John Weeks
The low fog and clouds had already begun to clear when the first watchers arrived at 9:15 on Blueberry Hill. Others quickly joined us, most of them from the Hoffmann Club, including Chris Blagdon and Holly Higinbotham. They made up the group of 10-12 for the early-day walk through the woods in search of warblers. The pishing and low trees worked well, providing close looks at 2 Ovenbird, Black & White, 5 Redstart, 6 Parula, 3 Magnolia, 2 Chestnut-sided, Blackpoll, 4 Bt Blue, 3 Bt Green, and 2 Yellow-rumped Warblers. We also had Philadelphia, Blue-headed, and Red-eyed Vireo. While at the lookout we had Phoebe, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and Sapsucker. Raptors not migrating were 3 Bald Eagle, 2 Cooper’s Hawks, and a Red-shouldered Hawk, plus Turkey Vultures and 2 Black Vultures. Migrants were 4 Osprey, a young Harrier, 23 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 2 Cooper’s Hawks, 92 Broad-winged hawks in small groups, 3 Merlin, and 9 Kestrels. Two of the Merlins were having a dog fight and 5 Kestrels came at one time late in day. There were 135 total raptors seen. Oh yes, the spread of food brought by all was amazing.
John's official count included:
Osprey 5
Harrier 1 juvenile
Sharp-shins 23
Cooper's 2
Broad-wings 92
Kestrels 9 (5 came in together at 4:30 PM) Merlin 3 (including the two that put on the spectacular dog fight) TOTAL RAPTOR MIGRANTS: 135
Others:
Black Vultures 2
Bald Eagles 3
Red-shouldered Hawk
Cooper's (local)
Sapsucker
Phoebe
Phily, Red-eyed and Blue-headed Vireo
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Nine warbler species (no numbers were given):
Ovenbird
Black-and-white
American Redstart
No. Parula
Magnolia
Blackpoll
BT Blue
Yellow-rumped
BT Green