Bake Oven Knob 2 miles North of Germansville, Pennsylvania, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 02, 2025 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 8.5 hours
Official Counter: AB
Observers:
Visitors: 17 hikers
1 black star helium balloon FOS
Weather: Warm weather has returned to Blue Mountain. Mostly ENE winds at 1-3 mph. Low fog over the valleys to the west in the morning and some significant haze in the Lehigh Valley to the ENE. The haze limited visibility over the Lehigh Valley in the morning, but by 10:00 it had begun to improve. This continued steadily through the entire count with views to 30 miles by 13:00. Scattered clouds to start the count off out on the horizon. By 10:00 some nice cumulus clouds drifted over Blue Mountain bringing cooler temps and excellent spotting conditions despite the lack of raptors. Low temperature of 16C at 07:00 and a high of 23C by 10:00.
Raptor Observations: BV 5 (48) TV 15 (223) BE 3 (67) BW 4 (119) RT 3 (47) UR 1 (18) Total 31 (622)
BAEA (3): 08:39 U, 09:40 A, 10:04 A
A slow day for migrants at Bake Oven Knob with only handful of BW’s, BE’s and RT’s. The flight got underway in the 08:00 hour. It continued sporadically until noon when the flight came to an abrupt halt. In the 14:00 hour I picked up a few RT’s to the W of the Notch that eventually went quite high above the OP before streaming W. A lone BW was detected in the 15:00 hour to close out the day.
Resident raptors were certainly more active than migrants during the survey. An adult RTHA was spotted multiple times parachuting down over Lehigh Valley in the morning. Later in the afternoon this buteo was seen kiting over multiple locations above the bowl. Towards the close of the count, I watched this bird lean into a stoop and snatch a dragonfly. There was a second year BE that worked its way quite high on a thermal above the notch. Once it reached the top of the thermal it moved ENE. An immature SS was spotted at 13:22 in close to the OP, likely getting a good look at the decoy. It flew up ridge and dropped down into the bowl. There is an immature TUVU that is quite interested in the decoy. Today I had on my camouflage hoody and it came in multiple times mobbing the owl and seemed confused as to why BC never flinched.
Non-raptor Observations: There is a little gap in the cliff face near where I sometimes sit and a few interesting birds flitted into site during the count. The first was a COYE that perched right below me for a moment. The second bird was much later in the afternoon and I barely caught it out of the corner of my eye. It too perched back in the tree tops along the cliff allowing me to make it out as a NHWR. There was some big TUTI excitement in the morning and a REVI seemed to be right in the middle of it. I then heard the scold of a BHVI which reminded me of migration at Chestnut Ridge.
Wild Turkey 1 Chimney Swift 9 Ruby-throated Hummingbird 7 Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Downy Woodpecker 1 Hairy Woodpecker 1 Pileated Woodpecker 1 Northern Flicker 1 Eastern Wood-Pewee 1 Blue-headed Vireo 1 Red-eyed Vireo 2 Blue Jay 2 American Crow 2 Common Raven 2 Black-capped Chickadee 2 Tufted Titmouse 2 White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Red-breasted Nuthatch 2 Northern House Wren 1 American Robin 5 Cedar Waxwing 18 American Goldfinch 2 Baltimore Oriole 1 Black-and-white Warbler 1 Common Yellowthroat 1
Predictions: Patchy fog before 8am. Otherwise, mostly sunny, with a high near 76. Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Adam Richardson (<poecile.gambeli...>) Bake Oven Knob information may be found at: www.lgnc.org
