Tussey Mountain Hawk Watch State College, Pennsylvania, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 08, 2026 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 17:00:00 Total observation time: 9.12 hours
Official Counter: Thomas Filip
Observers: Bill Chambers, Ken Tucker, Nick Bolgiano, Robert McLaughlin
Visitors: Sophie, Adam, Greg, Lou, Jason, Abigail
Weather: Overall a warm and pleasant day. Winds started off W and low at 4-7mph from 08:00 to 10:00 but shifted to NW at 8-12mph for most of the day until the last hour when they shifted to NNW at 13-18mph. Partly sunny for the whole morning and partly cloudy for the afternoon. Warm throughout the day with a low of 10.2℃ and a high of 16.2℃.
I thought today would be a decent to good day so I arrived about an hour early thinking that would be plenty of time to catch any early GOEA. Little did I know we would be breaking records today. Not even a minute after I set my gear down the first GOEA came through at 07:54. At 08:15 the second came through and it really started to get hectic soon after. At one point we had 12 GOEA within 3 minutes from 09:12-09:15. Most of our GOEA were flying at low-medium height above us over the ridge top today, but a few flew on the N side of the ridge and at the end of the day some were distant on the S side. After 12:00 the action started to die down and we were rewarded with our 80th and final GOEA at 15:44.
Our 80 GOEA count today was a new record not only for Tussey Mountain (62) but also officially for PA (74 at Allegheny Front). I'm told there was an 82 count in PA at a different site that was not entered.
Other migrating raptors included 5 BAEA, 16 RTHA, 9 RSHA, 2 SSHA, 1 COHA, 2 AMKE, and 1 MERL. The AMKE were our firsts of the season and the BAEA and RTHA were high counts for the season.
It was also a good day for other birds. We had 2 flocks of TUSW for a total of 52. Many flocks of CANG flew over with a total of 755. 16 RNDU and 3 COME also flew over the ridge. Around 13:35 we had 3 SACR flying around on the S side of the ridge for a while before they decided to fly N over the ridge.
At least 107 RWBL flew over today in small groups. 12 HOLA flyovers were heard. A flock of 4 PISI flew over early and later we had 2 individually. 2 PUFI were heard, out firsts of the season. An EAME was spotted by Nick, an uncommon flyover at Tussey.
Predictions: Tomorrow looks to be a sunny day with SW winds, low in the morning and moderate in the afternoon. We won't see as many as today and probably not as many as Saturday but we should still see some GOEA tomorrow. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Thomas Filip () Tussey Mountain Hawk Watch information may be found at: tusseymountainspringhawkwatch.org/
