I'm not sure if any of this was posted since I was out of state from Friday evening to Sunday night.

  On Thursday, April 26, Dennis Kline surprised himself and all the rest of us when he and his family counting 329 Broad-winged Hawks and 20 Ospreys from his farm west of Holmesville in Holmes County. The count took place between noon and mid-afternoon when we had a rainstorm. That was 100+ more BWs than the previous area record set last year by a group of 11. The 20 Ospreys is almost certainly an inland state record, at least for our part of the state. Our previous high of 12 was set by Leon Miller.

  So, the next day, Friday, 8 of us changed our plans and drove to Conneaut. A combination of rain and unfavorable winds (west instead of south) kept it from possibly being a record day for BWs. The total of BWs for the day was 863. There were also 182 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 3 Merlins and 2 Peregrines. Best counts of the day were 56 Northern Harriers and 31 Ospreys, the highest Ohio counts that we are aware of. We're sure that we missed a lot of birds inland since I saw a large kettle of 100+ BWs over Interstate 90 as I was leaving Conneaut about 4:00 pm.

  For what it's worth, the hawk watch site at Ripley, NY only had a very small number of hawks that day, due most likely to rainy weather. We learn something new every time we make the trip to Conneaut. With the record day on April 23 (2 Swainson's Hawks and nearly 600 Sharp-shins and 2300 BWs made for quite a memorable week.Now if our local warbler migration is that good.....


  Bruce

  Bruce Glick
  [log in to unmask]
  Millersburg, Ohio



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