Tussey Mountain Hawk Watch State College, Pennsylvania, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 08, 2025 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 17:00:00 Total observation time: 8 hours
Official Counter: Adam Bradley
Observers: Bob McLaughlin, Nick Bolgiano
Visitors: Bob McLaughlin arrived early in the count to help scan for migrants. It was a tough day scanning blue skies again so I really appreciate his effort. Later in the afternoon Phaedra brought her daughters Kaia and Emerson up to the site after having visited Shavers Creek Nature Center. They enjoyed getting to see the raptors in the aviary and I hope they visit again tomorrow. Hopefully some GE’s will be flying so we can help them spot some.
Bob McLaughlin Phaedra Kaia and Emerson Leslie
Weather: Trace amount of snow fell overnight along the summit of Tussey Mountain. Stiff WNW winds peaking at 50+ kph in the 10:00 hour. Visibility was good in the morning with large cumulus clouds drifting over the ridge. A little afternoon the clouds had moved off and sunny skies prevailed. Low temperature of -1C at 09:00 and a high of 3C by 11:00.
Raptor Observations: TV 1 (79) BE 4 (33) RT 1 (33) GE 2 (73) Total 8 (264)
GE A 12:37, A 14:49
Another tough day scanning a mostly featureless blue sky for high flying migrants. All migrants were moving through at the limit of binoculars and primarily on the N side of the ridge.
Nick Bolgiano issued his first of four GE updates for the seasons survey effort. I can’t post graphs on Hawk Count, but here is summary:
At the end of February, our Golden Eagle cumulative count was ahead of all previous seasons. However, we haven't counted many on the last several days of strong WNW wind, so this year's cumulative total of 73 is now consistent with a group of other years. Good so far, but not extraordinarily so. Possible that we could get S wind days later next week.
If there are multiple S wind days early in the season, many Golden Eagles tend to drift to the Allegheny Front. The AF hawk watch has tallied 16 Golden Eagles so far this year, so that scenario has been limited, which is good for our count.
The resident RTHA were active along the ridge throughout the day. At 14:00 an adult and immature were both seen flying S along the ridge, the adult leading and the juvenile following. I noticed this same behavior yesterday as well. At 14:46 Nick spotted an adult male NOHA flying south low along the west side of the ridge.
Non-raptor Observations: Canada Goose 413 Black Vulture 1 Turkey Vulture 6 American Crow 3 Common Raven 8 Black-capped Chickadee 1
Predictions: Sunny, with a high near 48. West wind 7 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph.
We could see a decent flight tomorrow considering it is the first day in three days without NW winds. After 4 days of struggling to break double digits for migrants, it would appear the raptors may be stacking up south of us. Looking ahead the first day we see S winds in the forecast is likely to be a big day. After the last two days of scanning blue skies, I am hoping the west winds tomorrow will bring us more birds.
======================================================================== Report submitted by Adam Richardson (<poecile.gambeli...>) Tussey Mountain Hawk Watch information may be found at: tusseymountainspringhawkwatch.org/
