Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 13:15:00 Total observation time: 6.25 hours
Official Counter: Eric Mueller, Mark Morris
Observers: Bill Fregeau, Eric Mueller, Ernie Leblanc, Jack Miano, Jeff Johnstone, Steve Farrell, Ted Purcell
Visitors: Several Adams Farm customers came over to find out what we were looking at. Long-time Athol birder Bill Fregeau came up to check out the watch and to lend a hand.
Weather: A sunnier day than yesterday that started with the dreaded blue screen of death, but fair weather cumulus clouds began to form in mid-morning and we had good backgrounds and call-out points to work with. After the morning dew burned off, the humidity dropped rapidly and we had great visibility for the rest of the day. We had almost calm air for the first 2 hours which had us a bit concerned, but W and NW winds picked up along with the cloud cover and gave the birds plenty of lift.
Raptor Observations: Another good day for the migrating birds, although without the "dam burst" of Broad-wings that we had yesterday. The flight increased hour by hour as the wind and the thermal conditions improved. Most of the team had family obligations after 1:00 pm EST, so we probably left some birds uncounted although the flight seemed to have slacked off by then.
Many of the birds were spotted high in the air again, although we had one group of Broad-wings that popped up behind the Athol Uptown ridge just to our south which gave us some much closer looks.
Local raptors - TV-65 (the biggest local roost that we've seen here in a while - some may turn out to have been migrants just spending the night here), BE-2 (1 adult, 1 imm), SS-1, CH-2, BW-2, RT-6.
Non-raptor Observations: Non-raptors: D-C Cormorant-1, Comm Loon-1, Gr Blue Heron-1, Mourning Dove-1 N. Flicker-2, Red-bellied WP-1, Y-B Sapsucker (drumming)-1, E. Phoebe-1, Blue Jay-4, Amer Crow-6, Fish Crow-2, Comm Raven-5, Tree Swallow-5, BC Chickadee-1, WB Nuthatch-1, E. Starling-12, Red-winged BB-1, Comm Grackle-6, Amer Robin-2, House Sparr-25+/-, Field Sparr-2, Song Sparr-6, Wht-Thr Sparr-1, E. Towhee-2, Red Crossbill-2, Amer Goldfinch-1, DE Junco-1, House Finch-2, Pine Siskin-1, Pine Warbler-2, N. Cardinal-2
Predictions: Tomorrow should be another good day weather-wise with mostly to partly sunny skies, temps in the 50's to low 60's, and gentle to moderate NW to WNW winds. The birds are moving, and with both bright conditions and a good background of clouds, they should be reasonably easy to spot with good optics. We welcome all help, so come up if you can. ======================================================================== Report submitted by ERIC MUELLER (<ericmueller1912...>) Adams Farm - Athol MA information may be found at: https://massbird.org/emhw/
