Observation start time: 08:15:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 7.75 hours
Official Counter: Bill Rasku
Observers: Carole Powers, Janet Kovner, Joanne Hart, Joe Fountain, Scott Carlson, Ted Purcell, Tom Gottschang
Visitors: We had a great turnout of observers. In addition to the people listed above, we got much appreciated help from the Lin family (Han Ting, Melanie, Michael and Nori), Rich Horlich, Dan Tannenbaum, Dallas Wait, and Joanna and Mike Smith. Thanks to everyone for a great job today!
The summit was crowded with many hundreds of well-behaved holiday sightseers, enjoying the sunshine and the somewhat fuzzy view. Our friends Carl and Peggy stopped by for a visit.
Weather: A cloudless sky, and temps ranging from 59 to 79 F. Strong winds from the NNW settled down after the first 2 hours to 7-8 mph from the NW for the rest of the day. Hazy air despite the low humidity, but all of the normal landmarks were visible and somewhat clearer in the last 2 hours.
Raptor Observations: Another busy day, which is great news this early in the season. We're guessing that the NNW and NW winds are continuing to guide the flight in our direction (many fewer birds were counted at the Mt Putney, VT site.) The vast majority of the birds passed by on the west side of the mountain, and many birds rode up the side of the mountain and passed by quickly which kept everyone on their toes trying to ID them. The busiest hour was between 10:00 and 11:00 am EST when 84 Broad-wings passed through, including 2 kettles of 10 and 15 birds apiece. Bald Eagles and Sharp-shins were also abundant. 10 birds that were flying way below the horizon and only visible for a few seconds had to be classified as Unidentified Raptors.
One big surprise among the non-migrating raptors was the appearance of a kettle of 9 Black Vultures in the late afternoon. As they flew east, Bill watched them for almost half an hour just in case they might turn into migrants, but no such luck, although we did have our first migrating BV of the season earlier in the day. The other non-migrating birds were TV-11 (also late in the day), Bald Eagle-8 (5 Ad, 3 Imm), and Red-tail-3
Non-raptor Observations: Non-raptors: R-T Hummingbird-1, Comm Raven-4. We couldn't hear the resident Towhees over the din of the holiday crowd.
As we left the summit, the katydids created a cacophony of sound with their skritchy stridulations, especially along the asphalt path leading down to the parking lot.
Predictions: The NW winds are expected to continue tomorrow at 7-8 mph, so we're expecting another strong count. Temps will be in the mid-60s to mid-70s with moderate humidity which should be very comfortable for us, and the skies should be partly cloudy which is perfect for spotting high-flying birds. ======================================================================== Report submitted by ERIC MUELLER (<ericmueller1912...>) Wachusett Mountain information may be found at: http://www.massbird.org/emhw
