 21 576 Cedar Waxwing 0 53* 30 Yellow Warbler 0 1 (imm.) 1 Black-th. Blue Warbler 0 1 (female) n/a Black-and-white Warbler 0 2 n/a Am. Redstart 0 4 n/a Bobolink 0 3 n/a Chipping Sparrow 0 4 ? Song Sparrow 8 8 ? Swamp Sparrow 0 1 n/a Unid. sparrow sp. 7 77 ? Common Grackle 4 45 n/a Am. Goldfinch 0 9 50 Unid. non-raptor sp. 25 94 4,283 (including sparrow) 266 1,274 14,539 (33 species) Butterfly 9/22 SEASON 1998 Monarch 49 3,887 7,399 Weather: am=PC pm=PC :Temp inthe lower 70's. Chilly wind from the NW and SW and later shifted to NNW and S. Raptor Migration Highlight: Broadwings are picking up from the N and NNW wind, but a little low. A nice kettle of 164 at 1:19pm headed SW. Am. Kestrel tie the single day record with 12, previous record was on Oct. 10, 1998. Need at least 1,814 BW's to break a season record. Non-Raptor Migration Highlight: Geese are picking up today with several flocks. 20 birds at 10:07am headed SE, 34 at 10:09am headed SE, 18 at 11:21am headed E, 33 at 11:52am headed S, 18 at 12:58pm headed SE, and 10 at 1:00pm headed SE. The first 2 weeks in Oct is the best time to see Canada Geese with possible Snow Geese over my hawkwatch and maybe loons and ducks. Still, geese migration can be seen through rest of Oct. Robin and Blue Jays starting to move now and next month will bring good numbers of these two birds. Major dropout of 4 Song Sparrows seen at the scrub from the N and 4 other flyby headed S. Butterfly Migration Highlight: Steady movement of Monarch around noon. 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