HSR: Picatinny Peak (07 Nov 2009) 118 Raptors

[reports-4]

Picatinny Peak
Rockaway Twp, New Jersey, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 07, 2009
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Species            Day's Count    Month Total   Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture                0              0              7
Turkey Vulture              81             81            191
Osprey                       0              0            163
Bald Eagle                   1              6             85
Northern Harrier             1              2             59
Sharp-shinned Hawk           7             30           1328
Cooper's Hawk                3              8             84
Northern Goshawk             0              0              0
Red-shouldered Hawk          3             32             55
Broad-winged Hawk            0              0           5205
Red-tailed Hawk             20             94            134
Rough-legged Hawk            0              0              0
Golden Eagle                 0              0              3
American Kestrel             0              0            133
Merlin                       0              0             16
Peregrine Falcon             0              0             20
Unknown Accipiter            0              0              5
Unknown Buteo                1              3             12
Unknown Falcon               0              0              5
Unknown Eagle                0              0              0
Unknown Raptor               1              3             53

Total:                     118            259           7558
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Observation start time: 09:30:00
Observation end   time: 15:30:00
Total observation time: 6 hours

Official Counter:        Reed Simovich

Observers:        John Reed, Susan Simovich

Weather:
dimishing clouds with variable winds all with a southern component

Raptor Observations:
Bald Eagle  adult 1039
            not countable  adult seen at 1417 with     vultures; seen
again at 1448 with vultures then headed N

i need some help here, folks.  here are my field notes:

large, dark bird which at first glance i though was a raven, gliding along
our western ridge.  wings were flat but when it did use them the strokes
were very slow and deliberate.  no vocalization.  it came over a gained a
thermal with a redtail. physically about the same size, maybe a bit bigger.
 tail not wedgelike at all.  very dark grey/black/brown overall with what
looked to be a bit lighter on the trailing edges of the flight feathers and
along the axillars(along the body where the wings meet the main part of the
body).  tail looked like it had very faint black and grey banding with no
true terminal band.

fairly large movement of migrating turkey vultures that annoyed our locals
greatly.

Non-raptor Observations:
crows, crows, everywhere.  ravens.  
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Report submitted by Reed Simovich (vzey121t@...)


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