Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:45:00 Total observation time: 7.75 hours
Official Counter: Bill Rasku
Observers: Christine Restell, Cindy Rost, Evan Lipton, Jack Miano, Joanne Hart, Joe Drega, Joe Fountain, Laura de la Flor, Lillian Stokes, Lisa Burwell, Mark Burns, Marty McNamara, Megan Gately, Paul Vanderhoof, Tony Troppito, Victoria Nassikas
Visitors: The usual combination of hikers, bikers and sightseers.
Weather: A generally sunny day, with high thin clouds in the morning and fair-weather cumulus in the afternoon. Humidity was on the high side at first, and the haze kept Boston, the Pawtuckaways (NH) and Mt Greylock out of sight, but there was improvement in the afternoon. Temps rose from the low 60's to low 70's. Winds started from the NE but shifted over to E by early afternoon.
Raptor Observations: We again had an outstanding crew on the mountain today - lots of eyes on the sky! Along with the people listed above, we had help from Jeff Paster, Karen Keith, Mark Archambault, Alan Restell, Dallas Wait, Tom Miles, Alicia Carrillo, John Sisk, Bruce Black and Mary Brogan. Megan again brought candy to keep everyone's energy level up.
The easterly winds again pushed a lot of the birds west before they could get down our way - the sites north of us had much higher counts. We did manage to spot Broad-wing kettles of 12 and 10 birds. The local raptors kept the show going with 4 Red-tails flying together at one point, and the TV's and juvenile Broad-wings making multiple appearances.
Non-migrating raptors: TV - 6 (seen all day) Bald Eagle - 2 (Ad & Imm) Red-tailed Hawk - 6 (4 flying together, 4 of 6 were Imm) Broad-wing - 3 (1 or 2 repeatedly seen) Red-shoulder - 1
Non-raptor Observations: Non-raptors: Comm Loon - 1 DC Cormorant - 3 gull sp - 2 RT Hummingbird - 1 Comm Raven - 6 Amer Pipit - 1(heard by Evan) C Waxwing - 1 RE Vireo - 1 Gr Catbird - 1 DE Junco - 1 Cape May Warb - 3 (Evan strikes again!) E Towhee - 1
Predictions: Another pleasant day for hawk watching - temps between 60 and 70, partly cloudy, and 4-8 mph winds. Fog overnight and humid in the morning, so we may have some initial issues with fog at the summit until mid-morning. Wind direction will again start from the NNE but switch over to E by noon. Clarry Hill hawk watch in Maine counted over 4800 birds today, so with some luck, we'll see a good number of them here, but the majority will likely pass to our north...(sigh) ======================================================================== Report submitted by ERIC MUELLER (<ericmueller1912...>) Wachusett Mountain information may be found at: http://www.massbird.org/emhw
