Deviating from my usual strategy of immediately plodding up the Powerline Trail and
systematically parsing each quadrant of the horizon upon reaching the summit yielded
excellent results.  Exploring the damp confines of the mixed hardwood forest in the
vicinity of the parking lot situated at the base of the Powerline Trail and along
Route 119 stretching both east and west allowed for prolonged observation of several
mixed flocks of feeding passerines.  Pine and Black-throated Green warblers darted
in and out of the inky depths of the pine boughs, occasionally hectored out of the
canopy’s uppermost reaches by a restive contingent of Blue Jays.  

Arriving at the summit of Mount Watatic at 9:11 A.M., I am dumbfounded to find
myself the only hawk-watcher situated there on a day providing superlative viewing
conditions. I unpack necessary gear and quickly glue my eyes to the northwestern
horizon.  Pangs of anticipation prod my eyes to a greater level of awareness when
the last strands of morning fog dissolve and a compact kettle of ninety-two
Broad-winged Hawks churns dreamily into the heavens at 10:23 A.M. Brilliant white
cumulus clouds push steadily southward by 11:22 A.M., facilitating stellar views of
the morning’s second kettle of 113 birds.  My eyes benefit enormously from cloud
cover that thickens throughout the day.

"Hi."

"Whaaa!"

Startled, I shift my position in the direction of the voice.  A smiling,
marble-smooth tan face accentuated by gleaming sunglasses fills my bleary eyes.  

"Hawks?"

"Yep."

We exchange pleasantries.  I’m delighted to see her produce a well-used pair of
binoculars from her pack during the course of our introductory banter.  Peg quickly
discerns eighty Broad-wings clustering over a pocket of antennae dotting a hilltop
on the northeastern horizon.  The coordinates she supplies allows us both to take in
the full size of the kettle, soon swelling to 126 birds.  The tapestry of clouds
widens, and we both savor the sight of the birds trailing to the southwest, wings
flickering as they attempt to divine the outlines of the next thermal.  Birds
continue to appear, a modest kettle blossoming in the east over a tiny, squat water
tower.  With the structure anchoring my gaze, I elevate my optics slowly above it. 
Peg picks out additional birds, the kettle’s total gradually rising to 131.  As the
birds stream southward, she concludes discussing the particulars of her upcoming
travels, and departs at 12:40 P.M.  I rue the fact that I
 am again the day’s sole observer, and begin scrutinizing segments of the horizon at
fixed intervals in hope of missing as few birds as possible.  

The afternoon lull in the passage of Broad-winged Hawks is punctuated by many
absorbing sightings of other raptors and myriad songbirds.  Horned Larks skirmish
over the expansive gravel patches peppering Watatic’s pinnacle.  Pockets of American
Goldfinches flit back and forth over the power lines stretching along the south side
of Route 119 East.  Scoping the borders of Watatic and Ward Ponds southeast of the
summit and a soggy meadow northeast of the mountain’s apex produces fine views of
Great Blue Heron, Double--crested Cormorant, Northern Harrier, and White-tailed Deer.
 Studying the dense deciduous forest stretching eastward from the mountain supplies
first-rate views of Sharp-shinned Hawks plunging after invisible quarry sequestered
in the canopy below.  The Boston skyline acts as a superb visual reference point for
spotting the day’s pair of Cooper’s Hawks, their lengthy orbit of the treetops
providing no prey worthy of pursuit.  

Sudden shade envelops the landscape at 1:52 P.M. and clouds swallow the sun whole at
2:11 P.M.  Diverting my attention away from the sprawling landscape below, I again
make censusing Broad-winged Hawks my first priority.  After nearly a half-hour of
canvassing the swelling banks of clouds, my eyes are drawn to a procession of winged
specks leisurely coasting south.  Chalk-white undersides come into crisp focus.  I
count fourteen juvenile Broad-winged Hawks, and I direct my gaze further along their
ramrod-straight course, gradually picking up additional birds.  Pivoting my gaze
squarely into the northeast, I glimpse a substantial kettle gradually dissolving
over a dwindling thermal.  I study the birds’ dissipating corkscrew formation,
arriving at a total of 172 birds.  The mammoth white clouds begin to split and drift
away, the birds scattering and becoming completely engulfed by the widening expanses
of azure sky by 2:57 P.M.  The next ninety minutes
 of observation produce no additional Broad-wings, and I sense that Nature’s
spectacle has concluded for the day.  Perhaps pleased to have the heavens to
themselves, a pair of Common Ravens careens gleefully through the empty blue
filling the northern horizon.  Their guttural squawks spilling earthward, the birds
press further east, vanishing at the border of pale sky and dark forest.  My eyes
halt at a motionless speck fixed at the point in the sky where the ravens commenced
their plunge towards the trees.  It remains as level as a hyphen upon a printed
page, and I am only aware of its movement when the background behind it snaps from
stark blue to watery gray.  Wheeling suddenly, the silhouette’s robust, mud-brown
wings are stretched taut against the somber cloud.  I sidestep gingerly to my left,
carefully repositioning my feet to keep from stumbling along the rocky, uneven
ground.  A cotton-white head and tail twinkle against blue sky.  The adult
 Bald Eagle is propelled west of the cairn abutting the granite marker erected at
Mount Watatic’s peak, dashing over the pines behind it as I part the oak branches
at the trailhead and begin my descent.  


American Crow        17
American Goldfinch        47
American Robin        38
Bald Eagle        1
Black-capped Chickadee        6
Black-throated Green Warbler        18
Blue Jay        13
Broad-winged Hawk*        634
Brown Creeper        3
Carolina Wren        1
Cedar Waxwing        11
Common Grackle        3
Common Raven        4
Cooper’s Hawk        2
Dark-eyed Junco        3
Double--crested Cormorant        1
Downy Woodpecker        2
Eastern Phoebe        4
Eastern Towhee        2
Golden-crowned Kinglet        2
Great Blue Heron        1
Hairy Woodpecker        1
Hermit Thrush        2
Horned Lark        9
House Wren        1
Mockingbird        1
Mourning Dove        14
Northern Cardinal        3
Northern Flicker        3
Northern Harrier        1
Osprey        3
Pine Warbler        13
Red-bellied Woodpecker        2
Red-breasted Nuthatch        6
Red-eyed Vireo        1
Red-tailed Hawk        2
Red-winged Blackbird        11
Rock Pigeon        27
Scarlet Tanager        2
Sharp-shinned Hawk        5
Song Sparrow        3
Tufted Titmouse        3
Turkey Vulture        8
White-breasted Nuthatch        5
White-tailed Deer        3
White-throated Sparrow        1
Yellow-rumped Warbler        8


* - MANY thanks to congenial hiker Peg Lorenz, whose steady eyes and infectious
enthusiasm SUBSTANTIALLY increased the day’s Broad-winged Hawk count!

 Breezy, overcast conditions coupled with occasional
 periods of windswept drizzle characterized dawn
 viewing at Winimusset Wildlife Management Area.  As
 the murk of early morning began to recede, a
 substantial mixed flock of Common Grackles, Red-winged
 Blackbirds, and Brown-headed Cowbirds plunged out of
 the heavens, populating every tree bordering the south
 side of Hardwick Road.  Modest numbers of birds took
 turns separating themselves from the screeching din of
 the collective flock, alighting upon the furrows of
 jagged cornstalks, gleaning what sustenance could be
 had from the terrain.  Returning to their treetop
 perches, countless sets of gleaming eyes took
 advantage of a brief burst of sunshine, studying the
 horizon and assessing the prospective feeding grounds
 several hundred yards southwest of the highway before
 departing in a noisy swarm.  Bulky wings flapped out
 of the eastern clouds and suddenly contracted, a
 two-toned silhouette plummeting earthward.  Ripples
 pulsed outwards from the marsh’s near shore,
 accompanied by an audible splash.  A fish clenched
 firmly in its talons, an Osprey pressed on,
 disappearing with its catch over the evergreens to the
 southwest.   Mysterious spiky blobs of feathers
 adorning the tops of a nearby stand of Cattails
 coalesced into a pocket of Song Sparrows.  Their
 fervent singing alternated with the execution of
 spirited sorties against one another, the competition
 for prime breeding territories well underway.  Nearby,
 clusters of American Robins trotted earnestly from one
 blotchy smear of green grass to another, wresting
 earthworms from the soggy ground with great success. 
 The birds advanced steadily over the turf, arriving at
 a lush stand of Staghorn Sumac.  Landing upon its
 branches, they soon departed, understandably
 disappointed by the paucity of available berries. 
 Training my scope upon the tangled vegetation abutting
 the three-way intersection adjacent to the parking lot
 produced a Fox Sparrow, bathing contentedly in a pool
 of water at the edge of Hardwick Road.   
 
 Modest numbers of waterfowl peppered the surface of
 the distant gray waters.  Brilliant male Common
 Mergansers primped and preened with much braggadocio,
 their strident gurgling easily heard.  Compact
 squadrons of Hooded Mergansers drifted out of the
 Tussock Sedge, the animated rise and fall of the
 males’ crests accompanied by vigorous wing-flapping
 and rearing out of the water.  Both species fed with
 much success, the wriggling shapes of countless small
 fish vanishing down bottomless gullets.  Pleased with
 the detailed views had at such short distance, I
 shifted my scope to the horizon in hopes of locking on
 to arriving waterfowl.  Frenetic movement grabbed my
 attention.  Feverishly pumping wings tipped with
 gigantic bills soon filled my optics.  Careening out
 of the northeast, striped crowns plunged earthward
 with such intensity I fully anticipated the feathered
 shapes to remain forever skewered in the moist earth
 once their bodies made contact with it.  Snowy white
 bellies snapped into view, a final spasm of wing beats
 a mere blur.  The collective impact of myriad stout
 bodies shattered the surface of a distant mud puddle,
 its rear edge dispersing in a wave of glistening
 droplets.  Thick flanks muscled their way into its
 depths, grotesque bills hammering in and out of the
 muck.  The gleaming water’s surface quickly vanished
 under a heaving blanket of brown and tan feathers. 
 Satiated, the flock of Common Snipe whirred aloft,
 expanding and contracting for a short distance until
 converging into a flock once more, a steady course at
 last secured through the stiffening wind.  
 
 Hiking to the top of the sloping fields immediately
 east of the intersection of Hardwick, Ravine and
 Mackay Roads produced exemplary viewing of a pair of
 Northern Harriers, each bird twisting and turning in
 its own graceful orbit over adjacent hunting grounds. 
 The male provided an especially riveting show. 
 Unfazed by the rising wind, the svelte hunter absorbed
 every irregularity of the turbulent air.  Propelled
 over my head by a particularly violent tail wind, it
 sank earthward in a steep dive when the current of air
 suddenly abated.  Appearing to welcome the opportunity
 to better scrutinize the countryside below, its head
 rotated smartly left and right, eyes drinking in the
 withered grass rising to meet it.  The bird swooped
 upwards in the unexpected calm, flapping only once in
 order to level off inches above the vegetation. 
 Tracing the extremities of the hillside’s steep
 contours, it bolted across the roadway below me.
 Darting through a gap between two huge oaks, it
 vanished from sight.  Narrow brown wings tipped with
 finger-like primaries drifted above the tree line, the
 female harrier returning to gauge the progress of her
 mate.  A silver form immediately followed, deep wing
 beats pushing it along the treetops.  Rejoining the
 female, the dapper male quickly paralleled its mate,
 the pair flapping in unison towards a farmstead
 situated on the western horizon.
 
 My appetite for viewing raptors whetted, I remained in
 the area, scoping slowly from the eastern to the
 southern horizon for half an hour, a pair of Bald
 Eagles the fruit of my labors.  Strangely uninterested
 in the waterfowl below, they gradually spiraled out of
 sight. 
 
 A hike to Dana Commons from Gate 40 of Quabbin
 Reservoir revealed a family of Eastern Bluebirds
 enlivening the bleak expanse of the old orchard on the
 north side of Petersham Road.  Continuing on some five
 hundred yards and plodding down the road’s treacherous
 embankment bordering Pottapaug Pond’s northernmost tip
 yielded outstanding views of loafing Green-winged Teal
 and sprightly Bufflehead.  Four compact,
 chocolate-colored blobs proved to be female Ruddy
 Ducks, their collapsed tails producing a startling
 degree of anonymity until chalky face patches and
 spatulate bills revealed themselves when “napping” was
 concluded and feeding was undertaken!  Keening, nasal
 calls rapidly passing overhead turned into a trio of
 Wood Ducks, rocketing northwest towards the
 Cotton-Grass swamp abutting Greenwich Road.  
 
 
 American Black Duck        11
 American Crow        72
 American Goldfinch        9
 American Robin        82
 Bald Eagle        2 (one 2nd-year juvenile, one adult)
 Belted Kingfisher        2
 Black Duck        11
 Black-capped Chickadee        8
 Blue Jay        8
 Brown Creeper        3
 Brown-headed Cowbird        51
 Bufflehead        7
 Carolina Wren        1
 Common Flicker        3
 Common Grackle        829
 Common Merganser        18
 Common Snipe        14
 Dark-eyed Junco        6
 Downy Woodpecker        2
 Eastern Bluebird        5
 Eastern Phoebe        2
 European Starling        22
 Fox Sparrow        2
 Green-winged Teal        17
 Hairy Woodpecker        3
 Hooded Merganser        17
 House Finch        2
 House Sparrow        13
 Mallard        38
 Mourning Dove        15
 Northern Cardinal        5
 Northern Harrier        3
 Osprey        2
 Pileated Woodpecker        2
 Red-bellied Woodpecker        2
 Red-breasted Nuthatch        3
 Red-tailed Hawk        2
 Red-winged Blackbird        253
 Rock Pigeon         28
 Ruddy Duck        4
 Song Sparrow        8
 Tufted Titmouse        5
 Turkey Vulture        14
 White-breasted Nuthatch        4
 White-throated Sparrow        5
 Wild Turkey        1
 Wood Duck        3