Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 6.25 hours
Official Counter: Brian Rusnica
Observers: Visitors: None. A day hiker said the magic words, "I just saw a group of 4 hawks over there, their tail pattern when black-white-black." NICE!
Weather: A soaking rain persisted till just before 9am EDT local time, so counting started right around 10am in humid conditions with a light N wind and low clouds throughout. A second spot shower threatened the summit at 1pm but as it passed, winds picked up. Beautiful high cumulus conditions through the rest of the count with N winds turning NW and stiffening. Raptor Observations: The count this morning was about on par with yesterday; a steady trickle of single raptors for the first 2.5 hours after a late start due to rain. Just before 1pm, an ominous stormcloud was dumping rain due to the North on the Lyndeborough mountains and part of the Wapack ridge, so I decided to avoid a wet hike down and tried to beat the shower. After I had packed up and made my way nearly to the treeline, I just happened to catch a single streaming Osprey, blasting south ahead of the stormcloud. Right behind it, a Broad-wing on the glide, followed by 2 more, and then a Sharpie and eventually about a dozen more Broad-wings. I have seen this behavior once before, when migrants seem to be surfing on the gusting air mass ahead of a front coming through. I stayed just long enough to ensure no more were coming, and started receiving the first sprinkles of rain.
About 15 minutes down the mountain, I stopped at a viewpoint to check for any other stragglers from the rain; however the air had cleared, the wind had picked up, and the rain seemed to have made just a glancing blow. After some hemming and hawing, I painfully decided to retreat back up to the summit, just to ensure nothing else was moving. I was quickly and handsomely rewarded. Immediately I found a kettle of 5 Broad-wings wheeling over Pack Monadnock. Within a few minutes, a column of 35 Broad-wings appeared over the true summit. We were in business. For the next 90 minutes or so, it was streams and kettles of 10-30. Several Bald Eagles found their way into the streams, and a healthy number of Sharpies mingled in as well. Altogether a great start to the season, and hard to believe I nearly gave up on this flight!
Non-raptor Observations: COMMON NIGHTHAWK 1 Common Raven 25 Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Predictions: NW winds continue! No rain on the forecast. Looks like a great chance to catch more Broad-wings trying to beat the traffic. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Brian Rusnica (<brian_rusnica...>) Mount Watatic information may be found at: http://www.massbird.org/emhw
