Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7.47 hours
Official Counter: Brian Rusnica
Observers: Dan Lounsbury
Visitors: The highlight of this morning was a personal one for me, as longtime friends of the Mt. Watatic hawkwatch, Dan Lounsbury and Caitlin Callahan, got engaged in the morning light of the East summit! Congratulations Dan and Caitlin - thank you for choosing our special mountain for such a special moment. XO
We had a tremendous group from the Three Rivers Bird Club, who helped us spot many great birds today. My thanks to Rich Skorski, Delaney Cantrill, Jacob Llodra, Isabell Llodra, Kate Francissen, Henry Lucier, Sam Hogan, Suzi Wambuzi. We also had a great time with regular visitors Joe Turcotte, Linda Hunnewell, Alex Riina, Kelsey Harris, and Lizzie Crawford. And my thanks to first time visitors Rob Huselid, Erica Lawton, Ryan Wieboldt, Shri Sampat.
Also, someone hiked up with a cat!
Weather: Crisp morning, cloudless but very hazy, with light winds out of the East. Increasing warmth and cloud cover and a full shift to WSW winds by the afternoon. Raptor Observations: A slow start blossomed into an extremely fun flight throughout the mid-morning. Broad-winged Hawks streamed right at the summit in small, relatively-slow moving groups for the better of 2 hours today. Gliding primarily in the from the NE, they would grab an updraft or thermal from Watatic before gliding out. We had great looks at many low, close adult Broad-wings allowing ample opportunities to study the field marks of adult plumage. Across the eastern ridges, we picked up several small kettles in the vicinity of Blood Hill in Ashby. Bigger groups were few and far between but anyone who was present for the morning flight was satisfied with our quality views at the closer hawks and longer looks. Bald Eagles were prevalent throughout the day, with many individuals in perfect migratory form and still another handful of locals seemingly just playing around in the light winds. A couple of Merlins cruised over the summit. A juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk made a compelling attempt to be counted by soaring by high overhead. Non-migrant Raptors: Turkey Vulture 13 Bald Eagle 6 Red-shouldered Hawk 1 Red-tailed Hawk 3
Non-raptor Observations: American Redstart 1 Blue-headed Vireo 1 Cape May Warbler 1 Common Raven 18 Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Predictions: Rain throughout the morning; no watch planned. We'll monitor closely on the chance the rain terminates early enough to make an afternoon watch possible. Currently we have our eyes squarely locked on Monday's ideal wind conditions. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Brian Rusnica (<brian_rusnica...>) Mount Watatic information may be found at: http://www.massbird.org/emhw
