Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 17:15:00 Total observation time: 8.25 hours
Official Counter: Jim Thomson
Observers: Craig Stockert, Phil Rodriguez
Visitors: Hikers- 21
Weather: Temps- 66-79 Deg.F, Wind- S/SE @ 3-8mph in early am. Switching to SW@ 3-8mph from late morning until end of count period. Partly cloudy in am to clear blue skies thru mid-day to heavy cloud cover by late afternoon.
Thousands of lantern flies and huge swarms of flying ants... must be Broadwing season on Coon !!! Great action up on the ridge today !! Very solid flight of Broadwings. We were averaging 200+ Broadwings per hour between the hours of 10:00am - 2:00pm. Birds were on a great flight line for us as they were passing us on both sides of the ridge with many passing almost directly overhead. Early clouds helped pick these birds up and we managed to stay with them as the skies turned deep blue. Wonderful flight of Osprey and Sharpies as well with 5 Sharpies taking a pass at the owl decoy. Not to be outdone.. 4 Kestrels also took a run at the decoy. Speaking of birds at the decoy.. Our Bird of the Day selection goes to the adult Broadwing that came down ridge on the reservoir side. We watched as it eyed the decoy and than came in "hot" and made an aggressive pass at the decoy. I've only seen Broadwings come to the owl decoy a handful of times so this was a real treat !
Non-raptor Observations: RT Hummingbird - 1 Monarch- 7 RB Nuthatch- 3 Cedar Waxwings Chimney Swifts Tree Swallows Bluejays Pileated WP Northern Flicker Ravens- 4 ======================================================================== Report submitted by Jim Thomson (<hawkinflight...>)
