Observation start time: 08:15:00 Observation end time: 13:00:00 Total observation time: 4.75 hours
Official Counter: Eric Mueller
Observers: David Brown, Greg McGuane, Scot Wiinikka, Ted Purcell
Visitors: We were aided by birders Lillie and Joe Luongo. We talked to many of the more than 100 hikers and other visitors to the summit. Lena Ficco spent some time with us asking questions about hawk watching, and was the first to spot one of the eagles as it passed by. We hope that she'll return soon.
Weather: A nice start to the day with partly cloudy skies, a light breeze and temps just around 70 F with moderate humidity and moderate haze in the air. Boston and the VT mountains were just barely visible; Mt Greylock never emerged from the haze. High thin clouds began to cover more of the sky as the morning progressed, and got thicker as the day wore on. The light was quite poor by the time that we left. Temps eventually rose to 82 F. The promised 5-7 mph winds never materialized, and instead hovered around 3 mph.
Raptor Observations: Encouraged by recent reports from VA, NJ and eastern PA sites, and wary of the forecast of rain over the coming weekend, I decided to start this season's watch a few days early. While only one migrant (a Coop) appeared, we had a busy morning watching local birds take advantage of some very good thermal activity. We had a good turnout of observers. Thanks to Greg McGuane, David Brown, Ted Purcell and Scot Wiinikka for coming out on such short notice.
Non-migrating raptors: TV - 15 (appeared in various numbers throughout most of the day) Osprey - 1 (flew up the NE side of the mountain, and perched on one of the towers for about 15 seconds before flying off again) Bald Eagle - 4 (2 Ad, 2 Imm) various combinations were seen flying together, so this might have been a family group. Red-shouldered Hawk - 1 (juvenile that made several appearances) Red-tailed Hawk - 2 (1 Ad, 1 Imm/juv) Broad-winged Hawk - 3 (juveniles flying together and interacting vigorously)
Non-raptor Observations: Non-raptors: Chimney Swift-4, Ruby-throated Hummingbird-2, Downy WP-1, RE Vireo-2, Comm Raven-2, B-c Chickadee-1, Barn Swallow-2, Gray Catbird-2, Cedar WW-4, E Towhee-2.
Predictions: Overnight rain is expected to end by 8 am EDT, and will hopefully clear out entirely by our normal start time an hour later. After that, the forecast is for partly cloudy skies, temps in the high 60's to low 70's, moderate humidity and 8-10 mph NE winds. This should be fine conditions for any early migrators. ======================================================================== Report submitted by ERIC MUELLER (<ericmueller1912...>) Wachusett Mountain information may be found at: http://www.massbird.org/emhw
More site information at hawkcount.org:https://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=228
