Observation start time: 08:30:00 Observation end time: 14:00:00 Total observation time: 5.5 hours
Official Counter: Eric Mueller
Observers: Fay Baird, Lena Ficco, Lisa Burwell, Ted Purcell, Tom Gottschang
Visitors: A quiet-ish day on the summit, with probably fewer than 100 visitors. There were quite a few parents with young children, and a fair number of seniors. FOTW (Friends-Of-The-Watch) Peggy and Carl hiked up and spent some quality time with us. An interesting mix of dogs today, from quite small to enormous (a poodle/St Bernard cross.)
Weather: Another beautiful day, with even clearer air than yesterday. I was able to see Mt Washington for about the first 30 minutes of the session - this may be the earliest date that I've ever seen it from here. As might be expected, all of the regular landmarks were easily visible, including Mt. Greylock. Temps ranged from 64 to 75 F, and the humidity was moderate. The wind was unusually light, averaging about 3 mph, and shifting from NE to W by 10 am EST. High thin cirrus clouds at first, then increasingly dense accumulations of fair weather cumulus clouds.
Raptor Observations: The lack of decent wind may have delayed the birds today. The flight was almost non-existent before 1:00 pm EST - just an Osprey at 9:20 am, and a Red-shoulder at 12:48 pm. Just as we were ready to pack up at 1:00, a Broad-wing flew by, followed by 2 more BWs and a Bald Eagle in the next 12 minutes, so we stayed another hour, and picked up a final Osprey at 1:47. We had a nice turnout of observers today, including the return of Lena Ficco and Fay Baird. We hope that they return again soon.
The non-migrating raptors weren't in great quantity either, but we had a nice mix of species: TV-4 (maybe more), Bald Eagle-2 (1 Juv, 1 Imm), Broad-wing-1 (Ad), Red-shoulder-1, Red-tail-2 (1 Ad, 1 not aged), Amer Kestrel-1 (Female), 1 UA (distant Coop/Sharpie).
On this day in 2020, Rod Chase wrote: "Another slow and steady supply (of) nice folks on the hill - many with questions to ask and anecdotes to share plus some beautiful dogs. Wednesday crowds are more attentive, I guess. In opposition to yesterday's crowd, 80% who visited the tower wore masks today!" The day's total of 16 migrants included 8 Broad-wings and 2 No. Harriers.
Non-raptor Observations: Non-raptors: Chimney Swift-1, R-t Hummer-1, Comm Raven-2 (maybe more), B-C Chickadee-1, Tree Swallow-2, Barn Swallow-1, Gray Catbird-2, Amer Goldfinch-4, D-E Junco-2, E Towhee-2.
Predictions: Thursday is expected to be a bit warmer than today, with temps in the high 60's to high 70's, but that will be offset by stronger winds (8 to 13 mph from the SSW) and greater cloud cover (partly to mostly cloudy). Migrating birds will probably need to be fairly highly motivated to deal with these headwinds. ======================================================================== Report submitted by ERIC MUELLER (<ericmueller1912...>) Wachusett Mountain information may be found at: http://www.massbird.org/emhw
