Harvey's Knob
Roanoke, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 16, 2013
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 15 56 68
Bald Eagle 7 49 62
Northern Harrier 1 5 10
Sharp-shinned Hawk 2 22 23
Cooper's Hawk 0 13 14
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 2 3
Broad-winged Hawk 492 1540 1565
Red-tailed Hawk 1 37 42
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 1 1
American Kestrel 0 6 9
Merlin 1 1 1
Peregrine Falcon 0 1 2
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0
Unknown Buteo 0 3 3
Unknown Falcon 0 2 2
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 0 0
Total: 519 1738 1805
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 18:00:00
Total observation time: 10 hours
Official Counter: Bill James
Observers: Baron & Tina Gibson, Carl Christensen, Dave Brunstetter,
Katie James
Visitors:
Mike Purdy and Wes Teets were by today as well as a nice couple from
Blacksburg. When the first Broadwing showed up in the 12 to 1 hour, Mike
said: "First olive out of the bottle!", a quote he attributed to Mariam
Moore, the founder of our site.
Weather:
Good Northwest, to North, to West wind with warm temperatures which changed
perceptually with variations in sun and wind, but stayed at 18 to 20C all
day. The wind was present all day except when it rained lightly after 9:00
varying to 3 later in the day. Cloud cover was mostly in the 90%ile, again
until late. Visibility cleared from 3 to 4 late.
Raptor Observations:
Good Eagle day with immature at 1:02, mature at 1:08, a first year at 2:15,
adult at 3:31 another at 3:44; and two at 4:28 and 4:46. A late Merlin
when we thought we were done. Noticeably short of Broadwings throughout
the day until we were packing up and an Osprey came by. Then there were 6
birds way off we had trouble identifying. Again, one last scan and we were
off at about 6:15 and there they came, spotted first by Katie and counted
by Baron. 426 in the last hour. Wind was still blowing when we
reluctantly left.
Non-raptor Observations:
Not too many people watching today and not so much traffic.
Predictions:
East winds which are usually very good for Broadwings.
========================================================================
Report submitted by Bill James (bijam@xxxxxxx)
Harvey's Knob information may be found at:
http://bijame.googlepages.com/home
