Boothe Memorial Park Stratford, Connecticut, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 22, 2011 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Turkey Vulture 22 Osprey 3 Northern Harrier 3 Sharp-shinned Hawk 109 Cooper's Hawk 26 Red-shouldered Hawk 10 Red-tailed Hawk 39 American Kestrel 4 Merlin 2 Peregrine Falcon 1 Unknown Raptor 1 Total: 220 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:15:00 Observation end time: 13:45:00 Total observation time: 5.5 hours Official Counter: Scott Kruitbosch Observers: Charlie Barnard, Lynn Jones Weather: After an all the more common S/SW flow period of late we had surface high pressure providing some N/NW flow under sunny skies. Daytime heating provided a few clouds by 11AM, bringing the temperature from 47 to 65. The story of the day was a mid level shortwave that dropped a lot of clouds on the area. This shortwave did not provide any precip and was helpful initially, but I believe it shut down the raptors as it made for some more unstable skies and flopped the winds to the south a bit. Raptor Observations: Around 13:10-13:20 the raptors dropped, and from 13:20 to 13:45 there were none. The shortwave noted above likely did just enough to prevent movement. Non-raptor Observations: Southbound migrants included: Canada Goose 98 Great Cormorant 1 Fish Crow 64 Tree Swallow 27 American Robin 30 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 17 Brown-headed Cowbird 60 American Goldfinch 4 Migrants in the park included: Eastern Phoebe 1 Golden-crowned Kinglet 2 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1 Chipping Sparrow 10 Field Sparrow 1 Savannah Sparrow 4 Song Sparrow 1 White-throated Sparrow 6 Notable birds included: COMMON RAVEN 1 ======== Scott Kruitbosch Conservation Technician Connecticut Audubon Society 2325 Burr St. Fairfield, CT 06824 CAS blog: ctaudubon.blogspot.com CAS Twitter: twitter.com/CTAudubon Email: skruitbosch@ctaudubon.org www.ctaudubon.org