Observation start time: 12:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 3.83 hours
Official Counter: AB
Observers:
Visitors: None
9 hikers.
Weather:
Rain and fog delayed the initiation of the count. A little before 13:00 there was rapid clearing and the count was initiated shortly thereafter. NW winds for the entire count at 12-19kph. Visibility was excellent at 32km due to the recent rains clearing up the air quality nicely. Mostly cloudy skies for the entire count with a few stray raindrops in the 16:00 hour. High temperature of 8C at 13:00 and a low of 7C by 14:00.
Raptor Observations: TV 1 (253) OS 1 (7) BE 1 (71) NH 3 (20) SS 2 (78) CH 1 (26) RT 3 (208) Total 12 (927)
A decent flight got underway in the 13:00 hour with 4 raptors coming through. This hour had two NOHA an adult female and a grey ghost. The 14:00 hour had some nice diversity with a total of 6 raptors migrating north. The day closed out with another NOHA in the 15:00 hour.
At 13:44 one adult RT was chasing another south low in Stone Valley to Leading Ridge. Clearly the leading bird had trespassed into the Leading Ridge RT’s territory and was just trying to get away. A spectacular swipe was made at the leading bird as both dove below horizon on Leading Ridge. It is impressive to see how the local raptors understand the nuances of the thermals and winds such that they may outmaneuver a non-resident raptor so efficiently. At 16:13 an adult BE and juvenile were dogfighting over Leading Ridge with the juvenile doing its best to get away from the adult.
Non-raptor Observations: Highest one day total for COLO this season. I had 3 in the air the minute I arrived at the OP with a GBHE. Had I arrived maybe 30 minutes earlier I may have witnessed a good lift off of COLO.
Mourning Dove 1 Common Loon 10 Great Blue Heron 1 Black Vulture 1 Turkey Vulture 10 Hairy Woodpecker 1 Pileated Woodpecker 1 American Crow 2 Common Raven 1 Black-capped Chickadee 3 Tree Swallow 1 White-breasted Nuthatch 1 American Goldfinch 4 Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 5 Brown-headed Cowbird 1
Predictions: A chance of rain and snow before 11am, then a slight chance of rain between 11am and 3pm. Patchy dense fog before 8am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a high near 47. Light and variable wind. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Adam Richardson (<poecile.gambeli...>) Tussey Mountain Hawk Watch information may be found at: tusseymountainspringhawkwatch.org/
