Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 9 hours
Official Counter: Mark Timmerman, Nate Marchessault
Observers: Chuck Carlson, David Wiedner, Mark Timmerman, Tom Momeyer
Visitors: 24 folks throughout the day. Thanks, Dan, for making the trip up, and Linden, for switching up your usual Carter Hill watch to come out to hawkwatch with us today!
Weather: Mild day with temps from 1-6 C and light winds from the southwest. Mostly cloudy all day with the sun poking out a bit around the noon hours.
Raptor Observations: Not much on the move today! A red-tail kicked was the first raptor on the board a little before 11, and a slow trickle of birds until our last bird at 2:30. Most birds drifted lazily southward, so the birds we did see we had nice long looks at and several came reasonably close to the hawkwatch. All 5 red-shoulders today were adults, and their rufous plumage was intesified by the low fall sun.
For non-migrants, mid-day I spotted a distant Black Vulture to the east that went out of view almost immediately and unfortunately could not get others at the hawkwatch on (sorry guys!).
Non-raptor Observations: The usual songbirds around the hawkwatch were accompanied by a continuing shrew and continuing porcupine. Two snow buntings circled the watch on two separate occasions, and were a life bird for Linden!
Predictions: Sunny skies, mild/warm temps, and steady southwest winds. I'm not a fortune teller, but I don't think it will be the best day for migrating raptors! Some bigger birds might ignore the winds and move anyway, though. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Nate Marchessault (<nate...>) Pack Monadnock Raptor Migration Observatory information may be found at: www.harriscenter.org
