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: The hawks total from Sat by Pete Webb are including in the season total list below. Highlight of the day from his list was an ad. female N. Harrier at 9:18am headed SW, an ad. male N. Harrier at 10:39am headed SW, an ad. female N. Harrier at 12:24pm headed SW, and a Osprey at 4:26pm headed SW. Reports: Kevin Graff (ggraff@erols.com)) Counter: Kevin Graff (Oct. 18th - 9am-2pm) (site manned, it depends on the weather, 8am-6:00pm (Oct.), except Mon.-Thurs. 8am-2pm) SPECIES 10/18 SEASON 1998 1997 TV+ 9 132 525 362 BV 0 9 49 13 GE 0 0 1 3 BE (7 ad. & 15 imm.) 0 22 22 9 NH+ 2 27 48 25 SS+ 8 216 260 106 CH+ 5 138 153 82 NG (male) 0 1 1 2 RS+ 1 70 108 51 BW+ 0 12,062* 11,782 4,324 RT+ 4 70 526 339 RL 0 0 7 14 OS+ 0 84* 48 20 AK+ 0 124* 64 23 ML 1 34* 15 7 PG 0 2 4 2 SW - - 1 n/a UA+ 0 2 3 4 UB 0 3 3 3 UF 0 2 1 n/a UR 0 1 n/a n/a 30 13,179 13,621 5,338 Non-Raptor 10/18 SEASON 1998 Common Loon 0 2 21 Double-cr. Cormorant 0 90 141 Great Blue Heron 0 11* 4 Canada Goose 67 1,924 2,934 Snow Goose 18 68 230 Am. Black Duck 0 2 n/a Northern Pintail 0 4 n/a Short-billed Dowitcher 0 9 n/a Common Snipe 0 1 n/a Laughing Gull 0 1 n/a Ring-billed Gull 8 68 467 Common Nighthawk 0 63 188 Chimney Swift+ 0 2,082 4,486 Ruby-th. Hummingbird 0 7* 1 Belted Kingfisher 0 1 (male) n/a Downy Woodpecker 0 1 2 Northern Flicker 0 13* 5 Eastern Phoebe 0 3 ? 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 1 127* 5 N. Rough-winged Swallow 0 35 n/a Red-breasted Nuthatch 0 5 n/a Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1 17* 11 Golden-crowned Kinglet 3 6 7 Gray Catbird 0 8 ? N. Mockingbird 0 2 n/a Hermit Thrush 2 2 4 Am. Robin+ 10 210 866 Blue Jay+ 13 2,860* 576 Cedar Waxwing 0 53* 30 Red-eyed Vireo 0 1 n/a Nashville Warbler 0 1 n/a 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 15 ? White-throated Sparrow 0 12 63 Swamp Sparrow 0 1 n/a "Slate-colored" Junco 0 2 51 Unid. sparrow sp. 0 144 ? Common Grackle 0 53 n/a Am. Goldfinch+ 0 64* 50 Scarlet Tanager+ 0 1 (female) n/a Unid. non-raptor sp. 8 393 4,283 (including sparrow) 131 8,555 14,539 (33 species) Butterfly 10/18 SEASON 1998 Monarch+ 0 6,584 7,399 American Lady 0 4 n/a 0 6,588 7,399 + reported by other observers Weather: am= PC pm= PC :Temp in the lower to mid 60's. Wind from the NW between 9-10am and changed to N rest of the day. Raptor Migration Highlight: Female N. Harrier seen at 10:10am headed S and second female seen at 11:27am headed SW. Single Merlin seen at 10:05am headed W. Another slow day. Non-Raptor Migration Highlight: Season first Hermit Thrushes, first seen at 9:30am and second seen at 11:59am. 4 flocks of geese including a flock of 3 Canada Geese at 10:53am headed SE, second flock of 44 Canada Geese at 12:40pm headed SE, third flock of 20 Canada Geese at 1:00pm headed SE, and the last flock was 18 Snow Geese at 1:12pm headed SE. Nice flock of 3 Golden-crowned Kinglets flyby headed SW and one non-migrant was seen at one of my neighbor's White Pines. Butterfly Migration Highlight: n/a 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 comment on this report to Kevin Graff at ggraff@erols.com Kevin Graff Baltimore, MD ggraff@erols.com