Observation start time: 08:15:00 Observation end time: 14:00:00 Total observation time: 5.75 hours
Official Counter: Mark Morris
Observers: Joe Fountain, Ted Purcell
Visitors: Thanks to Ted and Joe for coming out on a very windy day.
I enjoyed talking to Rich Rieger who is a patron of the Hawk Mt. Hawk Watch and also is involved in the Schuylkill Co. 3rd PA Breeding Bird Atlas. Many leaf peepers and hikers on the mountain today.
Weather: Clouds covered the summit at arrival, but eroded away in the first hour. Mostly to partly cloudy for the remainder of the count. Winds were persistent from the West 6-15 mph with gusts to 30 mph. Temperatures ranged from 59 to 69 F. Visibility was poor to start, then 20km increasing throughout to 120km with some distant haze and some shimmer.
Raptor Observations: The morning hours did not yield much of any bird activity other than a few Ravens. Overall, our migrants included 4 Turkey Vultures, 4 Bald Eagles, 1 Northern Harrier, 1 Peregrine Falcon, and 1 UR (probably either a BE or TV). Most of these were recorded around the noon hour. I was alerted to the Peregrine as a 3rd bird among 2 Bald Eagles. Most all the birds passed to the leeward side (east) of the Mt.
Non migrating Raptors: TV-5, Bald Eagle-1, Red-shoulder-1, Red-tail-2.
In celebration of our 50th anniversary year on Wachusett, here's a look back at events on this date in previous years In 1983, 39 migrating raptors were counted, including 8 Sharp-shins, 4 N Harriers, 3 Ospreys and 2 Amer Kestrels. No Turkey Vultures were sighted.
In 2019, the largest ever Peregrine Falcon count (8) and the 8th largest Merlin count (6 - tied with 4 other dates) in Wachusett Mt history. Rod Chase wrote: "A nice mix of 9 species today after our slow start of 4 birds in 2 hours. Highlight would be the 2 Red-shouldered hawks. Kudos to Brian and Lauren (last names not known..) who took fine photos all day and saved the 1st RS from being misidentified. (Eric's note: Rod apparently didn't realize at the time how historically large the falcon counts were.) "Today's non-raptor prize was a Horned Lark who fed for quite a while on the summit ground, NW corner. Apparently pleased, the lark returned later for more." Other observers: Bill Rasku, Christine Restell, Daryl Turek, Eric Mueller, Joanne Hart and Mark Morris.
In 2021, Eric wrote: "Another good day for October, with 91 migrants counted, comprising 10 species. This was the second day in a row where the bulk of the sightings were made before noon, and where TVs made up over half of the migrants counted." "The bird of the day was a single immature Broad-wing - today was the latest date in October that we've ever counted a Broad-wing at this site." (note: this record was broken on 10/12/24 and 10/20/24.) Other observers: Rod Chase, Dave Brown, Paul Roberts, Will and Jeannie Martens, Paul Vanderhoof, Steve Farrell, Kathy Olson, Chris Eddy and Joanne Hart.
Non-raptor Observations: Other birds observed: Comm Raven-5, Blue Jay-3, D.E.Junco11, E.Towhee-1
Predictions: For Friday, sunny skies again with West winds starting at 7-10 mph, but quickly increasing to 13-16 mph average with gusts of 25-30 mph. Temps from 55 to 66 F, with low humidity. ======================================================================== Report submitted by ERIC MUELLER (<ericmueller1912...>) Wachusett Mountain information may be found at: http://www.massbird.org/emhw
