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Preliminary 1995 reports that trickled down from the top of The Mountain project no change in this trend -- Cooper's, Shoulders, and Merlins seem to pass by various lower observation sites on Wachusett but not the summit.
1995 produced typical NRA results for Cooper's, Shoulders, and Merlins. The 75/71/20 NRA Fall totals dwarf the 20 year averages* of 13/13/4, as they did in 1994, 1993, and 1992. And, without our annual Cape May hiatus [October 1-10] the CH & ML chasm would have been opened even wider!
For only seventeen days of casual coverage, observing from sites with a fraction of the summit's field of view, the NRA posted better than average* season totals for nine species:
RT, RS, SS, CH, GO, AK, ML, BE, & GE.
And so, gentle reader, you see we live for the UnBroadwing Season when the milder weather and the milder of constitution have moved on.
*Bird Observer, August 1995 [V.23, No.4: 209-22] |
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“Immature Broadwing,” someone called out from Below.
IMMATURE, no way. Maybe a little underdeveloped for my young age but I've been ripping my way through lots of small vertebrates [Ya, I know words like vertebrates, I may be a young broadwing from southern New Hampshire but in addition to being a natural born killer, I'm a natural born ecologist, fella]. I flew over the old growth; flown under the canopy there many times during September and loved it every time.
I barely grazed the summit one day when someone shouted, “Goshawk!” And I said to myself, “Where?” Goshawks nest near our family's summer home, so I know ‘em on sight but I didn't see one. Another time it was, “There's Spike again.” “Where?!” Now this went on for all of September and I thought to myself, this Goshawk must be a pretty sneaky fellow, after all I have pretty good eyesight... got it from my mom. And then I heard it explained, they were talking about me! I guess my unusual plumage resembled a young Goshawk when viewed from the Top: it's heavier than usual immature broadwing streaking on my breast, but still, I have a pretty fetching broadwing silhouette, if I do say so myself. So just one more hunting trip into the old growth before heading south.
Oh, two things. Number one, my name is Betty and two, who IS this Spike person?
Online Density Metering: Low score for you??
OkayOkay... Here's the deal:
An immature BW flew around the Mt. upclose and personal for weeks but the braintrust on Top called it "a local Goshawk" day after day after day. And everyone fell into place; no one knew any different.
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