Harvey's Knob
Roanoke, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 07, 2009
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 2 7 181
Bald Eagle 2 12 67
Northern Harrier 0 0 12
Sharp-shinned Hawk 46 131 338
Cooper's Hawk 13 28 56
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 1 5
Broad-winged Hawk 0 50 8160
Red-tailed Hawk 4 8 67
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 1 22 55
Merlin 1 4 10
Peregrine Falcon 2 2 14
Unknown Accipiter 0 1 3
Unknown Buteo 0 1 3
Unknown Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Eagle 0 1 1
Unknown Raptor 0 0 1
Total: 71 268 8973
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Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 16:30:00
Total observation time: 8.5 hours
Official Counter: Bill Grant
Observers: Bill James, David Kirk, Jim Hylton
Visitors:
Visitors to the knob today from Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida,
Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, New
Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vermont, West
Virginia and Ontario, Canada.
Randy Doss from Martinsville dropped by from 1:00-3:00 to help spot.
Weather:
Much better than forecast except for the high winds that prevailed
throughout the count. Winds supposed to end by 3:00 EST but continued at
Beaufort 3 with gusts at B4 until count end.
Gorgeous day with extremely clear conditions allowing easy spotting of
birds. By noon clouds were practically non-existent and remained so until
the end. Temps ranged from 13.5-18.5 C dropping off towards the end of the
count to16.9.
Raptor Observations:
8 different species of raptors seen today with sharpshins having the
highest count and cooper's the second highest. Birds moving very fast due
to the high winds some looking like they were on skewers ready to ole
barbecue.
Non-raptor Observations:
A group of 7 TV's, 6 ravens and 7 BV's flew back and forth over the area
throughout. Only 2 monarchs observed today.
At 1:58 PM EST a silver balloon trailing a long blue ribbon was observed
very high in the sky traveling from west to east. The sun shining off the
surface caught our eye.
Predictions:
If the forecast is correct of temps around 73 and variable winds with clear
skies, flight could be as good or better than today.
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Report submitted by Bill Grant (clarinetman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx)
Harvey's Knob Hawk Watch information may be found at:
http://bijame.googlepages.com/home