Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 6.75 hours
Official Counter: Caroline Fegley, Mark Timmerman
Observers: Glen Chretien, Mark Timmerman, Meade Cadot, Phil Brown
Visitors: 13 and another visit from Austin Gelinas
Weather: Sunny with moderate W/WNW winds. 1-4 C (34-39 F)
Raptor Observations: Several migrants today. The most notable birds were a somewhat close juvenile goshawk and a low red-tail with partial leucism on its wings. My Wednesday prediction of "We'll get one more (incredibly late) osprey." came true when one passed low by the hawkwatch during the last hour.
Two nonmigrating red-tails persist in the western valley.
Non-raptor Observations: Glen Chretien spotted a cloud of distant birds on the eastern side of the ridge, first thinking they were crows, "Why are some of them white?". The cloud of crows were then realized to be 28 mostly juvenile herring gulls followed by 5 more a few moments afterwards.
Predictions: Mostly sunny with NW winds. I predict two more harriers to pass by and break the seasonal record.
On this day in Pack history... "2018: Katrina Fenton on a day with just 6 birds: ""For much of the day, the air space was claimed by local Red-tailed Hawks hanging in suspended animation in the teeth of the wind. Migrants began pushing through by late morning, and what little flight there was wrapped up before 1pm. Quality more than quantity was the order of the day, with adult and near-adult Bald Eagles accounting for half of the day's migrants. The final bird of the day was a buteo dark as night, with a trace of moonlight on its flight feathers and tail- a dark morph Rough-legged Hawk bringing the arctic night with it."" ======================================================================== Report submitted by Caroline Fegley (<cgfegley...>) Pack Monadnock Raptor Migration Observatory information may be found at: www.harriscenter.org
