Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 8.6 hours
Official Counter: AB
Observers: Jacqui McKee
Visitors: Jacqui McKee was up in the afternoon and was great help as always spotting distant small raptors.
Jacqui McKee
18 hikers.
Weather: Strong NW winds at 20-28kph to start the count, picking up to 29-38kph by 09:00. The NW winds set down significantly by 15:00 to 12-19kph which is when the flight picked up. Visibility was excellent for the entire count to Stone Mountain. Mostly cloudy skies kept things cool until 15:00 which again is when the flight surged. Low temperature of 4C at 08:24 and a high of 16 by 16:00.
Raptor Observations: TV 6 (265) OS 2 (25) BE 6 (82) NH 3 (25) SS 13 (102) BW 8 (9) RT 7 (224) AK 4 (38) UA 1 (5) UR 5 (26) Total 55 (1035)
Slow but steady flight in the morning hours with 14 migrants moving through before noon. By noon the winds had subsided a little and it began to warm up. From noon through 14:00 another 20 migrants moved through. For the first time this spring the 15:00 hour was the busiest of the day with a total of 19 migrants coming through. The first good push of BW’s was detected high out over Happy Valley with 3 streaming in formation together. During this hour migrants were all spotted streaming so like this past Wednesday they had gained altitude elsewhere and were already streaming out by the time we got on them. SS’s peaked during this hour with a total of 5 moving through, sometimes quite high as well. They were significantly closer to Tussey Mountain than the BW’s. SS’s led the flight with a total of 13 moving through. Surprisingly the flight shut down promptly in the 16:00 hour with just one SS and UR detected.
Resident raptors were fairly active with both the immature and adult RT’s kiting in the gap throughout the day.
Non-raptor Observations: Crandall was around this afternoon, but quite subdued compared to yesterday. He wasn’t mobbing any of the resident raptors.
Canada Goose 1 Mourning Dove 5 Common Loon 10 Double-crested Cormorant 5 Turkey Vulture 5 Red-headed Woodpecker 1 Downy Woodpecker 1 Northern Flicker 1 American Crow 3 Common Raven 2 Black-capped Chickadee 6 Tufted Titmouse 1 Tree Swallow 6 Golden-crowned Kinglet 3 Eastern Bluebird 1 American Robin 1 Purple Finch 1 American Goldfinch 2 Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 3 Brown-headed Cowbird 5
Predictions: Cloudy, with a high near 60. Calm wind becoming south around 6 mph in the afternoon.
======================================================================== Report submitted by Adam Richardson (<poecile.gambeli...>) Tussey Mountain Hawk Watch information may be found at: tusseymountainspringhawkwatch.org/
