Observation start time: 08:15:00 Observation end time: 14:00:00 Total observation time: 5.75 hours
Official Counter: Eric Mueller
Observers: Fay Baird, Tom Gottschang
Visitors: Not a lot of visitors to the summit today, est. 30-40, probably due to the low cloud cover for so much of the day.
Weather: At the beginning of the watch, the summit was covered by low-lying clouds that hid the surrounding landscape until 9:30 am EST when the view to the west began to emerge. The clouds finally cleared the summit at 10 am, but remained fairly low until the afternoon. The summit of Mt Mondadnock was in the clouds for our entire session. The air remained hazy, but we could see the Boston skyline, all of the southern NH mountains and Mt Grace. Temps ranged from 59 to 75 F, and winds stayed fairly steady at 4-7 mph from the SE.
Raptor Observations: With the cloud cover remaining low for so long, I wondered if we would see any birds migrate today, but as soon as the summit began to clear, local TVs and a Red-shoulder popped into view, and the first migrating birds (Osprey & Broad-wing) flew by just after 10 am EST. Ospreys and Bald Eagles made up most of the migrants today.
We also had an active non-migrating population including a family of 4 Red-shoulders that all circled up together on the east side of the mountain, calling as they rose. One of the local Red-tails circled up with the 9 Ravens for quite a while, and later joined a group of TVs. In all, we had an enjoyable day of hawk watching, even though the migrant total wasn't large. My thanks to Tom and Fay for coming up despite the sketchy weather. Non-migrating raptors: Black Vulture-1, TV-5 (minimum number), Bald Eagle-3 (1 Ad, 2 not aged), Sharp-shin-1, Red-shoulder-4 (2 ad, 2 juv), Red-tail-4, Unident buteo-1.
In celebration of our 50th anniversary year on Wachusett, here's a look back to this date in 2024. From Bill Rasku's notes, Eric wrote: �A near-perfect day for the migration - solid NNW to NW winds at 7-10 mph with occasional higher gusts, mostly sunny skies and temps in the 60's and low 70's.� �71 migrating birds today - a fine flight after two days of no migrants due to strong SW winds. A strong showing of Bald Eagles today (21). We also think that we might have had a Swainson's Hawk fly by (the right shape and markings) but we couldn't get a photo and Bill couldn't call it as a certainty...tantalizing! �
Non-raptor Observations: Non-raptors: gull sp-2, Chimney Swift-1, R-T Hummer-1, Blue Jay-1, Comm Raven-9, Gr Catbird-1, Cedar WW-1, D-E Junco-12, E Towhee-2.
Predictions: Thursday's forecast calls for rain overnight and through 10 am, with possible thunderstorms in the early afternoon. The cloud base will likely be below summit level for much of the day, so unless the weather changes radically by noon, we won't conduct a watch. ======================================================================== Report submitted by ERIC MUELLER (<ericmueller1912...>) Wachusett Mountain information may be found at: http://www.massbird.org/emhw
