10/8 New Haven, Lighthouse Point hawk watch 17 SNOW GEESE, 3 N. PINTAILS
Despite heavy clouds rolling in off the Sound in the morning, strong SW winds and about a 20-minute rain storm, we had a pretty nice Merlin flight. This happens at times under these conditions
147 raptors which included 51 Merlins, 27 Am. Kestrels, and 6 Peregrine Falcons. The other bad-weather bird, N. Harrier, chipped in with 25. We got some Accipiters in the afternoon when things cleared off, although wind stayed SW.
Black-capped Chickadees also continue to move. They were very active well into the afternoon after things cleared up. Any kind of count was difficult because they were sticking to the trees rather than flying in the open sky. The few times flocks rose up a Merlin quickly picked off a bird. Several hundred chickadees were by far the most numerous land birds.
>From Greg Hanisek et al.
10/8 New Haven, Lighthouse Point hawk watch 17 SNOW GEESE, 3 N. PINTAILS
Despite heavy clouds rolling in off the Sound in the morning, strong SW winds and about a 20-minute rain storm, we had a pretty nice Merlin flight. This happens at times under these conditions
147 raptors which included 51 Merlins, 27 Am. Kestrels, and 6 Peregrine Falcons. The other bad-weather bird, N. Harrier, chipped in with 25. We got some Accipiters in the afternoon when things cleared off, although wind stayed SW.
Black-capped Chickadees also continue to move. They were very active well into the afternoon after things cleared up. Any kind of count was difficult because they were sticking to the trees rather than flying in the open sky. The few times flocks rose up a Merlin quickly picked off a bird. Several hundred chickadees were by far the most numerous land birds.
