Observation start time: 08:15:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 6.75 hours
Official Counter: Eric Mueller
Observers: Aaron Sun, Cindy Rost, Don Singleman, Jack Miano, James Teitgen, Lisa Burwell, Scott Carlson, Sergey Pavlov
Visitors: We enjoyed spending time with Hannah Singleman. Richard Spedding stopped by to say hi (you should have stayed longer to catch the Broad-wing explosion.) Hundreds of weekend hikers, bikers and sightseers, many of whom asked about the watch.
Weather: A warm, humid, hazy day with moderate to strong WSW winds. At the start, a low, thick bank of cumulus clouds blocked our view of Mt Monadnock and all of the closest NH hills, and thick haze made everything else very fuzzy. The view began to open up around 11 am EST, but we were never able to see Mt Greylock or the VT mountains to the west. Winds blew primarily from the WSW, starting the day at 8-12 mph with gusts to 16, then gentling down to 4-7 mph with some 10 mph gusts from 10 am to 1 pm EST, and then yo-yo-ing up and down for the rest of the day. Skies were predominately solid blue, with only scattered cumulus clouds later in the day.
Raptor Observations: We had a smallish crew of regulars today, probably in part due to the unfavorable wind forecast and the 1 pm Patriots game, but we were helped by some first-time observers. My thanks to everyone above who helped make this a special day, with special thanks to Jack, Cindy and Lisa who put in the hard hours that really put us over the top.
The day started slowly with poor visibility and strong WSW winds. The first migrating birds were spotted at 9:27 am EST, just a small 7-bird kettle of Broad-wings, but then only 4 more birds until around 10:15 am when a 22-bird BW kettle appeared. The count kept moving up nicely after that until the floodgates opened. Just after 11 am, kettle after kettle appeared from the NE, including groups of 66, 79, 80 and 150 that streamed past in the distance, for a total of 623 BW's in the hour. The flight shut down at 12:08 pm until 1:50 pm when another 31 BW's appeared, and then 15 more by 2:30 pm. All of the other species counts were in the single digits. We've been having some very nice late Sept counts over the past few years, but this one was especially welcome after the exceptionally poor BW count so far this year.
Non-migrating raptors: The local juvenile Red-tail with the pale underside plumage has made the summit its personal hunting ground, perching on several of the radio towers and on top of the fire tower itself, or kiting low over us before plunging into the surrounding trees and brush after prey. It has also interacted with the local ravens on a reguar basis. Great looks and great opportunities to talk about hawks with the sightseers. TV - 4 (minimum number, repeated appearances) Bald Eagle - 6 (1 Ad, 1 Sub-ad, 1 Imm, 3 Juv) Broad-wing - 1 Red-tailed Hawk - 2 Peregrine Falcon - 1 unident buteo - 1
Non-raptor Observations: DC Cormorant - 1 Blue Jay - 4 Comm Raven - 14 Amer Robin - 1 DE Junco - 8
Predictions: For Monday, sunny to partly cloudy skies, temps in the low 60's to mid-70's, and much lower humidity. Light winds from the NNW to N until around 11 am EDT, then switching over to WSW by 1 pm, and increasing to 6-7 mph by 2 pm. The air should be much clearer than today, and the increased cloud cover should give us a much better background for spotting the higher birds. This has the potential to be another very good flight. ======================================================================== Report submitted by ERIC MUELLER (<ericmueller1912...>) Wachusett Mountain information may be found at: http://www.massbird.org/emhw
