Observation start time: 10:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 6 hours
Official Counter: Bill Rasku
Observers: Visitors: Not many came up after the rain in the morning, but friends-of-the-watch, Peggy and Carl made a cameo visit.
Weather: Light to moderate rain all morning, but broke up around 10:30 am EST, earlier than forecasted. Low clouds started to move up, and by 11, only the tops of Greylock and Monadnock were still not visible. Boston and points east and south were in a dark haze most of the afternoon, but Boston did finally appear. North and West increasingly clear and bright all afternoon as the dark clouds were replaced by blue sky and cumulus clouds. Amazingly clear mountains were seen to the north in the small band of sunlight there around noon as the rest of the sky was overcast. Mt Chocurua glistened and MT Washington was very clearly seen. Unique zero haze to the north. Temps were in the mid-50's all day, and the winds were from the NW, averaging around 10 mph, but gusting to 25 mph at the beginning and easing down to 14-15 mph gusts at the end.
Raptor Observations: Bill Rasku was a one-man show today. He noticed that the rain was breaking up earlier than predicted, so he took it upon himself to go up around 10 am EST and check things out. He was rewarded with the largest flight that we've had in almost a week. The migrating birds were all spotted to the north and west side of the mountain, and flying at mountain height or below except for the SS and AK which were higher. Non-migrating raptors: TV - 4 BE - 1 (subad) RT - 2 (Ad & Imm) SS - 1 (flying through the rain early on)
Non-raptor Observations: Blue Jay - 1 Comm Loon - 1 Comm Raven - 2 DE Junco - 31 (the most so far here this season) E. Towhee - 1 (male)
Predictions: Thursday should be a very good flight. After days of unusually high temperatures, either no wind or strong SW winds, and rain this morning, the passing cold front will bring truly colder temps (mid-40's to mid-50's), 10-15 mph NW winds, low humidity and clear skies. Near-freezing overnight temps north of us should give the birds plenty of reason to get moving. ======================================================================== Report submitted by ERIC MUELLER (<ericmueller1912...>) Wachusett Mountain information may be found at: http://www.massbird.org/emhw
