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 Notes
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 Notes
Canada Goose 413
Black Vulture 1
Turkey Vulture 6
American Crow 3
Common Raven 8
Black-capped Chickadee 1
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
7 hikers.
Next Day Forecast
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.
