Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 6 hours
Official Counter: Rob Woodward
Observers:
Visitors: 30 well -behaved, with no notable quotes.
Weather: Essentially a cloudless sky all day; pretty much a moderate and at times hat-blowing NW and WNW wind with whitecaps on the lake; 56 - 70 F.
Raptor Observations: Opening day of the 7th season here at Alton Bay Hawk Watch. The first bird was an American Kestrel low over the hilltop just as I arrived. The morning saw a steady trickle of mostly singletons, no kettles yet, with a quiet afternoon. (No, I wasn't asleep!) Today a count of 12 Broadwinged Hawks, compared to 90 on this date last year, 68 in 2020, but just 3 in 2021. None of these numbers is a harbinger of things to come.
I see Pack Monadnock is off to a fast start. Good, I like to give them a head start, out of fairness. But they wll be hearing footsteps soon. Very soon.
Non-raptor Observations: Other non-migrating raptors: Turkey Vulture (11), Bald Eagle (2), and Red-tailed Hawk (2). Nothing noteworthy in the passerine side of the ledger. One Monarch.
Predictions: South winds for the next 2 days, no count. Monday looks promising and I like the date - season high counts have been recorded on this date. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Rob Woodward (<toucanrob...>)
