Date: 3/9/26 7:20 am From: David Brandes <000016035b42742c-dmarc-request...> Subject: Re: Tussey Mountain Hawk Watch (08 Mar 2026) 118 Raptors
Congrats to Tom, Nick and the crew for an amazing weekend at the watchsite and new GOEA record, biggest day in over 30 years of spring watching at Tussey!!!
Dave Brandes
On Sunday, March 8, 2026 at 11:57:22 PM EDT, Thomas Filip <thomasfilip0660...> wrote:
Tussey Mountain Hawk Watch
State College, Pennsylvania, USA
| 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 from08:00 to 10:00 but shifted to NW at 8-12mph for most of the day until thelast hour when they shifted to NNW at 13-18mph. Partly sunny for the wholemorning and partly cloudy for the afternoon. Warm throughout the day with alow of 10.2℃ and a high of 16.2℃.
Raptor Observations:
80 GOEA spotted today.72 adult07:54, 08:15, 08:17, 08:20, 08:23, 08:33, 08:33, 08:34, 08:41, 08:41,08:45, 08:48, 08:50, 09:05, 09:07, 09:08, 09:12, 09:12, 09:12, 09:13,09:13, 09:13, 09:13, 09:14, 09:14, 09:14, 09:15, 09:15, 09:19, 09:23,09:28, 09:30, 09:32, 09:33, 09:38, 09:50, 09:52, 09:59, 09:59, 10:02,10:10, 10:10, 10:11, 10:20, 10:24, 10:32, 10:33, 10:36, 10:39, 10:39,10:51, 11:01, 11:01, 11:07, 11:08, 11:09, 11:10, 11:14, 11:14, 11:14,11:14, 11:18, 11:21, 11:21, 11:25, 11:29, 11:35, 12:03, 12:08, 12:13,12:36, 13:272 sub-adult09:28, 11:512 immature09:10, 09:304 unknown10:06, 10:20, 13:18, 14:44
I thought today would be a decent to good day so I arrived about an hourearly thinking that would be plenty of time to catch any early GOEA. Littledid I know we would be breaking records today. Not even aminute after I set my gear down the first GOEA came through at 07:54. At08:15 the second came through and it really started to get hectic soonafter. At one point we had 12 GOEA within 3 minutes from 09:12-09:15. Mostof our GOEA were flying at low-medium height above us over the ridge toptoday, but a few flew on the N side of the ridge and at the end of the daysome were distant on the S side. After 12:00 the action started to die downand 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 an82 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, 2AMKE, and 1 MERL. The AMKE were our firsts of the season and the BAEA andRTHA were high counts for the season.
Predictions:
Tomorrow looks to be a sunny day with SW winds, low in the morning andmoderate in the afternoon. We won't see as many as today and probably notas 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/
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]
