Tussey Mountain Hawk Watch State College, Pennsylvania, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 14, 2025 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 17:00:00 Total observation time: 8.5 hours
Official Counter: AB
Observers: Dave Grove, Don Pote, Drew Wagner, Jacqui McKee, Nick Bolgiano, Peggy Wagoner, Randy Flament
Visitors: Randy Flament from Allegheny Front Hawk Watch was the first visitor to arrive this morning. I enjoyed seeing his wintering GE photos and he definitely wowed the other visitors with his incredible pics. Dave Grove and Drew Wagner from Wagoners Gap Hawk Watch were next to arrive and Dave did some excellent spotting during the days flight. It was interesting hearing some of the history of Wagoners Gap and to hear about the other watches he has visited throughout the years. Gabe Imler from Camp Blue Diamond was up and got his lifer GE. Don Pote arrived early as well and was excellent help spotting during the day. He picked up our first of the year adult male AK. Ken Bowman rotated in late morning and started picking off high flying accipeters and buteos just when we thought the flight was lulling. Jacqui and David McKee joined us for most of the afternoon and were great help spotting migrants as well. I appreciate their growing interest in the hawk watch and I hope we get David some binoculars soon. As always Peggy Wagoner was an all-star spotter picking up many distant birds and our 5th NOHA of the season.
Randy Flament Dave Grove & Drew Wagner Gabe Imler Don Pote Ken Bowman Jacqui & David McKee Peggy Wagoner
1 Runner. 3 hikers.
Weather: 100% humidity to start the count and thick fog over Stone Valley. SE winds for the entire count at 12-19kkph in the morning. By 13:00 the winds had picked up to 28kph which seemed to help the migrants start moving along Tussey Mountain. Due to the fog and later the haze over Stone Valley, visibility was limited to 4km for the entire survey. A few high cirrus clouds for most of the count. Low temperature of 6C at 09:00 and a high of 18C by 14:00.
Raptor Observations: NH 1 (5) SS 8 (27) CH 2 (11) RS 2 (25) RT 22 (96) GE 6 (115) AK 2 (6) Total 43 (441)
GE A 10:59, A 11:10, A 14:04, A 14:40, A 15:05, A 15:39, A 16:44
The flight didn’t get going until late in the 09:00 hour with our first adult male AK flaring out superbly to the south of the OP. After that the flight lulled before picking up again in the 11:00 hour. From then on the flight was pretty steady with RTHA’s leading the flight. The GE’s were pretty loyal to the parallel ridge S flight line while many of the buteos were high overhead along the ridge top. The small accipiters followed the buteo route as well. Our 5th NOHA of the season followed the exact same route as the harrier yesterday flying S to N through the cut.
The local RTHA’s were out frequently escorting migrants and checking out GE’s who lingered in the gap. A resident adult BAEA was spotted several times as well patrolling the ridge.
Non-raptor Observations: Canada Goose 10 Mourning Dove 6 Killdeer 1 Pileated Woodpecker 1 American Crow 6 Common Raven 7 Black-capped Chickadee 3 White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Eastern Bluebird 1 American Robin 8 House Finch 3 Red-winged Blackbird 5 Common Grackle 1
Predictions: Cloudy, with a high near 58. Southeast wind 6 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Adam Richardson (<poecile.gambeli...>) Tussey Mountain Hawk Watch information may be found at: tusseymountainspringhawkwatch.org/
