Observation start time: 08:15:00 Observation end time: 14:00:00 Total observation time: 5.75 hours
Official Counter: Eric Mueller
Observers: Brian Rusnica, Chris Eddy, Christine Restell, Cindy Rost, Joanne Hart, Melissa Aldrich, Tom Gottschang
Visitors: Many hundreds of holiday weekend sightseers and their dogs; many different languages were being spoken. Friend of the Watch, Carl, spent some time with us.
Weather: Another sunny day with some useful clouds finally arriving in the early afternoon. Temps rose from 57 F to 72F, with winds averaging 5-7 mph, although they faded in the last hour. The humidity was moderate and visibility was excellent.
Raptor Observations: My thanks to our great group of observers who had to work around all of the holiday sightseers on the platform. We also explained our mission to many of those sightseers. Our club president, Brian Rusnica, honored us with a visit today. The bigger push of raptors that we were hoping for never quite materialzed, but we reached a double-digit count (barely) for the first time this season. The last hour featured a Sharpie and an adult Broad-wing, both of which were still in molt with noticeably missing tail and flight feathers.
Non-raptor Observations: Non-raptors: MODO - 1 Chim Swift - 12 Comm Raven - 13 (groups of 4 & 9) RE Vireo - 1 E. Towhee - 1
Predictions: Temps are expected to top off in the low 70's again, with mostly cloudy skies, and 5-10 mph winds from the NNE to ENE. It will be interesting to see if this change in direction brings us more Ospreys from the coast. ======================================================================== Report submitted by ERIC MUELLER (<ericmueller1912...>) Wachusett Mountain information may be found at: http://www.massbird.org/emhw
