Observation start time: 08:15:00 Observation end time: 14:00:00 Total observation time: 5.75 hours
Official Counter: Eric Mueller
Observers: Chris Eddy, Deb Gustafson, Don Singleman, Fred Bouchard, Gail Cormier, Jay Cormier, Jenny Benanti, Job Dekker, Katie Durham, Tom Fazzio, Tom Gottschang
Visitors: Hundreds of sightseers, hikers and dogs, but still not as busy as past years when the ski lift was running tons of people up from the festivals below.
Weather: A bright day with very high skies and gentle southerly breezes. Hazy air reaching the 3000 ft level limited the visibility for the first two hours, but then the humidity dropped and the view opened up to all of our regular landmarks. We had hoped that the partly cloudy forecast would mean a nice layer of cumulus clouds, but the scattered puffers in the morning disappeared soon, leaving us with very high thin cirrus clouds for the rest of the day.
Raptor Observations: Thanks to everyone who came out despite the mediocre weather forecast. Along with the observers listed above, we were joined by Juan Vielma, Liam Singleman (with Ellie the dog), Debby Radovski and her husband, Donna Traunstein, Anna Forbes, Husain Poonawala, and B.U. Biologist Les Kaufman.
A special thank you to Katie Durham on what was probably her last day here this season. She has come up every morning for two weeks, and provided great coverage. Thanks for your dedication!
The flight started early again today, but never developed into much of anything. The busiest hour was again 9-10 am EST (10-11 am EDT) - the birds that were leaving got going, but we had just dribs and drabs of migrants after that. Despite the low wind speed at our level, the birds seemed to get plenty of lift and we may have lost some passing birds in the high sky.
The big tease of the day was the kettle of 36 birds that Chris spotted and Tom announced to the group. Then as we looked at them more closely, we began to notice that all of the birds were Ravens. It was great to see that many Ravens, but of course, what we really wanted was Broad-wings. Sigh...
We had another nice selection of non-migrating raptors that gave us more to look at during the day: TV - 6 (minimum number) Bald Eagle - 5 (minimum number. 3 Ad, 2 Imm/Juv) Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1 Cooper's Hawk - 2 Red-shoulder - 1 Broad-wing - 2 (Juv) Red-tail - 4 (minimum number, all Juv, including the one with the really pale underside)
Non-raptor Observations: DC Cormorant - 75 (all in one skein) Blue Jay - 1 Comm Raven - 36 (one kettle) BC Chickadee - 2 Gr Catbird - 1 E Towhee - 1 Plus several mylar balloons that escaped from youngsters hands at Kid Fest down at the ski area.
Predictions: Another moderately warm (up to 70F), mostly sunny day, with gentle southerly winds (SSW this time) that may pick up to 7-8 mph in the afternoon. High humidity early may create hazy air, but that should clear as the humidity drops in the early afternoon. Not expecting much in the way of migrating birds. C'mon Mother Nature, surprise us! ======================================================================== Report submitted by ERIC MUELLER (<ericmueller1912...>) Wachusett Mountain information may be found at: http://www.massbird.org/emhw
