[MASSBIRD] Wachusett Mountain (16 Sep 2022) 2102 Migrating Raptors - Amazing Experience

[Barbara Volkle]

Date: Sat, 17 Sep 2022 00:37:30 +0000
From: rep...@hawkcount.org
Subject: Wachusett Mountain (16 Sep 2022) 2102 Migrating Raptors -
Amazing Experience


Wachusett Mountain
Princeton, Massachusetts, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 16, 2022
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 2 2
Osprey 20 104 115
Bald Eagle 21 99 110
Northern Harrier 4 19 19
Sharp-shinned Hawk 39 177 180
Cooper's Hawk 1 34 40
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 6 6
Broad-winged Hawk 2000 3151 3160
Red-tailed Hawk 0 7 11
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 9 55 58
Merlin 1 14 16
Peregrine Falcon 2 9 10
Unknown Accipiter 0 10 11
Unknown Buteo 0 8 11
Unknown Falcon 0 5 5
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 5 23 25

Total: 2102 3723 3779
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Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total
observation time: 8 hours

Official Counter: Eric Mueller

Observers: Chris Eddy, Colleen Tank, Dave Brown, David Goodine,
Herb Stone, Jack Miano, Jean Hampel, JoAnne Hart,
Judy Davis, Lisa Burwell, Marcus Rhodes, Mark Morris,
Marty McNamara, Megan Gately, Mike Beath, Paul Roberts,
Paul Vanderhoof, Peter Vale, Rod Chase, Steve Farrell,
Ted Mara, Ursula Goodine

Visitors:
Another amazing group of observers (35 names on my list, and several others
missed). In order to get the count posted ASAP, I will add the names to
this report later. MassBirders can see the results later at
https://hawkcount.org/day_summary.php?rsite=228&ryear=2022&rmonth=09&rday=16


Weather:
An odd start to the morning - instead of the forecasted mostly sunny skies,
we got a high shelf of clouds that cast a huge shadow over everything,
including the northern horizon. While there were good NW winds (5-12 mph)
all day, the air was chilly (51 F at the beginning) and hardly any birds
moved until the shelf departed to the south around 10:30 EST (11:30
EDT). Half an hour later the flight began in earnest. Temps reached a
high of 61
F, and the cloud cover gradually receded until it was almost completely
gone by late afternoon, and the birds rode the strong thermals to great
heights. The air was the clearest that it's been since we started coming
up in August, and all landmarks were easily visible.

Raptor Observations:
An amazing day! After a very slow start to the day (especially compared to
yesterday), the flight kicked into gear around 11 am EST. The Broad-wings
came through in normal-sized kettles until around 1:20 pm when the kettles
of 70 and 175 birds appeared. Then at 1:45 - MAGIC! An enormous kettle of
500-600 Broad-wings appeared far to the east, and then broke into 3
parts. A lot of us were having trouble seeing them, when suddenly a
stream of
around 250 birds came straight at us (Paul Roberts described it as an
Armada.) In what seemed like only a moment, the Broad-wings were streaming
all around us, with many of them less than 100 feet above the summit.
People lucky enough to have their cameras or phones out snapped away
furiously. Then the birds were gone, leaving us gasping in amazement.
Truly a lifetime experience for us.

For the day, we had a total of 2102 birds representing 9 species.

Non-migrating raptors:
Northern Goshawk - 1 (ID'ed by Paul Roberts. The first that we've seen here
since 2017)
TV - 4 (minimum)
BE - 3 (minimum - Adult, Imm and a hatch-year juvenile)
BW - 3
RT - 3
CH - 1

Non-raptor Observations:
Non-raptors:
Canada Goose - 87 (3 skeins)
Blue Jay - 10 (8 in a group)
Comm Raven - 16
Amer Redstart - 1 (seen by Paul Vanderhoof)
B&W Warbler - 2 (Paul V)
DE Junco - 4
BC Chickadee - 2
Chimney Swift - 1

Predictions:
Another pleasant day with sunny skies, temps to the high 60's and light
north winds shifting the SW around noon. The Broad-wings are moving
en-masse now, and the light SW winds should be little challenge to the
'wings with the strong thermals that we expect. It should be another very
good day for the migrating birds.
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Report submitted by ERIC MUELLER (ericmue...@gmail.com)
Wachusett Mountain information may be found at:
http://www.massbird.org/emhw


More site information at hawkcount.org:
https://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=228