When Sean described our excellent winter finch day at Turkey Point last
week, he left it to me to provide the hawk numbers. In addition to nine
Turkey Vultures, and two Black Vultures that are probably residents, we had
the following nice migrants:

Sharp-shinned - 12
Cooper's - 5
Red-shouldered - 13
Red-tailed - 11
Merlin - 1 (screaming by on afterburners)
Total: 42

Before Sean arrived I saw three juvenile Bald Eagles, two of them
talon-touching and 1 sub-adult. An adult showed up a little later. All were
counted as resident because they were just fooling around along the upwind
side of the cliff.

Those numbers aren't too bad for a mid-November day with light winds,
although overall it has been a very slow season. Since we tend to have
mostly juvenile birds at Turkey Point, Sean was speculating that the nesting
season may not have been as successful as in past years--unless they all
went inland.

Pat Valdata
Elkton, MD