Raptors: Another day of rain and moderate SW winds to start off hampered the raptor migration for most of today. However, there was a brief period where the wind switched to the WNW and the sun peaked out for a bit. The raptors took advantage of this weather change and a nice diversity of 6 species went through at this time-1 Osprey, 2 Bald Eagles, 3 Northern Harriers, 6 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 1 Red-tailed Hawk, and 2 Peregrine Falcons. This produced most of the day’s migrants. The first Cooper’s Hawk of the season was seen, but spent it’s time hunting the woods rather than migrating.
Non-raptors: Not too much of interest in this category today. 3 Pectoral Sandpipers, a Yellowlegs Sp., a Caspian Tern, 6 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, a Wilson’s Warbler, and 4 Pine Siskins were the most notable.
Monarchs: Another nice day for monarchs, with 134 recorded. Very curious what the daily totals will be for Wednesday-Friday, and especially (if the forecast holds true) on Sunday, given these rather good numbers on non-optimal winds.
Best of the next 5 days: Tomorrow (Wednesday) should be a rather nice early-season day, particularly from noon onward. Thursday could be hit or miss, but is likely to be somewhere between today’s total and whatever tomorrow brings. Sunday is also looking good for migration.
