Derby Hill Bird Observatory Mexico, New York, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 18, 2026 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 5 11 Turkey Vulture 449 21015 34013 Osprey 11 121 134 Bald Eagle 38 181 388 Northern Harrier 16 306 400 Sharp-shinned Hawk 405 1685 1863 Cooper's Hawk 7 81 273 American Goshawk 0 1 2 Red-shouldered Hawk 2 83 495 Broad-winged Hawk 4123 12688 12688 Red-tailed Hawk 93 1556 2435 Rough-legged Hawk 0 14 67 Golden Eagle 6 26 56 American Kestrel 62 305 370 Merlin 0 32 62 Peregrine Falcon 0 3 7 Unknown Accipitrine 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Swainson's Hawk 0 1 1 Total: 5212 38103 53265 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 05:00:00 Observation end time: 17:00:00 Total observation time: 12 hours Official Counter: David Brown Observers: Dave Wheeler, Greg Sanda, Kim Steininger Visitors: 150+! I had been hyping up this day for a week and the forecast held. It was great luck to have near perfect conditions on a Saturday during the peak of the migration. One visitor drove 8 hours from Ohio to be here. Other visitors were from Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maine. I don't think anyone left disappointed! Weather: Mostly sunny in the morning becoming overcast for the afternoon with one brighter period. Strong southeast winds, occasionally with southwest gusts. Winds quite gusty in the late-afternoon with hats and chairs on the move. Becoming quite warm with a high near 80F. A few sprinkles as we wrapped up the count ahead of approaching evening rain. Raptor Observations: An incredible flight! A steady raptor migration all day. The first raptors were a few Ospreys and a harrier migrating over the lake around 6:30am (5:30am EST). The next two hours were a moderate sharpie flight. After that was a good mix of species as the broad-wings got up. The southeasterly winds kept the raptors very low for the morning. As we got into the midday some broad-wings were up higher in moderate kettles, but all day there was a never a break of raptors coming through low! As it clouded over the flight level became lower again. Sharpies and kestrels continued until 6pm (5pm EST) as the rain started. Many species had notable totals today. Turkey Vultures were steady with a total of 449 for the day. Eleven Ospreys was the best total in a few weeks. The species with the biggest flight of the season were Bald Eagle (38), Sharp-shinned Hawk (405), and American Kestrel (62). We had the second-highest Broad-winged Hawk flight so far with over 4,100 as their early push continues. Another strong Red-tailed Hawk flight with nearly a hundred. Six Golden Eagles including some nice looks. In total we had over 5,200 migrating raptors! It may not have been the highest volume ever, but it was a spectacular day of hawk watching in that the whole day there were constant close views of raptors. Non-raptor Observations: 3 Killdeer, Wilson's Snipe, Lesser Black-backed Gull, 24 Common Loons, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, 226 Blue Jays, 3 Purple Martins, 6 Northern Rough-winged Swallows, 11 Barn Swallows, 3 Cliff Swallows, 6 EVENING GROSBEAKS, 760 Purple Finches, 6 Pine Siskins, 155 American Goldfinches, 350 Rusty Blackbirds, Palm Warbler, 2 Pine Warblers, 23 Yellow-rumped Warblers. https://ebird.org/checklist/S323826679 New species for season: Cliff Swallow, Evening Grosbeak Predictions: TOMORROW: Rain ending early. Breaks of sun in the afternoon. High 44F. Winds WNW at 10-20mph. South Lookout. Post cold front conditions. Slightly unfavorable winds, but there could be a cleanup flight of birds that were along the lake shore from today. MONDAY: Cloudy early then partly cloudy. High 38F. Winds NW at 10-20mph. South Lookout. Unfavorable and cold! Not sure how it goes from 80 degrees today to this! TUESDAY: Overcast. High near 50F. Winds S at 5-10mph. Has some potential for a moderate flight. Keep an eye on as we get closer. ======================================================================== Report submitted by David Brown ([email protected] ) Derby Hill Bird Observatory information may be found at: http://onondagaaudubon.com/derby-hill-bird-observatory/ More site information at hawkcount.org: https://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=358 Count data submitted via Trektellen.org - Project info at: https://trektellen.org/count/view/3860/20260418 -- Oneidabirds-L List Info: Visit: http://LISTS.cornell.edu for more information Posting Address: [email protected] Sightings: Please submit your observations to eBird at http://www.ebird.org. --
