Thanks to all the visitors who stopped by during a lengthy, sometimes frustrating, and productive day at... Boothe Memorial Park Stratford, Connecticut, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 25, 2011 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Black Vulture 3 Turkey Vulture 76 Osprey 2 Bald Eagle 2 Northern Harrier 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk 87 Cooper's Hawk 18 Red-shouldered Hawk 3 Red-tailed Hawk 74 American Kestrel 6 Merlin 3 Unknown Raptor 1 Total: 276 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:30:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 7.5 hours Official Counter: Scott Kruitbosch Observers: Charlie Barnard, Twan Leenders Weather: After a minor cold front passing through late last night a high built in to provide NW flow under nearly 100% clear skies the entire day. Movement was strong but difficult to detect at the best of times. At 7:30 it was 45 degrees and completely calm. Around 10 the wind picked up to a steady 8-12MPH all day, and this brought the raptors as temperatures peaked at 63. Humidity lessened and the only clouds we had were in the late morning because of daytime heating. Raptor Observations: Charlie spotted the 3 migrant BLVU going through together that we carefully watched drift to the WSW. Most of the activity was to the SE because of the strong winds. Non-raptor Observations: Southbound migrants included: Canada Goose 78 Common Loon 1 Double-crested Cormorant 36 Herring Gull (American) 5 Tree Swallow 13 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1 American Robin 4 European Starling 11 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 17 Red-winged Blackbird 7 Migrants in the park included: Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1 Eastern Phoebe 2 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 4 Savannah Sparrow 1 Song Sparrow 5 White-throated Sparrow 3 Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 6 Notable birds included: COMMON RAVEN 2 - the same pair we keep seeing over the Housatonic ======== 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