Observation start time: 09:30:00 Observation end time: 15:45:00 Total observation time: 6.25 hours
Official Counter: Eric Mueller
Observers: Cindy Rost, David Brown, Jack Miano, Joanne Hart, Tom Gottschang
Visitors: Thanks to our observers today - David, Cindy, Tom, Jack and Joanne - great work, team! Many hundreds of sightseers and visitors from the festival down at the ski area. We spoke to many people about our work here. Richard Spedding stopped by to see how we were doing. Bruce and his cat-on-a-leash, Wild Thing, made their daily visit and posed for photos - "High five! (but no claws this time".
Weather: An interesting day weatherwise, with temperatures noticeably cooler than the past week (57-66 F), dark cloudy skies and a stream of isolated rain storms coming down from the north most of the day. We somehow managed to avoid at least 10 of these rain cells until the skies began to clear around 2:00 pm EST. The northerly winds were lighter than predicted, averaging about 3-5 mph.
Raptor Observations: We started over an hour later than usual because of clouds at the summit after early morning rains. The remaining low cloud cover seemed to put a damper on the migration - only 10 migrating raptors passed by in the first 2-1/2 hrs. But as noon approached, birds began to pass through with some regularity. Then at 12:45 pm EST, our season's first kettle of Broad-wings (11) appeared to the north, and the flight really began to take off. We counted 3 other BW kettles (5, 13 & 5), and we ended up staying to 3:45 pm (almost 2 hours later than usual) as the birds kept streaming through. Our total of 115 migrants was the highest amount for any Sept 6 in our history that I could find. I'm wondering if the cooler temperatures got the birds moving early in the season.
Non-migrating raptors: probably the most unusual sighting of the day was a group of 7 Bald Eagles that circled together south of the mountain (2 Ad, 2 Juv, 3 Imm.) I can't remember the last time that we saw so many eagles in one group. Black Vulture-3 (one group), TV-9, Bald Eagle-7 (possibly more; many sightings today), Red-shoulder-1, Red-tail-2 (maybe more), Merlin-1.
Congratulations to our sister site, Mount Watatic, for an awesome count of 282 birds today, and to our friends at Pack Monadnock for a count of 327. Truly unusual counts this early in September.
In celebration of our 50th anniversary year on Wachusett, here's a look back to this date in 2003. Jane Stein wrote: �1 local BW immature goofing off all day in the area, dubbed Junior by observers.� (77 migrating birds total - Eric) �Because of severe state budget crunch, the reservation is now charging a fee to drive to the summit of $2 per car. A state parks pass can be purchased for $35, but it's a calendar-year pass, which expires December 31. There are also no porta-johns at the summit currently, and there may not be until October.�
Non-raptor Observations: Non-raptors: R-B Gull-1 (flyby), R-T Hummer-1, Cedar WW-3, Comm Raven-12, D-E Junco-1, E Towhee-2.
Predictions: Monday should be a much sunnier day, and warmer with temps into the low 70's, plus solid 10-11 mph winds from the NNW. We could have another very good flight if the strong winds guide more of the Broad-wings our way. ======================================================================== Report submitted by ERIC MUELLER (<ericmueller1912...>) Wachusett Mountain information may be found at: http://www.massbird.org/emhw
