Tussey Mountain Hawk Watch State College, Pennsylvania, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 22, 2026 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 9 hours
Official Counter: Thomas Filip
Observers: Deb Rittlemann, Nick Bolgiano
Visitors: Sophie, Adam
Weather: Today was the warmest day we have had this season with a low of 9.1℃ and a high of 30℃. It was a sunnier day than expected with little cloud cover for most of the day until around 14:00 when clouds started to roll in. By 14:00 it started to drizzle. Generally 8-12mph winds throughout the day, S winds early in the morning gradually shifting to W by 13:00.
The stronger than expected S and SSW wind this morning led to some good movement in the morning and mid-day. The first 2 GOEA of the day came through early and very low over the ridge, both stopping to soar for a bit and giving great views. The rest would come through a little higher but still gave everyone some nice looks. Our last GOEA of the day seemed to be spooked by our presence and turned around to head back the way it came. Usually when this happens we see it return soon after, but we never saw this one again. It is possible we missed it on its way back as many of the raptors were very high up at this point, but it is also very likely it simply cut out N when it was out of view.
Other migrating raptors include 4 BAEA, 16 RTHA, 1 SSHA, 2 COHA, 1 NOHA, 2 OSPR, and 8 TUVU. The 2 OSPR were the firsts of the season.
There was a nice early morning flight with a good variety of passerine flyovers including HOLA, AMPI, AGOL, and PUFI. We also had 4 COLO flyovers today, the firsts of the season.
Predictions: Cloudy in the morning with a possibility of light showers, mostly cloudy in the afternoon and moderate to strong NW winds throughout the day. In the past few days, it has been S/SSW winds that have brought good GOEA flights. It does not look like the winds will shift from NW but wind speed looks like it will be good which could bring in some GOEA. There will probably be less than in the past few days but there could always be an unexpected shift in weather to more favorable conditions. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Thomas Filip () Tussey Mountain Hawk Watch information may be found at: tusseymountainspringhawkwatch.org/
