Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7.73 hours
Official Counter: Brian Rusnica
Observers: Visitors: Greg Clark spent all day at the summit, finding great birds for us during his first hawkwatch at Watatic. Thanks Greg!
Weather: Whipping NNE wind today, increasing in strength throughout the watch; the strongest gusts probably approached 30mph. Skies started totally clear but a lovely backdrop of cumulus clouds rolled in by 11am. Brisk conditions required extra layers today.
Raptor Observations: Broad-winged Hawks were very hard to come by today; just a small handful during the morning liftoff, and a few very random high-fliers throughout the watch. Our largest "group" was just 3 birds. Still, we had a few nice highlights to share:
Bald Eagles once again were moving throughout the watch; we logged 4 northbound birds, 3 locals, and 5 migrants. Every age class was represented, and we had close looks at a near-full adult early, plus a local juvenile and second-year eagle mixed things up just over the top of the East summit, interacting as they wandered facing into the strong winds.
The decoy owl blew down twice today, and spent a good deal of the watch nearly parallel to the ground. However, we still had a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk give a close pass over the top, unleashing a few vocalizations while it kited in the breeze and pondered the next move. Later in the day, another Merlin delivered a ferocious flyby. Sharp-shinned Hawks outnumbered Broad-wings for the first time this month. Several close looks, and even more distant looks were available today.
We had the season's first "Gray Ghost" - an adult male Northern Harrier came in from high over the Uncanoonucs, being escorted south by a cropped-up juvenile Red-tail. Another handful of BLACK VULTURE made a distant flyover, heading vaguely westward after separating from a mixed flock with some Ravens. Non-migrant Raptors: Bald Eagle 7 Red-tailed Hawk 2 Turkey Vulture 10
Non-raptor Observations: SANDHILL CRANE! Just before 12pm EDT, I had an extremely high, distant soaring bird with slightly bowed wings. To my first instinct, it appeared to be an Osprey based on the bowed wing shape. However as it rotated in the soar, I noted what looked like both a long tail and an extremely long thin neck, so I eliminated Osprey. The topside of the bird appeared overall pale to me. After reviewing some poor images, to me the wing length and dimensions did not fit most common long-necked birds at this site (Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, or Canada Goose). The bird also appeared to have a proportionally large head. I've never seen a flying Sandhill Crane but was left with that impression, based on the massiveness of the wings and long neck. After showing to a few friends, it seems a consensus that Sandhill Crane is the best fit! A few embarrassingly poor pixels can be found on today's eBird checklist here: ebird.org/checklist/S395612168
Common Raven 30
Predictions: Carbon copy of today's forecast. Brisk, sunny, strong NE winds creating raw conditions at the summit. I would expect a similar hawkwatch count to today's. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Brian Rusnica (<brian_rusnica...>) Mount Watatic information may be found at: http://www.massbird.org/emhw
