Observation start time: 10:00:00 Observation end time: 14:00:00 Total observation time: 4 hours
Official Counter: Eric Mueller
Observers: Paul Vanderhoof, Tom Gottschang
Visitors: About 30 hikers, and one bicyclist on a road bike.
Weather: A sunny day with a light haze layer, but all of the mountains with ski trails popped out in the bright light (Mt Snow, Stratton, Bromley and Okemo.) Snow-covered Mt Washington and one of the Franconia Notch mountains (Flume?) were both visible to the naked eye (125 mi.) The NW winds in the first hour were a bit brisk with gusts up to 16 mph, but they calmed down after that, averaging 4-7 mph. Despite all of the sunlight, the temps held between 33 and 35 F for the 4 hours that we were on the mountain.
Raptor Observations: Many thanks to Paul and Tom who hiked up the mountain to help out.
We managed to eke out only 8 migrating birds despite what should have been good migrating conditions. One of the juvenile Bald Eagles was trying to pass as a Golden. It had slighty droopy wings that morphed into a mild dihedral at one point, and we couldn't see any white underneath, probebly because it was heavily backlit. In the end, the head and tail projections were just not right for a Golden, but at least it was migrating.
Non-migrating raptors: Bald Eagle - 2 (1 Ad, 1 Juv) There might have been another adult, but we never saw more than 1 at a time. Cooper's Hawk - 1 Red-shoulder - 1 (Ad) Red-tail - 3 (2 Ad, 1 Juv) Maybe more
Non-raptor Observations: Canada Goose - 10 (4 + 6) Blue Jay - 1 Comm Raven - 2 DE Junco - 1 We didn't see the Snow Bunting flock today.
Predictions: For Thursday, light N to ENE winds with cloudy skies in the morning and partly cloudy in the afternoon. Temps from the mid-30's to 40 mph. Eric will go up. ======================================================================== Report submitted by ERIC MUELLER (<ericmueller1912...>) Wachusett Mountain information may be found at: http://www.massbird.org/emhw
