I worked the tower at Magee Marsh from 9 to 3 for the BSBO's spring raptor count. It was a warm, sunny, hazy day with light south winds that gave way to an onshore breeze around 1:00 p.m.
Visibility was poor due to some low level fog or haze. Temps warmed to 77 by 12:30 but dropped back a few degrees after the local winds switched to coming from the north. The lake temp is in the mid-50's, I believe, which seems warm for this time of the year. Maybe that's why the onshore breeze wasn't that strong.
A small movement of raptors occurred with the best hour between 11 and 12. Totals for the six-hour period:
| raptor | 9:00 | 10:00 | 11:00 | 12:00 | 1:00 | 2:00 | total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TV | 8 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 23 | ||
| OS | |||||||
| BE | 1 | 1 | |||||
| NH | 1 | 1 | |||||
| SS | 10 | 3 | 1 | 14 | |||
| CH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |||
| NG | |||||||
| RS | |||||||
| BW | 1 | 12 | 1 | 14 | |||
| RT | 11 | 3 | 3 | 17 | |||
| RL | |||||||
| GE | |||||||
| AK | |||||||
| ML | |||||||
| PG | |||||||
| UR | |||||||
| total | 2 | 44 | 17 | 7 | 3 | 73 | |
| cld cvr | 70% | 60% | 60% | 60% | 80% | 80% | |
| wnd dir | s | s | s | s | n | n | |
| wnd spd | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | |
| temp | 61 | 63 | 68 | 73 | 75 | 73 | |
| rh | 67% | 56% | 61% | ||||
| vis | vh | vh | h | h | h | h | |
I obviously forgot to record the relative humidity for some hours. Temp around 12:30 was 77 and at 1:30 it was 71. High thin clouds most of the day became thicker altostratus clouds by afternoon.
Other birds around the tower:
Pine Warbler
Palm Warbler
Myrtle Warbler
Brown Thrasher
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
White-throated Sparrow
