Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours
Official Counter: Bill Rasku
Observers: John Milhaven, Laura de la Flor, Lisa Burwell, Mark Burns, Marty McNamara, Scott Wahlstrom
Visitors: Hikers and sightseers.
Weather: Low clouds hid the summit until about 8:30 am EST. Visibility to the E and SE was limited until 10, and hazy everywhere else. After that it was sunny with blue skies, and the overall visbility improved noticeably. Some clouds appeared just after noon but dissipated again by late afternoon.
Raptor Observations: Observers - Bill led the team today, which included regulars John Milhaven, Scott Wahlstrom, Lisa Burwell, Marty McNamara, Laura de la Flor and Mark Burns. Gino Ellison and his Birds and Brew crew came over from Essex County to lend a hand. Among the people on the platform were Tim and Judy Havens, Al Sgroi, Deb McComiskey, Pam Mansfield-Loomis, Mary Rowe, Carol Decker, Kitty Kramer and John Freel.
We only counted 13 migrating raptors, but one of them was our first American Goshawk of the season. They have become quite uncommon here, and we were lucky to have Bill and Gino here who are both familiar with its field marks. Bill described it as a very large accipitrine, with a bulky, buteo-like body but a long tail, and bulging trailing edges to its wings. It flew up with some ravens on the south side of tower, relatively close for about 2 minutes. The bird didn't fly like a Cooper's Hawk and was bigger. Bill said that it was helpful to have the similarly-sized ravens close by in order to compare the Goshawk's wing length and overall size. Bill said it didn't appear to have male plumage, but it was backlit, so he couldn't be sure.
Non-migrating raptors: Black Vulture - 3 (seen 4-5 different times starting in the afternoon) TV - 5 (minimum number - some seen all day) Bald Eagle - 2 (Ad & Sub-ad) Red-shoulder Hawk - 1 (Imm, also seen with ravens) Red-tail - 3 (all Imm, chasing each other off and on all day) Peregrine - 1
Non-raptor Observations: Blue Jay Chickadee Titmouse Comm Raven - 8 Blue headed Vireo Blackpoll Warb White-throat Sparrow DE Junco - 15 (the most that we've seen here this season) E Towhee
Predictions: Temps mid-60's to mid-70's, partly to mostly cloudy, higher humidity, and WSW to SW winds at 8-10 mph. Scattered thunderstorms in the area beginning about 3 pm EDT. Not a recipe for a big flight. ======================================================================== Report submitted by ERIC MUELLER (<ericmueller1912...>) Wachusett Mountain information may be found at: http://www.massbird.org/emhw
