Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 13:00:00 Total observation time: 5 hours
Official Counter: Eric Mueller
Observers: Joe Ritacco
Visitors: Joe Ritacco stopped by to check the scene and ended up being a great help with the count. He knows his birds, and was able to pick up several high-flying birds naked eye out of the clear blue sky. He's welcome back any time.
There were probably 50-75 hikers and sightseers on the mountain today, and several asked about our work.
Weather: Yet another day with a clear blue sky, very good visibility and low humidity. The difference today was the wind, which was very light and which shifted direction from ENE to SE by early afternoon. The haze was a tiny bit thicker than the previous few days, but all of the regular landmarks were visible. Small scattered cumulus clouds began to form late in the morning. Thermal activity was apparently very good because several birds were spotted flying at very high altitudes.
Raptor Observations: A much lower count than the last two days - just 10 migrating birds today. We may have run through the pipeline of birds that were interested in moving early. The bird of the day was the last bird of the day - a Sharpie that flew low over the summit and gave us great views.
Non-migrating raptors: TV - 9 (flying around all day long) Bald Eagle - 2 (both ad) Cooper's Hawk - 1 (repeatedly attacked a migrating BW) Broad-winged Hawk - 1 Red-tailed Hawk - 2 Amer Kestrel - 1 Merlin - 1 (also nice looks)
Non-raptor Observations: Non-raptors: Blue Jay - 2 Comm Raven - 1 T Titmouse - 2 BC Chickadee - 3 WB Nuthatch - 1 G Catbird - 1 E Wood-Pewee - 1 RE Vireo - 1 DE Junco - 3 E Towhee - 1
Predictions: Yet another sunny day with low humidity and temps in the low 70's. The winds will be very light at first and from the SSW, then shifting to SE by late morning and increasing to around 7 mph. The birds are not likely to be enthused by the wind direction and I expect the count to be similar to today's. ======================================================================== Report submitted by ERIC MUELLER (<ericmueller1912...>) Wachusett Mountain information may be found at: http://www.massbird.org/emhw
