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 hawkatch 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. 23rd - 9am-2pm including 5 minutes break) (site manned, it depends on the weather, 8am-7pm (Sept.), except Mon.-Thurs. 8am-2pm) SPECIES 9/23 SEASON 1998 1997 TV 0 25 525 362 BV 0 3 49 13 GE 0 0 1 3 BE (3 ad. & 9 imm.) 0 12 22 9 NH 1 8 48 25 SS 9 48 260 106 CH 2 19 153 82 NG 0 0 1 2 RS 1 9 108 51 BW 415 10,384 11,782 4,324 RT 0 10 526 339 RL 0 0 7 14 OS 1 35 48 20 AK 5 49 64 23 ML 0 7 15 7 PG 0 0 4 2 SW 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 434 10,792 13,621 5,338 Non-Raptor 9/23 SEASON 1998 Great Blue Heron 0 1 4 Canada Goose 0 183 2,934 Short-billed Dowitcher 0 9 n/a Ring-billed Gull 0 15 467 Common Nighthawk 0 51 188 Chimney Swift 38 381 4,486 Ruby-th. Hummingbird 0 7* 1 Belted Kingfisher 0 1 (male) n/a Norther Flicker 3 7* 5 Eastern Phoebe 0 2 ? Least Flycatcher 0 1 n/a Eastern Kingbird 0 3 n/a Purple Martin 0 5 n/a Barn Swallow 1 171* 3 Tree Swallow 0 92* 5 N. Rough-winged Swallow 0 34 n/a Red-breasted Nuthatch 0 2 n/a Am. Robin 5 37 866 Blue Jay 13 34 576 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 0 8 ? Swamp Sparrow 0 1 n/a Unid. sparrow sp. 6 83 ? Common Grackle 0 45 n/a Am. Goldfinch 1 10 50 Unid. non-raptor sp. 41 135 4,283 (including sparrow) 108 1,382 14,539 (33 species) Butterfly 9/23 SEASON 1998 Monarch 60 3,947 7,399 Weather: am=S pm=S :Temp in the mid 70's. Mostly clear blue sky all day with wind from the WNW in early am and changed to W rest of the day. Raptor Migration Highlight: More Broadwings, better than yesterday. Many of them are in close up view. Largest kettle today was 58 birds at 12:27pm headed SWW. Need 1,398 BW's to break a season record. Good day for sharpies and kestrels. Kestrels are moving in well this month with 49 birds compare to 26 same time last year and sharpies at 48 compare to 26 same time last year and Osprey tie same record as last year. Just a reminder, Peregrine Falcon and Swainson's hawk codes are changed to PG and SW, because Prairie Falcon code was PF and Short-tailed Hawk code was SH. Non-Raptor Migration Highlight: Forgot to add flickers yesterday with 4 birds, and a single Ring-billed Gull, yesterday was seen with a flock of Canada Geese. Blue Jay are picking up today with a single flock of 12 birds in am. Butterfly Migration Highlight: Monarch are in for lowest record this season, due to several days missed because of work. 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, PG= Peregrine Falcon, SW= 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