Observation start time: 08:15:00 Observation end time: 13:30:00 Total observation time: 5.25 hours
Official Counter: Eric Mueller
Observers: Carole Powers, Cindy Rost, Lisa Burwell, Marty McNamara, Scott Carlson, Tom Gottschang
Visitors: Lots of hikers, bikers and sightseers on a beautiful summer day. Visitors included a Muslim prayer group, and lots of people who rode up the lift from the Summer Fiesta festival at the ski area below. Many pets were in attendance, including two 3-legged dogs and frequent visitor cat-on-a-leash Wild Thing.
Weather: A near perfect day weatherwise with 4-7 mph N to NNE winds, temps from 57 to 73 F, low humidity and plenty of sunshine. The only things missing were some clouds to give us a background for viewing the birds. The visibility was excellent, with the faint outline of Mt Washington visible for part of the morning.
Raptor Observations: We didn't get the numbers that I was expecting with this fine weather - only 5 migrating birds today. The day started well when Cindy caught sight of a low-flying Osprey trying to sneak by us at 8:33 am EST, followed an immature Bald Eagle in full view about 20 minutes later. After that, it was all local raptors until 11:15 when the first of 3 migrating birds passed through over the next hour.
On the positive side, we had a very nice turnout of 8 local Bald Eagles, with a variety of ages represented. Late in the session, Lisa sighted 3 vultures circling to the east, and luckily decided to alert the rest of us (TVs had been circling around all day...ho, hum) because they turned out to be 3 Black Vultures. Everybody got a good look at these birds which are not yet very common here. Non-migrating raptors: BV-3, TV-5 (probably more), Bald Eagle-8 (3 Ad, 1 sub-Ad, 3 Imm, 1 Juv), Red-tail-4 (2 Ad, 2 Juv), Red-shoulder-1.
My thanks to all of the observers for the nice turnout today - Cindy Rost, Tom Gottschang, Scott Carlson, Lisa Burwell, Marty McNamara and Carole Powers.
In celebration of our 50th anniversary year on Wachusett, here's a look back to this date in 2019. Rod Chase wrote: "Observers: Dave Brown, George Russell. Assists by Paul Suihkonen, who also kept us laughing for hours, and Daryl Turek. Only 60-70 visitors all day -- a pleasant time for all as we realized school groups and large weekend crowds are on the horizon."
Non-raptor Observations: Not as many non-raptors as yesterday: Blue Jay-1, Comm Raven-6, Tree Swallow-2, Gr Catbird-1, Cedar WW-6, D-E Junco-10, E Towhee-2.
Predictions: I'm expecting a challenging day on Sunday with 9-11 mph SW winds. Temps should range from 65-to 77 F, with cloudy skies in the morning turning to mostly cloudy in the early afternoon. Morning visitors should bring an extra layer of clothing. ======================================================================== Report submitted by ERIC MUELLER (<ericmueller1912...>) Wachusett Mountain information may be found at: http://www.massbird.org/emhw
