Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 18:00:00 Total observation time: 10.88 hours
Official Counter: AB
Observers: Jacqui McKee, Nick Bolgiano
Visitors: Jacqui and David Mckee where up early to catch the days flight. I was happy that they both got to see the incredible COLO flight and the beginning of an incredible BWHA flight. David picked out our first GE of the day which was helpful as well. Both were great company as always and helped with many of the days detections.
Jacqui McKee David McKee
5 hikers.
Weather: SE winds at 12-19kph to start the morning. By 11:00 the SE winds had subsided a bit to 6-11kph. By 14:00 the SE winds had picked back up to 12-19kph which is when the flight began to pick up. Visibility was good most of the day to Stone Mountain. Mostly cloudy skies until about noon when the sun burned through, although a high cirrus stayed in place all day which made for excellent spotting conditions. By 13:00 lower and thicker clouds built in again. Low temperature of 7C at 08:00 and a high of 22C by 13:00.
Raptor Observations: TV 2 (267) OS 7 (32) BE 9 (91) NH 5 (30) SS 38 (140) CH 7 (37) RS 5 (41) BW (635) RT 23 (247) GE 4 (145) AK 18 (56) ML 3 (5) UA 2 (7) UF (1) UR 7 (33) Total 766 (1801)
GE imm 10:05, unk 11:31, unk 15:30, imm 16:15
Interesting flight today as far as the surprise ending. The flight got underway int the 10:00 hour with a dozen raptors moving through including 7 BW’s. These first BW’s of the day were frequently spotted in groups of 2 out of nowhere below horizon so there is a good chance they bedded down in the area overnight. We also picked up our first GE of the day. By the 11:00 hour the SS’s rallied with 13 moving through now leading the BW’s. This continued into the noon hour with the SS’s leading the BW’s with another 13 to 11 coming through. A nice pulse of RT’s came through in this hour as well. By 13:00 the BW’s began a steady ramp up with 29 coming through which helped the hour close out with 48 birds. By 14:00 another 43 BW’s came through and going into the 15:00 hour I thought it was going to be a nice taper to the end of the days survey with 31 BW’s moving through. By 16:00 though, we started to see kettles of BW’s at times throughout the area. Some were on top of the ridge in the gap, some were over Leading Ridge, some out over Stone Valley and one significant kettle formed under some TUVU out over Happy Valley. 171 BW’s total came through in this hour and it is noteable that the AK’s really picked up with 7 ripping through the cut. Going into the 17:00 hour I again thought the flight might taper off, but I remembered my time spent at Chestnut Ridge scoping the far southern horizon near the pinch of Long Island Sound. So, when there wasn’t BW’s visible in bin’s I began scanning the horizon out over Stone Mountain. I got onto the first of two several large kettles numbering approximately 60 and 50 individuals. These kettles appeared to be over the gap near Sideling Hill, but were likely over Warrior’s Ridge. During this entire hour I kept picking up small kettles of BW’s every time I scoped Stone Mountain. In this hour I kept seeing solo BW’s using powered flight to wing low down Stone Valley. I stayed until 19:00 just to make sure the flight had finished and was happy to pick up another 18 raptors to close out an all star day on Tussey Mountain. Based on the behavior of these late day BW’s and depending on the weather tomorrow morning there could be another good lift off.
Resident raptors were active today with both the immature and adult RT’s kiting over Tussey Mountain and Leading Ridge. An adult BE was spotted a couple of times during the count as well. At 14:50 a nice looking adult male AK came zipping through the cut heading south along the ridge.
Non-raptor Observations: The COLO were leading the raptor flight in numbers through the early part of the day’s effort. The first group of 13 were spotted at 09:19. They fanned out beside each other in a line such that it looked like they took up the entire horizon over Stone Mountain. Not in a line like geese or DCCO’s, but winging beside each other in a horizontal line if that makes sense. Several groups of 11 and eventually 15 came through. DCCO’s appeared to be migrating and GBHE’s got in on the action as well. I think Crandall has possibly moved on, or has given up during the busy days on Tussey Mountain.
Canada Goose 2 Wild Turkey 1 Mourning Dove 5 Ring-billed Gull 3 American Herring Gull 2 Common Loon 103 Double-crested Cormorant 24 Great Blue Heron 11 Black Vulture 2 Turkey Vulture 8 Red-bellied Woodpecker 2 Pileated Woodpecker 1 Northern Flicker 1 Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 1 Blue Jay 1 American Crow 1 Common Raven 2 Black-capped Chickadee 4 Tree Swallow 3 Golden-crowned Kinglet 1 White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Eastern Bluebird 2 American Robin 4 American Pipit 1 House Finch 2 American Goldfinch 1 Field Sparrow 2 Fox Sparrow 1 Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 4 Eastern Towhee 2 Red-winged Blackbird 1 Brown-headed Cowbird 8 Common Grackle 2
Predictions:
Showers likely before 2pm, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm between 2pm and 5pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 5pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 55. Breezy, with a west wind 11 to 16 mph increasing to 17 to 22 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 46 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
======================================================================== Report submitted by Adam Richardson (<poecile.gambeli...>) Tussey Mountain Hawk Watch information may be found at: tusseymountainspringhawkwatch.org/
