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 Wed. report. Reports: Kevin Graff (ggraff@erols.com) Counters: Kevin Graff (Sept. 29th - 9:30am-2pm) Charlie Muise (Sept. 29th - 1pm-4pm) (site manned, it depends on the weather, 8am-7pm (Sept.), except Mon.-Thurs. 8am-2pm) SPECIES 9/29 SEASON 1998 1997 TV+ 1 26 525 362 BV 0 3 49 13 GE 0 0 1 3 BE (4 ad. & 9 imm.) 0 13 22 9 NH 0 8 48 25 SS+ 3 57 260 106 CH 0 25 153 82 NG (male) 0 1 1 2 RS 0 9 108 51 BW+ 1 11,786* 11,782 4,324 RT 0 10 526 339 RL 0 0 7 14 OS+ 6 42 48 20 AK+ 2 51 64 23 ML 0 8 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 13 12,221 13,621 5,338 Non-Raptor 9/29 SEASON 1998 Double-cr. Cormorant 0 1 141 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 54 188 Chimney Swift+ 55 556 4,486 Ruby-th. Hummingbird 0 7* 1 Belted Kingfisher 0 1 (male) n/a Northern Flicker 0 9* 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 0 175* 3 Tree Swallow 0 94* 5 N. Rough-winged Swallow 0 35 n/a Red-breasted Nuthatch 0 2 n/a Gray Catbird 0 8 ? Am. Robin+ 4 52 866 Blue Jay+ 116 723* 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. 3 100 ? Common Grackle 0 53 n/a Am. Goldfinch+ 9 22 50 Scarlet Tanager+ 1 1 (female) n/a (new yardlist) Unid. non-raptor sp. 7 228 4,283 (including sparrow) 195 2,411 14,539 (33 species) Butterfly 9/29 SEASON 1998 Monarch+ 332 5,136 7,399 + reported by other observers Weather: am=MC pm=MC/R :Temp in the lower 70's. Wind mostly from the S all day. Charlie Muise reported some rain at 4pm. Raptor Migration Highlight: Slow day but Charlie had 11 hawks while I'm at work. The interesting birds he had was 5 Osprey between 2pm and 3pm. Non-Raptor Migration Highlight: More big flocks of Blue Jay with 25, 1, 17, 71 and Charlie had 2 in pm. He also reported seen 2 Am. Robin, 32 Chimney Swift, and a Goldfinch. We both saw a Scarlet Tanager, probably a female, was a new yardlist for me. Butterfly Migration Highlight: Another good day for Monarch with 322 in am and Charlies had 10 in pm. 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 P.S. A special thanks to Charlie Muise for helping out cover the afternoon for me while I'm at work.