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. 30th - 9am-2pm) (site manned, it depends on the weather, 8am-7pm (Sept.), except Mon.-Thurs. 8am-2pm) SPECIES 9/30 SEASON 1998 1997 TV+ 1 27 525 362 BV 2 5 49 13 GE 0 0 1 3 BE (4 ad. & 9 imm.) 0 13 22 9 NH 1 9 48 25 SS+ 30 87 260 106 CH 7 32 153 82 NG (male) 0 1 1 2 RS 10 19 108 51 BW+ 31 11,817* 11,782 4,324 RT 8 18 526 339 RL 0 0 7 14 OS+ 3 45 48 20 AK+ 5 56 64 23 ML 0 8 15 7 PG 1 1 4 2 SW 0 0 1 n/a UA 0 0 3 4 UB 1 2 3 3 UF 0 0 1 n/a UR 0 1 n/a n/a 100 12,321 13,621 5,338 Non-Raptor 9/30 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 6 21 467 Common Nighthawk 0 54 188 Chimney Swift+ 57 613 4,486 Ruby-th. Hummingbird 0 7* 1 Belted Kingfisher 0 1 (male) n/a Downy Woodpecker 1 1 2 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 2 96* 5 N. Rough-winged Swallow 0 35 n/a Red-breasted Nuthatch 0 2 n/a Gray Catbird 0 8 ? Am. Robin+ 2 54 866 Blue Jay+ 102 825* 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. 6 106 ? Common Grackle 0 53 n/a Am. Goldfinch+ 5 27 50 Scarlet Tanager+ 0 1 (female) n/a Unid. non-raptor sp. 18 246 4,283 (including sparrow) 199 2,610 14,539 (33 species) Butterfly 9/30 SEASON 1998 Monarch+ 306 5,442 7,399 + reported by other observers Weather: am=PC pm=PC :Temp in the upper 70's to mid 80's. Good wind from the NW all day. Raptor Migration Highlight: Felt like first day of October with good movement of buteos and accipiters. Season first Peregrine Falcon seen headed SW over the ridge at 12:47pm. Late BW's kettle with 13 at 1:07pm and 7 at 11:44am and rest of them are single or a pair. Non-Raptor Migration Highlight: Another good movement of Blue Jay. A flock of 1, 1, 9, 8, 1, 1, 1, 5, 44, 7, 2, 6, 12, and 4. Season first Downy Woodpecker flying very high headed SWW. Butterfly Migration Highlight: Monarch numbers are getting lower each day this past few days. Standard hawk species identifier cosdes 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 Question or comments on this report to Kevin Graff at ggraff@erols.com Kevin Graff Baltimore, MD ggraff@erols.com