Observation start time: 08:15:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 7.5 hours
Official Counter: Eric Mueller
Observers: Carole Powers, Chris Eddy, Cindy Rost, Dan Rossman, Janet Kovner, Jean Hampel, Joanne Hart, John Edmondson, Marty McNamara, Scott Carlson, Tom Gottschang
Visitors: We had a great turnout of observers for the last day that we could drive up to the summit - more observers than migrating raptors. Many thanks to the crew today for sticking it out in the cold and wind! We enjoyed each others company in between the isolated sightings.
The final day of AppleFest down at the ski area brought hundreds of people up on the ski lift where they joined hundreds of others who hiked or drove up. Very few stayed on the platform for more than a few minutes once they felt the cold wind.
Weather: A little less windy than yesterday, but not by much, and 10 degrees colder all day (36-47 F)...brrr! Winds were out of the West most of the day at 6-10 mph, but with frequent gusts of 15-20+ mph. A virtually cloudless sky mid-afternoon. Visibility was very good all day.
Raptor Observations: The gusty winds seemed to have kept the birds down today. We saw very few migrating birds, and viewing what birds we saw was challenging at times as our optics were bounced around a bit.
Chris, Joanne and Carole went down to the North Rd overlook for a while after I shut down the watch at the summit at 2 pm EST, and saw a local adult Bald Eagle, two local Red-tails, 12 Ravens and 22 migrating Canada Geese, but no migrating raptors.
Non-migrating raptors: TV - 5 Bald Eagle - 4 (3 Ad, 1 Imm) Cooper's Hawk - 1 Red-tail - 4
Non-raptor Observations: Non-raptors: Canada Goose - 76 (skeins of 10, 18, 26 & 22) Blue Jay - 2 Amer Crow - 2 Comm Raven - 12 BC Chickadee - 2 WB Nuthatch - 2
Predictions: The road to the summit has now been closed to vehicles until next Memorial Day, so our watches will be more sporadic as we pick and choose which days to schelp our gear up. For Monday, I (out-of-shape Eric) will attempt to hike up to the summit and arrive around 10 am EDT. Bill Rasku will hike up to the North Rd overlook at the same time and we'll compare notes. Winds are expected to be from the NNW to NW at 4-6 mph, with temps from the mid-30s to mid-40s, and sunny to mostly sunny skies. This should be good flying weather and we're hoping for better results than the last couple of days. ======================================================================== Report submitted by ERIC MUELLER (<ericmueller1912...>) Wachusett Mountain information may be found at: http://www.massbird.org/emhw
