Observation start time: 08:30:00 Observation end time: 13:30:00 Total observation time: 4 hours
Official Counter: Chris Eddy, Eric Mueller
Observers: Chris Eddy, Lisa Burwell, Marty McNamara, Ted Purcell
Visitors: About 100 hikers and sightseers. We spoke with several people about our mission.
Weather: The clearest air that we've seen in weeks up here. All of the regular landmarks except for Mt Greylock were easily visible, and distant mountains in NH (Passaconaway, Whiteface and the Sandwich range) could be seen with binoculars. The mild haze that we saw was likely the result of moderate humidity in the air. Temps rose from 61 to 74 F, with solid 8-12 mph West winds and gusts higher than that. Cloud cover varied from only about 15% in the morning to 70% or more later in the day.
Raptor Observations: An exciting, but also frustrating day. The local birds started coming up at 9 am EST, followed by a few migrants about 20 minutes later. Despite the clear air, most of the migrating birds were so far away that specific IDs were impossible. The first migrating pair had long narrow wings and the birds were differently sized (sexually dimorphic), but we couldn't see enough details to figure out if they might have been Mississippi Kites or Swainson's Hawks. Rats!
The other tantalizing sighting occured at 12:20 when Chris spotted a large bird flying just a bit higher than our treeline. It was only visible for about 8 seconds before dropping behind the trees, but in that time, Chris noted a large yellow-orange beak, and a dark body with some white markings in the rear. She ruled out a Bald Eagle, and when shown a picture of a Crested Caracara, she said "That's it!" (the yellow-orange facial patch can be mistaken for part of the beak.) Single Caracaras have been seen up until 4 days ago in southern Maine and northwestern Nova Scotia, so this might have been one of them heading back south. However for a rarity like this, hawkcount and eBird require a more extensive description and hopefully corroboration by other observers, which we didn't have (I was watching another bird.) This bird ends up in the UR category, unless it somehow reappears in the next day or so. Double rats!
Non-migrating raptors: Black Vulture-1, TV-6, Bald Eagle-3 (Ad male, 2 juv/imm), Broad-wing-3, Red-tail-2 (Ad, not aged)
On this day in 2019, Rod Chase wrote: The 1100-1200 visitors (Ranger's estimate) were, except for hikers, frequently chilled but still happy with the views. All raptor-related questions were answered. One man from California asked which raptor kept attacking him back home. Said I could only guess it might be a Northern Goshawk? "I have lots of pictures on my phone" he responded. Yup, he had lots of photos of Mr. & Mrs. NG!"
Non-raptor Observations: Non-raptors: Chimney Swift-1, R-T Hummer-2, Blue Jay-2, Comm Raven-4, Tree Swallow-10, Barn Swallow-2, Gray Catbird-2, E Towhee-2. Predictions: Partly cloudy, temps from mid-60's to mid-70's, moderate humidity, winds at 5 mph from the NW shifting over to WSW by 2 pm. Should be a fine day for observing as long as wildfire smoke doesn't come back. The migrating birds were more active today, so we're hoping than continues tomorrow. Just come a little bit closer please... ======================================================================== Report submitted by ERIC MUELLER (<ericmueller1912...>) Wachusett Mountain information may be found at: http://www.massbird.org/emhw
