Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 19:00:00 Total observation time: 11.48 hours
Official Counter: AB
Observers: Jacqui McKee
Visitors: Jacqui and David McKee brought their daughter who is in town along with her daughter’s boyfriend up to catch a spectacular BW migration. The McKees are killer spotters and I greatly appreciate their help point out birds as always. I also had two other visitors whose names I didn’t get, one of whom studies asteroids. They too got to see a BW a minute during their visit.
Jacqui and David McKee (with their daughter and her boyfriend) 2 more visitors I didn’t get their name
2 runners 12 hikers
Weather: Strong SE winds for the entire count peaking at 29-38 kph at 17:00. Visibility was excellent to Stone Mountain for the entire day. Clouds came and went, mostly high cirrus. Fortunately, enough of a haze from the clouds stuck around all day to provide excellent spotting conditions. Low temperature of 10C at 08:00 and a high of 26C by 16:00.
Raptor Observations: TV 5 (278) OS (51) BE 8 (101) NH 3 (35) SS 24 (179) CH 4 (41) BW 365 (1269) RT 17 (276) GE 3 (150) AK 2 (62) ML 2 (7) UB 1 (17) Total 446 (2564)
GE Immature 16:05, Immature 16:33, Immature 17:47
The flight got underway in the 09:00 hour with a total of 30 raptors making their way past the OP. BW’s led the flight obviously, with all the birds up on the ridge top in the SE winds. Excellent diversity too, with 6 species in that hour. In the 11:00 hour the hourly total nearly doubled with a notable uptick in BW’s. Today was much easier than yesterday as they were pretty much pounding the same line over the cut, just getting higher and higher as it warmed up. At 13:00 the flight lulled dropping to about half the hourly totals prior at 25 raptors coming through. I thought maybe the flight was going to taper at this point, but was pleasantly surprised when the biggest push of the day came in the 14:00 hour with 89 raptors coming through. Again, the BW’s lead this hour with 79 total coming through and nice diversity as well. From 15:00 – 18:00 the flight was steady at about 25ish raptors per hour. Staying late paid off as BW’s clearly were going to fly until sunset. In the 18:00 I picked up another 52 BW’s and again the diversity was good too. I also got an excellent look at the sharpest looking immature GE of the season with beautiful wing patches. All the GE’s that flew over the OP late in the day made their way over me effortlessly without hesitation as I just blend in to the surroundings in the cut. By the 19:00 hour I was wore out from all the scanning over an 11.5-hour effort.
Resident raptors were quite active in the favorable S winds. RT’s gliding S along the RT and Leading Ridge throughout the day’s effort. The BWHA spent some time low on Leading Ridge and might have gotten chased off by the RT’s whose territory that is. Late in the count there was 3 BE’s in a skirmish over Stone Valley.
Non-raptor Observations: The COLO made another excellent push in the morning hours. The DCCO’s were on the move again as well. There has been a huge gap since my first of the season detection of CHSW, but got a loner ripping through the cut today. The first BHVI of the season showed up late in the afternoon and was quite vocal. Clearly it can belt out its song plenty loud enough over the high winds. It bounced around in the trees behind me for a bit before flying directly overhead to the S side of the cut to take up singing again.
Canada Goose 15 Mourning Dove 3 Chimney Swift 1 Common Loon 71 Double-crested Cormorant 16 Great Blue Heron 1 Black Vulture 2 Turkey Vulture 5 Downy Woodpecker 1 Pileated Woodpecker 1 Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 1 Blue-headed Vireo 1 Blue Jay 1 American Crow 5 Common Raven 9 Black-capped Chickadee 1 Tufted Titmouse 1 Tree Swallow 3 European Starling 4 American Robin 1 House Finch 2 American Goldfinch 6 Field Sparrow 1 Eastern Towhee 2 Brown-headed Cowbird 2 Common Grackle 3
Predictions: A slight chance of showers between 9am and 2pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 81. West wind 8 to 11 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. 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/
