Tussey Mountain Hawk Watch State College, Pennsylvania, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 30, 2025 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 7.92 hours
Official Counter: AB
Observers:
Visitors: Coty was out in the afternoon and was kind enough to bring some healthy snacks to share. She had seen a FOSP on the walk in.
Constanza Ehrenhaus
8 hikers
Weather: Light SE winds for most of the count at 6-11kph. By noon they had picked up to 12-19kph and that also happened to be the busiest hour of the flight. Visibility was good for most of the count at 12km. The cloud cover came and went throughout the count and it was quite warm when the sun peaked out. Low temperature of 17C at 09:00 and a high of 27C at noon. A light drizzle developed in the 13:00 hour and continued off and on until the close of the count at 17:00.
Raptor Observations: TV 14 (245) OS 3 (13) BE 4 (65) NH 2 (24) SS 12 (65) CH 4 (24) RS 1 (36) RT 11 (183) AK 3 (21) UR 3 (16) Total 57 (843)
The first RSHA in over a week was spotted early in the count. The flight then picked up in the 10:00 hour with a total of 13 raptors coming through. The diversity in the days flight made for an exciting day for the discerning raptor enthusiast. The 11:00 hour saw a good pulse of SSHA with a total of 6 moving through. Several seemed to be flying straight down Tussey Mountain along the ridge then banking out N of the tower. The noon hour had several RTHA’s and the AK’s started to move through on the flight line used by the sharpies in the prior hour. By 13:00 when the skies became mostly cloudy, the temperature dropped and a drizzle started marked a halt to the days flight.
The resident COHA was again out performing its flight display over Stone Valley. It was in the vicinity of the powerline cut on the S side of the ridge.
Non-raptor Observations: The RUGR was behind the rock wall at the old OP. Something may have taken a swipe at it as I hear it flush first and didn’t see anything. I reconciled it to rocks tipping over. Then I heard the “poik” call and got on it briefly up in a tree. It then flew off the N side of the ridge. The woodpeckers and sapsucker were quite active today. All were rocking out cueing up for their drum solos. I also thought I saw a RTHU, but checked eBird and see there has been none spotted this far north yet. It could have been an insect as I noticed some big moths flying up through the cut on these S winds. I had been looking at a distant raptor over the tree lines and noticed something blurred out in the foreground. The flight style seemed like a hummer taking off from a branch, but it may have been an insect in the foreground.
Ruffed Grouse 1 Mourning Dove 6 Great Blue Heron 1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Hairy Woodpecker 1 Pileated Woodpecker 1 Northern Flicker 1 Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 1 Eastern Phoebe 1 Blue Jay 1 American Crow 3 Common Raven 6 Black-capped Chickadee 5 Tree Swallow 1 Golden-crowned Kinglet 2 White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Eastern Bluebird 2 American Robin 7 House Finch 5 Purple Finch 1 American Goldfinch 3 Field Sparrow 1 Red-winged Blackbird 1 Brown-headed Cowbird 6 Common Grackle 3
Predictions: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. Some of the storms could be severe. High near 73. Southwest wind 6 to 11 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
======================================================================== Report submitted by Adam Richardson (<poecile.gambeli...>) Tussey Mountain Hawk Watch information may be found at: tusseymountainspringhawkwatch.org/
