Compilation continues, but it sounds like somewhere around 700 raptors (11 species), were tallied today during moderate NW winds and plenty of fair weather clouds and 11 hours of observation. The late afternoon falcon follies included Peregrine vs. Osprey, Merlin vs. Crow, Merlin vs. 1st cycle Herring Gull, Merlin vs. Kestrel, Merlin vs. Dragonfly.  Apparently, Merlins simply hate everyone.  Thousands of Tree Swallows and Chimney Swifts went through today.  There was of course no way to count these birds while trying to count hawks.  By just looking at very rough estimates of rates per hour, these numbers were somewhere around 2500 Tree Swallows during the afternoon and 3000 Chimney Swifts for the day.   The sky was filled with these birds all going east to west.  As were the dragonflies.  It is fairly easy to go around the perimeter of Park counting by tens, and in less than 5 minutes or so, come up with 1,000.  What to do with this number?  Add a zero?  Two?  Three zeroes?  The HawkCount guidance asks that we count migrating dragonflies as if we were counting hawks, that is count them continuously and report each hour, by individual species of course!  It would be fascinating to see what some army of experienced counters would come up with. http://hmana.org/MDP/?PHPSESSID=b46b3273c3b639336498774f094864ab So, if there any swallow or dragonfly aficionados out there... Steve Mayo Bethany

Ya good luck counting dragonflies by species and by the hour! On peak days it'd be amazing if a dedicated observer could come close to a rough total, let alone get reasonable numbers by species! On Saturday, September 14, 2013, Steve Mayo and Rebecca Horowitz wrote: > Compilation continues, but it sounds like somewhere around 700 raptors (11 > species), were tallied today during moderate NW winds and plenty of fair > weather clouds and 11 hours of observation. > > The late afternoon falcon follies included Peregrine vs. Osprey, Merlin > vs. Crow, Merlin vs. 1st cycle Herring Gull, Merlin vs. Kestrel, Merlin vs. > Dragonfly. Apparently, Merlins simply hate everyone. > > Thousands of Tree Swallows and Chimney Swifts went through today. There > was of course no way to count these birds while trying to count hawks. By > just looking at very rough estimates of rates per hour, these numbers were > somewhere around 2500 Tree Swallows during the afternoon and 3000 Chimney > Swifts for the day. The sky was filled with these birds all going east to > west. > > As were the dragonflies. It is fairly easy to go around the perimeter of > Park counting by tens, and in less than 5 minutes or so, come up with > 1,000. What to do with this number? Add a zero? Two? Three zeroes? The > HawkCount guidance asks that we count migrating dragonflies as if we were > counting hawks, that is count them continuously and report each hour, by > individual species of course! It would be fascinating to see what some > army of experienced counters would come up with. > > http://hmana.org/MDP/?PHPSESSID=b46b3273c3b639336498774f094864ab > > So, if there any swallow or dragonfly aficionados out there... > > Steve Mayo > Bethany > _______________________________________________ > This list is provided by the Connecticut Ornithological Association (COA) > for the discussion of birds and birding in Connecticut. > For subscription information visit > http://lists.ctbirding.org/mailman/listinfo/ctbirds_lists.ctbirding.org >