About 25 participants came to today's hawk watch arranged by the  
Mascoma Chapter of New Hampshire Audubon and held for about 2.5 hours  
at the Lebanon Airport in West Lebanon, NH. Cloudy skies prevailed,  
but small patches of blue sky were occasionally in view. Dozens of  
raptors were seen with most flying relatively high. Much of this  
flight would likely have gone unnoticed without a deliberate effort to  
look for hawks. An annotated species list follows; numbers of  
individuals per species are estimates. Thanks to many who spotted and  
identified birds. Photos helped to verify identifications of some of  
the high flying birds.

Canada Goose   25 -- Seen at times flying and also on the airport  
grassland. At one point a flock of Canada Geese walked across a runway  
from the grass on one side to the grass on the other.

Turkey Vulture  20 -- Generally no more than 7 birds in sight at any  
one time. The vultures were flying usually lower than the eagles or  
hawks. The vultures seen today may well have originated from the birds  
which have been roosting in West Lebanon.

Bald Eagle  at least 3 -- One was clearly an adult with white head and  
tail.

Broad-winged Hawk  75 -- This estimated total included one group in  
which 42 individuals were counted, all visible in the air at the same  
time. Many of these birds were quite distant overhead.

Red-tailed Hawk  2  -- At least 2 distant individuals were Red-tails.

Blue Jay   4 -- This number might be low. Jay calls were the most  
commonly heard bird vocalizations today.

American Crow  10 -- Birds seen in flight and at least two on a runway  
for a time.

Common Raven   7 -- Flying past and sometimes soaring with raptors.

Cedar Waxwing  3  -- In brush on the north side of the parking area.

European Starling  4  -- Seen both flying and in brush on the north  
side of the parking area.

Savannah Sparrow   1  -- Along the perimeter fence, sometimes perched  
on the fence and sometimes foraging on the ground below.

Song Sparrow    2 -- In brush on the north side of the parking area.

House Sparrow   8  --  Seen at close range near the perimeter fence as  
well as elsewhere.

George Clark
Norwich, VT