Observation start time: 08:15:00 Observation end time: 14:00:00 Total observation time: 5.75 hours
Official Counter: Eric Mueller
Observers: Fay Baird, Joanne Hart
Visitors: My thanks to Fay and Joanne for their help today. Joe Quinton and Ed from Marshfield stopped by for a look in the morning - I hope you can come back when conditions are better. At least 6 young mothers hiked up with infants or toddlers on their backs or in strollers.
Weather: Another day that started with low cloud cover, only this time the summit itself was clear but surrounded by a ring of low clouds that blocked the view in all but a few directions at first. The clouds rose a bit more quickly and higher than yesterday, allowing a full 360 degree view at 9:30 am EST, but they still never fully cleared the peak of Mt Mondadnock. High humidity all day, with heavier haze to the east than in other directions. The VT mountains came into view around 1:00 pm EST. Temps ranged from 57 to 65 F. Wind was light all day from the SW.
Raptor Observations: A slow day. The birds that came through didn't seem fazed by the light SW wind. We may have lost some birds early in the day - the low cloud cover blocked our view early on, but there was plenty of clear air for birds to use below that. Turkey Vultures continue to move in small numbers. The local TV roost of approx 20 birds appeared for the first time in several weeks.
In celebration of our 50th anniversary year on Wachusett, here's a look back at events on this date in previous years: 1984 - the 6th highest daily count of American Kestrels (29) in Wachusett Mt history, tied with 9/12/84 & 9/12/89.
In 2018, Rod Chase wrote: "We had some nice, close views of birds scattered throughout the day although the majority were barely 'naked-eye' or, sometimes, hard to find with bino's. And then, those pesky Bald Eagle locals were sneaking around all day and popping up all over the place before returning to home base. They were playful today, however, as they occasionally challenged Ravens, a few RT's and even each other." "There was a considerable lull in the afternoon. Conversations and good humor prevailed but I was planning to leave at 3:30 when a female NH came flapping in from NNE and passed very close to N towers and, after a brief dip below the oaks, came backup and even closer before working to SW. Ten minutes later a SS followed a very similar, close highway on the north side. Kept me there for the last half-hour of smiles and more hopes for another day."
2022 - the latest date of a flight with over 1,000 migrating raptors in Wachusett Mt history. Total raptors - 2,478, including 2,385 Broad-wings. Eric Mueller wrote: "What started out as a nice, active day for late September (about 200 birds from 11 species by 12:30 EST) turned into an excellent one as over 2100 Broad-wings came through in 4 large kettles in a one hour period between 2:30 PM and 3:30 PM EST. Earlier in the day, five small kettles (from 13 to 46 birds each) moved through between 9:35 and 10:40 (including one with 20 birds that flew about 200 ft overhead.) But then we had almost no more BW's until 12:48 when Steve Farrell happened to look up near the sun and discovered a 73 bird kettle that had passed by us unnoticed. We thought that this discovery was the capstone of the day as the next 1-3/4 hrs yielded only 8 more raptors. By this time, only 4 of us were left on the platform. Then as Jean Hample scanned the northern horizon around 2:30, she saw a cloud of 500 BW's forming in the direction of Joe English Hill and the craziness began. 25 minutes later, Jack Miano (I believe) spotted a 720 bird kettle out towards Mt. Grace, and as that moved along, Chris Eddy saw another 400-bird kettle forming in the same area. Finally at 3:30 PM, Jean spotted another 500 bird kettle due north of the mountain. All of the kettles were at the far end of binocular range. It was difficult to get a totally accurate count because these big kettles were streaming from both the bottoms and tops of the kettles at the same time, but hawk watcher extraordinaire Jack applied his years of counting experience while cross-checking with Jean, Chris and me to come up with fairly accurate results. We closed out the day with two more small BW kettles (25 & 15 birds). Whew!"
Non-raptor Observations: Non-raptors: Blue Jay-12 (10 migrating), Comm Raven-12, B-C Chickadee-2, R-B Nuthatch-1, Hairy WP-1, D-E Junco-4, E Towhee-2.
The Ravens put on a good show late in the day. The young Porcupine appeared for a few minutes. I killed a Spotted Lanternfly that perched on my clipboard (reported to DCR and Mass NRC).
Predictions: Mostly cloudy on Thursday but the cloud base should be substantially higher than today, so our visibility and the birds' soaring headroom should be better. Temps in the low 60's to low 70's with high to moderate humidity. SW winds averaging 6 to 10 mph may be an impediment to the migrants, but the birds should be able to get good lift. ======================================================================== Report submitted by ERIC MUELLER (<ericmueller1912...>) Wachusett Mountain information may be found at: http://www.massbird.org/emhw
