Observation start time: 08:15:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 6.75 hours
Official Counter: Eric Mueller
Observers: Lisa Burwell, Scott Carlson, Steve Arena, Tom Gottschang
Visitors: We had a talented morning crew. Special mentions to Alicia Carrillo for her excellent eyesight and to Steve Arena for excellent spotting and ID chops along with photo skills which he used to correct me on a few falcon mis-IDs. Along with Alicia and Steve and the observers listed above, we got help from John Sisk, Tatyana Kalani and Even Griffith (formerly from the UP), Ernie and Janice Cuadra, and Karen Gottschang. Thanks for working around the crowded scene on the platform!
Sightseers and Oktoberfest-ians swarmed the summit by the hundreds (thousands?)
Weather: A fine day for sightseeing, but just OK for hawk migration. There was very little wind today, and when it did pick up in the last hour, it was from the SSE. The day started with the dreaded "blue screen of death" sky, but low clouds ringed the horizon fairly quickly, and in the afternoon, we got some thin cirrus clouds which gave us a better background to use. Temps ranged from 52 to 65F. There was a moderate amount of humidity in the air along with a bit of haze, but only the most distant landmarks (mid-NH mountains) were obscured.
Raptor Observations: Numbers-wise we had an OK day with 67 migrating raptors counted. What made the day extra special was the appearance of our first Golden Eagle of the season, a juvenile or 1-year old with the classic bold white underwing markings and white tail with a broad black terminal band. We'll post some photos on our eBird report later. While not the earliest that we've ever seen a GE here (9/5/20, 9/18/08, 9/22/05), it was still earlier than normal for our site. The Pack Monadnock hawk watch reported seeing a juvenile GE very late yesterday, so this is likely the same bird.
Turkey Vultures made up almost half of all of the birds seen today, with Sharpies being the only other species in double figures. Still, we had a good selection of birds with 10 species represented. A few Broad-wings are still trickling through. The light winds may account for the lack of migrating Bald Eagles today. We had the usual number of local BEs, but only for brief appearances.
Non-migrating raptors: TV - 6 Bald Eagle - 6 (3 Ad, 2 Imm, 1 not aged) SS Hawk - 2 Cooper's Hawk - 1 Red-tailed Hawk - 2
Non-raptor Observations: Non-raptors: (the noise of the crowd on the summit drowned out most of the bird calls that we might normally hear) Blue Jay - 5 Comm Raven - 6 Yellow-rumped Warb - 2 E Towhee - 2 gull sp - 15 (fly-by)
Predictions: Rain is expected until noon on Monday, so it's possible that we won't conduct a watch unless it clears up completely. Check the Wachusett Mt ski area trail cams for low cloud cover - https://www.wachusett.com/the-mountain/media-center/webcams/ . Afternoon winds are expected from the WNW at 5-10 mph with temps in the low 60s. If you go up and no one else is there, please send your sightings to Eric at <ericmueller1912...> . ======================================================================== Report submitted by ERIC MUELLER (<ericmueller1912...>) Wachusett Mountain information may be found at: http://www.massbird.org/emhw
