Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 17:00:00 Total observation time: 8.93 hours
Official Counter: Brian Rusnica
Observers: Jon Skinner
Visitors: My thanks again to Jon Skinner and Kim Hewitt for another full day's duty on the summit, finding and counting a nearly countless number of 'Wings during our last two watches. We welcomed newcomers Mark Cunningham and Max White to the watch, as well as return visitors Wendy Sisson, Kelly O'Dowd and Phil O'Dowd. First-time visitors also included Devin Manganelli, Amanda Deloureiro, Jake Bledsoe, and Rob Garneaux. Hope to see you all again soon!
Weather: Cool and partly cloudy, with steady NNE winds through the count. Terrific hawkwatching clouds once again, increasing in density as the day went on. Raptor Observations: Another massive Broad-winged Hawk flight is in the books - this one was truly a delight to behold as big kettles and streams were constantly coming at us and moving over us throughout the watch. We had a great, consistent flight mostly to the east during our first 4 hours, and were closing in on 700 Broad-wings by 1pm EDT. In the next hour, the skies high overhead bustled with kettling Broad-wings and huge streams, with a burst of 345 at 1:15pm, 145 at 1:25pm, a huge group of 410 at 1:35pm, and finally 400 more at 1:45pm. Views in this hour were considerably better than Saturday's big traffic, so we were able to get many visitors on big groups against the cloudy backdrop. 1,387 Broad-wings in the 1pm hour. What a sequence! The next couple of hours were good but not overwhelming. Right around 4:40pm, the sun broke through the overcast conditions, the winds slowed just slightly, and suddenly a stream of late-moving Broad-wings was emptying out right in front of the east summit, arriving unhurriedly from the northeast. The stream of mostly adult Broad-wings glowed in the later afternoon sun and piled into a low kettle between our summit and Mount Wachusett, straddling the horizon. Easily the closest kettle of the season and stunningly lovely in the magical golden hour light. This group was 315 birds, with another 75 streaming in the distance to the South. A dazzling finish to another exceptional flight.
We had terrific counts of Osprey (18 including several orange-eyed juveniles) and American Kestrel (17). A handful of Turkey Vultures (7) made convincing runs towards migration. A juvenile Red-tailed Hawk, a female American Kestrel and a Merlin made passes at the decoy owl today.
Our season count now sits within reach of 10,000 for only the second time in the last 25 seasons. Stay tuned!
Non-migrant Raptors Bald Eagle 16 Turkey Vulture 18 Red-tailed Hawk 3 Barred Owl 2 (heard morning on trailhead, evening off SE side from summit)
Non-raptor Observations: Common Raven 42 Common Loon 1 Double-crested Cormorant 1 Mallard 5
Predictions: My recollection is that continuous NE winds often bring diminishing returns to our count, so tomorrow's results may not top today's. The forecast is for a cool day with NE winds turning E. With what looks like a potential Nor'easter and multiple days of rain coming at the end of the week, the window for Broad-wing movement may be closing soon! ======================================================================== Report submitted by Brian Rusnica (<brian_rusnica...>) Mount Watatic information may be found at: http://www.massbird.org/emhw
