Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours
Official Counter: AB
Observers: Jacqui McKee
Visitors: Jacqui and David McKee hiked out in the afternoon and were great help spotting as always. Jacqui picked up a distant eagle sp., most likely a BE.
Jacqui and David McKee
1 hiker
Weather: Rain in the morning caused a delay in the start of the survey. At 10:00 the winds were out of the SE at 12-19kph. By 13:00 the winds had shifted to the NW at 12-19kph which brought the flight to a halt. At 10:00 the ridge was socked in with fog, but by 10:24 the clouds started lifting rapidly. By 11:00 the visibility was almost to Warriors Ridge, with some stubborn fog and low clouds in Stone Valley still. By noon visibility had opened up to Stone Mountain and was excellent. Mostly cloudy skies for the entire day. Low temperature of 12C at 10:00 and a high of 23C by 13:00.
Raptor Observations: TV 1 (252) OS 1 (19) NH 1 (16) SS 7 (76) RT 3 (201) UE 1 (4) UR 1 (18) Total 15 (908)
Solid flight considering the weather wasn’t looking good early in the morning. SS’s led the flight with a total of 7 moving mostly on the S of Tussey Mountain over Leading Ridge or Stone Valley. The first two were in the air quickly once the fog lifted at 10:57, one following the other but keeping its distance. At 13:21 I had 3 in the air at once, two following the Stone Valley route and the other choosing to fly over Tussey Mountain to the N. Another grey ghost flew out over Stone Valley.
Other than TUVU, the resident raptors were non-existent.
Non-raptor Observations: COLO 6 13:05, 1 14:29
At the top of the 13:00 hour two separate groups of 3 COLO flew over Tussey Mountain headed N. The 14:29 COLO literally flew right up the powerline cut and over the OP. Awesome view of those large feet. Pretty impressive to see them flying over mountains in this habitat.
Common Merganser 4 Wild Turkey 1 Mourning Dove 1 Common Loon 7 Double-crested Cormorant 3 Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Pileated Woodpecker 2 Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 2 Blue Jay 2 American Crow 1 Common Raven 1 Black-capped Chickadee 4 Horned Lark 1 Tree Swallow 5 Golden-crowned Kinglet 1 White-breasted Nuthatch 1 American Robin 1 Field Sparrow 2 Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 1 Song Sparrow 1 Red-winged Blackbird 1 Brown-headed Cowbird 9
Predictions: Showers, mainly before 8am. High near 60. Light north wind. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.
======================================================================== Report submitted by Adam Richardson (<poecile.gambeli...>) Tussey Mountain Hawk Watch information may be found at: tusseymountainspringhawkwatch.org/
