Date: 3/8/26 8:57 pm From: Thomas Filip <thomasfilip0660...> Subject: Tussey Mountain Hawk Watch (08 Mar 2026) 118 Raptors
*Tussey Mountain Hawk WatchState College, Pennsylvania, USADaily Raptor
Counts: Mar 08, 2026SpeciesDay's CountMonth TotalSeason TotalBlack
Vulture000 Turkey Vulture2324 Osprey000 Bald Eagle51316 Northern Harrier001
Sharp-shinned Hawk2912 Cooper's Hawk177 American Goshawk000 Red-shouldered
Hawk91314 Broad-winged Hawk000 Red-tailed Hawk162733 Rough-legged Hawk000
Golden Eagle80111120 American Kestrel222 Merlin122 Peregrine Falcon000
Unknown Accipitrine002 Unknown Buteo000 Unknown Falcon000 Unknown Eagle001
Unknown Raptor000 Total:118187234Observation start time: 07:00:00
Observation end time: 17:00:00 Total observation time: 9.12 hoursOfficial
CounterThomas FilipObservers: Bill Chambers, Ken Tucker, Nick Bolgiano,
Robert McLaughlinVisitors:Sophie, Adam, Greg, Lou, Jason,
AbigailWeather:Overall a warm and pleasant day. Winds started off W and low
at 4-7mph from 08:00 to 10:00 but shifted to NW at 8-12mph for most of the
day until the last hour when they shifted to NNW at 13-18mph. Partly sunny
for the whole morning and partly cloudy for the afternoon. Warm throughout
the day with a low of 10.2℃ and a high of 16.2℃.Raptor Observations:80 GOEA
spotted today.*
*72 adult*
*07:54, 08:15, 08:17, 08:20, 08:23, 08:33, 08:33, 08:34, 08:41, 08:41,
08:45, 08:48, 08:50, 09:05, 09:07, 09:08, 09:12, 09:12, 09:12, 09:13,
09:13, 09:13, 09:13, 09:14, 09:14, 09:14, 09:15, 09:15, 09:19, 09:23,
09:28, 09:30, 09:32, 09:33, 09:38, 09:50, 09:52, 09:59, 09:59, 10:02,
10:10, 10:10, 10:11, 10:20, 10:24, 10:32, 10:33, 10:36, 10:39, 10:39,
10:51, 11:01, 11:01, 11:07, 11:08, 11:09, 11:10, 11:14, 11:14, 11:14,
11:14, 11:18, 11:21, 11:21, 11:25, 11:29, 11:35, 12:03, 12:08, 12:13,
12:36, 13:27*
*2 sub-adult*
*09:28, 11:51*
*2 immature*
*09:10, 09:30*
*4 unknown*
*10:06, 10:20, 13:18, 14:44*
*I thought today would be a decent to good day so I arrived about an hour
early thinking that would be plenty of time to catch any early GOEA. Little
did I know we would be breaking records today. Not even a minute after I
set my gear down the first GOEA came through at 07:54. At 08:15 the second
came through and it really started to get hectic soon after. At one point
we had 12 GOEA within 3 minutes from 09:12-09:15. Most of our GOEA were
flying at low-medium height above us over the ridge top today, but a few
flew on the N side of the ridge and at the end of the day some were distant
on the S side. After 12:00 the action started to die down and we were
rewarded with our 80th and final GOEA at 15:44.*
*Our 80 GOEA count today was a new record not only for Tussey Mountain (62)
but also officially for PA (74 at Allegheny Front). I'm told there was an
82 count in PA at a different site that was not entered.*
*It was also a good day for other birds. We had 2 flocks of TUSW for a
total of 52. Many flocks of CANG flew over with a total of 755. 16 RNDU and
3 COME also flew over the ridge. Around 13:35 we had 3 SACR flying around
on the S side of the ridge for a while before they decided to fly N over
the ridge.*
*At least 107 RWBL flew over today in small groups. *
