As the last of the morning showers moved away, I headed up the hill at noon, for the last of my stints at the Inaugural Bradbury Mountain Spring Hawkwatch. I was hoping the hole in the weather, with a light southwest breeze blowing, would produce a few more birds to add to the season total. Happily, it did.

While I only saw 13 migrant raptors between noon and 2:30, Jeannette picked up 28 between 2:30 and 5:00pm. Most of the birds (led by Broad-winged Hawks and Ospreys) passed during the few partly sunny moments – when a little insolation produced some helpful lift.

We also tallied a handful of other migrants, including 1 Common Loon, 1 Great Blue Heron, single Blackburnian and Black-throated Green Warblers, 3 Northern Rough-winged Swallow, 4 Yellow-rumped Warblers, 4 Eastern Kingbirds, 7 Tree Swallows, 7 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, 13 Barn Swallows, and 18 Double-crested Cormorants.

Earlier in the day – during periods of light rain – we visited the New Gloucester Marsh (where I usually walk a few times each spring, but today was actually my first visit this year). Highlights were two calling Virginia Rails, and a displaying Wilson’s Snipe. I also added a bunch of “First in Maine for the spring” arrivals, such as Bobolinks and Warbling Vireos.

Handfuls of warblers were around – but nothing like the large waves reported along the coast early this morning. The pre-dawn showers following a night of southwesterly winds were just we hope for to produce a lot of birds. Unfortunately, any thoughts I had about hitting a coastal migrant trap this morning were quickly lost – only the back of my eyelids were to be looked at this morning! A long day yesterday (catching up at the store followed by attending a meeting of the Winslow Park Commission to discuss some of our concerns about the management of the park’s habitat) meant I was still exhausted from the WSB trip. Don’t worry, I’ll be back in the game tomorrow with a 5:00am start!

Here’s the Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch, Week 8 Update:

Despite some pretty good conditions Wednesday and Thursday, very, very few birds were seen this week. After being rained out on Friday (5/11), NW winds followed, and Lionel was skunked on Monday. However, it does look like our flight may be over for the season. We’ll see if we get a few more birds moving between weather systems this week, which is certainly possible. Plus, with a couple of recent Mississippi Kite reports to our south, the SW winds over the next few days may hold a surprise or two! Sunday, May 20th, is the last day of the season.

The following totals are for Week 8 (Tuesday, May 8 through Monday, May 14). The first number is this week’s tally, the second number is the season-to-date total.

BLACK VULTURE: 0, 1
Turkey Vulture: 0, 70
Osprey: 11, 278
Bald Eagle: 0, 35
Northern Harrier: 2, 46
Sharp-shinned Hawk: 18, 408
Cooper’s Hawk: 1, 25
Northern Goshawk: 0, 4
Red-shouldered Hawk: 0, 29
Broad-winged Hawk: 12, 785
Red-tailed Hawk: 2, 178
Rough-legged Hawk: 0, 3
American Kestrel: 0, 175
Merlin: 0, 25
Peregrine Falcon: 0, 1
Unidentified: 1, 17

Total Week 7: 47
Total, Season to Date: 2,080