On Saturday, Nov. 6th 2010 the Cromwell Valley Park HawkWatch recorded it's 19,000th migrant raptor of the Fall season.  With winds out of the NNW and a nice mix of sun and clouds, conditions were near ideal for spotting distant and high flying migrants.  Near ideal also were the 12 or so observers on hand to record the flight!  ( Near, but not quite ideal since we were missing some key persons, you know who you are!!).  

The flight began in earnest at around 10:30 AM, the birds gaining altitude quickly and staying high all day.  Mark Scarff was busy at his spotting scope continuously, distinguishing Redtails from Redshoulders when necessary.  Observers were calling out birds along both ridges as well as right overhead, with the south ridge being more active as the afternoon wore on.  More than a few Bald Eagles were seen in the distance over the Gunpowder Falls which were not counted as migrants.  The hawk flight finally ended between 4:00 and 5:00 PM as thousands of Crows flew along the south ridge towards their communal roosting sites.  Andy Smith and I agreed that some day soon we will try to do a rough count of the corvid flight as their numbers increase in winter.  

Some of us plan to be out again on Sunday the 7th, the possibility of peak Redtail and Redshoulder flights still ahead of us!!

CVP HawkWatch  -  Saturday  11/6/10 - 10:0 AM to 5:15 PM - 12 plus observers at various times including Miles and his mom Rose, Andy Smith, Mark Scarff,  Andy and Judy Higgs, Joe Stag, Cal Orvis, John Hoffman, Leslie Starr, Joe Turner, Joe Meyers, Art Simon, Joanne Dintzis and myself

Sharpies - 13

Coops - 7

Redtails - 79

Redshoulders - 24

N. Harriers - 2

Kestrel - 1

B. Eagle - 7

Un. Id. - 5

1 Raven and 17 Loons were seen also

Jim Meyers 
Parkville Md