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: I started at 8am, but very low hazy thin clouds block the sky until 9am. Reports: Kevin Graff (ggraff@erols.com)) Counter: Kevin Graff (Oct. 31th - 9am-5pm) (site manned, it depends on the weather, 8am-5pm (Nov.), except Mon.-Thurs. 8am-2pm) SPECIES 10/31 SEASON 1998 1997 TV+ 5 345 525 362 BV+ 0 16 49 13 GE 0 0 1 3 BE (8 ad. & 19 imm.) 0 27* 22 9 NH+ 0 33 48 25 SS+ 8 305* 260 106 CH+ 3 189* 153 82 NG (2 ad. males & 1 imm.) 0 3* 1 2 RS+ 1 116* 108 51 BW+ 0 12,112* 11,782 4,324 RT+ 14 183 526 339 RL 0 0 7 14 OS+ 0 84* 48 20 AK+ 0 133* 64 23 ML 0 35* 15 7 PG 0 4 4 2 SW - - 1 n/a UA+ 0 2 3 4 UB 0 6 3 3 UF 0 2 1 n/a UR 0 2 n/a n/a 31 13,597 13,621 5,338 Non-Raptor 10/31 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 0 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 0 111 467 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 1 6 n/a Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3 45* 11 Golden-crowned Kinglet 3 19* 7 Gray Catbird 0 8 ? N. Mockingbird 0 2 n/a Hermit Thrush 0 2 4 Am. Robin+ 70 421 866 Blue Jay+ 0 2,914* 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 0 35 63 Swamp Sparrow 0 1 n/a "Slate-colored" Junco 0 28 51 Unid. sparrow sp. 3 182 ? Common Grackle+ 8 69 n/a Pine Siskin 2 3 n/a Am. Goldfinch+ 4 85* 50 Scarlet Tanager+ 0 1 (female) n/a House Finch+ 0 26 n/a Purple Finch 0 3 3 Unid. non-raptor sp.+ 9 760 4,283 (including sparrow) 103 9,451 14,539 (33 species) Butterfly 10/31 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= PC pm= PC/S :Temp in the mid 50's in early am to late 60's before noon. Wind from the SW all day. Warm weather again for third straight day bringing small flights of hawks, Bummer. Warm weather will continue until Mon. then cold front on Tues should help to keep temp back to normal and good hawk flights this week. Raptor Migration Highlight: Another slow day, but more than yesterday. Only highlight for the day was good Redtails flights. New season record is near as I need 25 to reach the mark and also need 403 to reach 14,000. Non-Raptor Migration Highlight: Another sisken with 2 seen together at 1:09pm headed SW. Steady flocks of Am. Robins in mid afternoon. 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