Derby Hill Bird Observatory Mexico, New York, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 27, 2026 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 6 12 Turkey Vulture 267 22743 35741 Osprey 21 169 182 Bald Eagle 37 374 581 Northern Harrier 19 375 469 Sharp-shinned Hawk 61 2124 2302 Cooper's Hawk 3 99 291 American Goshawk 0 1 2 Red-shouldered Hawk 1 86 498 Broad-winged Hawk 6401 34385 34385 Red-tailed Hawk 14 1720 2599 Rough-legged Hawk 0 15 68 Golden Eagle 2 34 64 American Kestrel 13 333 398 Merlin 1 37 67 Peregrine Falcon 0 4 8 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: 6840 62506 77668 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 17:00:00 Total observation time: 9 hours Official Counter: David Brown Observers: Dave Wheeler Visitors: 20 Weather: Sunny except for a few late-afternoon cirrus clouds. Light southeast winds to start becoming quite warm with a high in the upper 60s. A late breeze kicked in at 11am (10am EST) and we moved the count to the South Lookout at 11:30am (10:30am EST). The winds were light to moderate from the north the rest of the day, though it stayed quite warm. Raptor Observations: An excellent Broad-winged Hawk flight. The first ones started getting up around 9am and by the mid-morning we had kettles of 100-200+ soaring in front then streaming high overhead. We had over 3,000 broad-wings from the North Lookout. After the move to the south lookout the flight was more scattered but as we got into the mid-afternoon a steady stream of broad-wings developed south of 104b bringing another 3,250 broad-wings. In total we had over 6,400 broad-wings which is the highest total for them so far this season. Turkey Vultures were the next most numerous species with 267. Ospreys had the highest total so far this season with 21. Bald Eagles had a strong flight with 37 including a 'southern' juvenile. A moderate Accip flight with 61 sharpies and 3 Coops. Only 14 red-tails, but a juvenile red-shouldered hawk at the South Lookout was a nice highlight as we haven't been seeing many recently. One GOLDEN EAGLE from each lookout. Thirteen kestrels and a Merlin. Derby Hill 2026 Daily Summary Videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB8baxseGlb6YYCLHXEKtIckpJtq1srVm Non-raptor Observations: North Lookout: Red-headed Woodpecker, 2,075 Blue Jays, Purple Martin, Gray Catbird, Hermit Thrush, EVENING GROSBEAK. https://ebird.org/checklist/S328686692 South Lookout: Pectoral Sandpiper https://ebird.org/checklist/S328686946 New species for season: Gray Catbird, Red-headed Woodpecker Predictions: TOMORROW: Cloudy in the morning then off and on rain showers in the afternoon. High 61F. Winds SSE at 15-25mph. Strong overnight migration should bring an influx of new species for the morning. Continuing good winds should result in a big, or even huge, morning flight of non-raptors. The raptor flight is a bit harder to predict. We will have great winds all day. I would expect the raptor flight to get off to a good start, but how it continues throughout the day will depend on what happens with the clouds and showers. That being said, we seem to have an endless supply of broad-winged hawks right now and southerly winds during the peak of the broad-wings are always risky to ignore. WEDNESDAY: Cloudy with rain developing later. High 59F. Winds SE at 5-10mph. Good winds but fairly weak and precipitation moving in may shorten the count. THURSDAY: Morning showers then partly cloudy. High 48F. Winds W at 10-20mph. Less favorable conditions. ======================================================================== 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/3860/20260427 -- 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. --
