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)) Counters: Kevin Graff (Oct. 28st - 9:30am-2pm) Joe Platek (Oct. 28th - 11:45am-2pm) (site manned, it depends on the weather, 8am-5:30pm (Oct.), except Mon.-Thurs. 8am-2pm) SPECIES 10/28 SEASON 1998 1997 TV+ 24 332 525 362 BV+ 0 16 49 13 GE 0 0 1 3 BE (7 ad. & 18 imm.) 2 25* 22 9 NH+ 1 33 48 25 SS+ 7 294* 260 106 CH+ 3 184* 153 82 NG (2 ad. males & 1 imm.) 0 3* 1 2 RS+ 4 115* 108 51 BW+ 0 12,112* 11,782 4,324 RT+ 21 160 526 339 RL 0 0 7 14 OS+ 0 84* 48 20 AK+ 1 131* 64 23 ML 0 34* 15 7 PG 1 3 4 2 SW - - 1 n/a UA+ 0 2 3 4 UB 1 6 3 3 UF 0 2 1 n/a UR 1 2 n/a n/a 66 13,538 13,621 5,338 Non-Raptor 10/28 SEASON 1998 Common Loon 0 2 21 Red-throated Loon 0 2 2 Double-cr. Cormorant 0 92 141 Great Blue Heron 0 11* 4 Canada Goose 24 1,969 2,934 Snow Goose 0 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 6 111 467 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 15* 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+ 0 133* 5 N. Rough-winged Swallow 0 35 n/a Red-breasted Nuthatch 0 5 n/a Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3 40* 11 Golden-crowned Kinglet 1 16* 7 Gray Catbird 0 8 ? N. Mockingbird 0 2 n/a Hermit Thrush 0 2 4 Am. Robin+ 1 311 866 Blue Jay+ 4 2,909* 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 17 ? White-throated Sparrow 4 35 63 Swamp Sparrow 0 1 n/a "Slate-colored" Junco 3 28 51 Unid. sparrow sp. 3 177 ? Common Grackle+ 3 61 n/a Pine Siskin 0 1 n/a Am. Goldfinch+ 5 81* 50 Scarlet Tanager+ 0 1 (female) n/a House Finch+ 0 26 n/a Purple Finch 0 3 3 Unid. non-raptor sp.+ 23 571 4,283 (including sparrow) 80 9,119 14,539 (33 species) Butterfly 10/28 SEASON 1998 Monarch+ 0 6,595 7,399 Question Mark 0 1 n/a Mourning Cloak 0 5 n/a Red Admiral 0 4 n/a American Lady 0 11 n/a 0 6,616 7,399 + reported by other observers Weather: am= S/PC pm= S/PC :Temp in the mid 40's in early am to early 60's around noon. Wind from the NE/NW in am then changed to SW around 12:30pm for rest of the day. Raptor Migration Highlight: An 2nd winter Bald Eagle at 1:30pm headed SES and 1st winter Bald Eagle at 1:34pm with a kettle of 1 Peregrine Falcon, 1 Am. Kestrel, 1 N. Harrier, 3 Sharpies, and 1 Cooper's Hawk. At 1:30pm, before join the rest kettles at 1:34pm, an kestrel was dive-bomb at the Peregrine for a while. 4 minutes later back to the kettle, the Peregrine took a turn by dive-bomb at a kestrel. All 8 hawks in a kettle headed SW. More Turkey Vultures and Redtails are on the move. Non-Raptor Migration Highlight: A flock of 24 Canada Geese at 12:20pm, then split to a flock of 11 and 13 headed SE. More kinglets and sparrows flyby and some others seen in yard. The flock of 6 Ring-billed Gulls was in a V-form headed SE at 11am. 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