Observation start time: 08:15:00 Observation end time: 14:30:00 Total observation time: 6.25 hours
Official Counter: Mark Morris
Observers: Bob Hassett, Christine Restell, Jack Miano, Joe Fountain, Katie Durham, Richard Spedding, Scott Wahlstrom, Steve Farrell, Ted Purcell
Visitors: The usual collection of hikers and sightseers.
Weather: A very pleasant and warm mid-September day on the mountain with a starting temp of 61F and ending with 82F. Mostly sunny skies with a few sparse, wispy clouds. Winds were light from the WNW. The humidity dropped off noticeably around noon.
Raptor Observations: We had a solid team on the mountain today. Along with the people listed above, we were joined by Russ Gaulin, Dallas Wade, Jeff Paster and Karen Keefe.
There was a slow, steady procession throughout the day, 41 migrating birds in total, composed of 9 different species. A female Northern Harrier started the morning off, flapping by just West of the summit. We didn't see any kettling Broad-wings, with only 10 counted in total. 16 Sharpies and 7 Kestrels were the other most numerous species.
More TVâs seemed to have moved in locally - we had groups of 23, 5, 5 and 7 come off roosts around the 9:00 hour, plus a couple of others individually.
Non-migrating raptors: TV - 42 Bald Eagle - 5 Sharp-shin- 1 Red-shoulder - 1 Broad-wing - 3 Red-tail - 5
Non-raptor Observations: Comm Loon - 1 Tree Swallow - 7 (haven't seen any of these in a while - must be stragglers) Blue Jay - 1 Comm Raven - 5 T Titmouse - 2 WB Nuthatch - 1 Gr Catbird -1 DE Junco - 8 (the most that we've seen up here in weeks) E Towhee - 1 warbler sp -2
Predictions: Friday's forecast calls for stronger NW winds (avg 10 mph) as a cold front approaches. Sunny to partly cloudy skies, and temps from 63 to 71F, and moderate humidity. If these winds don't bring us a lot of birds, it should at least keep them moving more in our direction. Temperatures drop noticeably overnight, and Saturday should be excellent as long as the NE winds don't leak the flight north of us. Winds in northern New England look to keep coming from the NW. ======================================================================== Report submitted by ERIC MUELLER (<ericmueller1912...>) Wachusett Mountain information may be found at: http://www.massbird.org/emhw
