Observation start time: 09:15:00 Observation end time: 15:30:00 Total observation time: 6.25 hours
Official Counter: Levi Burford
Observers: Alan Chretien, Chuck Carlson, Mike Gebo, Nora Hanke, Tom Momeyer
Visitors: 16 folks made it to the watch to check out the action.
Weather: Quite a strong wind from the WNW, finally veering to NW by the end of the day. The temperature remained at 55 degrees until dropping 5 degrees also at the end of the day (as if some sort of front moved through or something).
Raptor Observations: Seeing as I wanted to leave at 3:00pm (our new end time after the time change) the birds mostly waited until 2:45 before they started to come through in volume.
There were two birds of the day. The first bird to grace the watch was a close juvenile American Goshawk (I'm still getting used to the name) which flew in front of the platform and disappeared on the lee side of the ridge to the east.
The second bird of the day came near the end of the day when a Merlin came diving towards the platform. I thought it was going to go after Gina, our fake owl but it buzzed the observers as if it had a personal issue with us. It's was quite fun as we were bigger than it and have the luxury of not living in fear of this little terror.
Non-raptor Observations: We had several small waves of finches, probably American Goldfinches or Pine Siskins and a couple of Purple Finches. We had a confusing short look at a bird that swooped around near the watch which might've been a Snow Bunting or might've been something else. Ah well.
Predictions: More strong wind from the west shifting to the north by the end of the day. Nice wind direction. Get ready for more cold wind in your face. Might be a good migration day. Bring on the Red-tails! ======================================================================== Report submitted by Levi Burford (<lbburford...>) Pack Monadnock Raptor Migration Observatory information may be found at: www.harriscenter.org
