Harvey's Knob
Roanoke, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 30, 2011
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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 0 1 158
Bald Eagle 0 11 104
Northern Harrier 0 2 33
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 26 826
Cooper's Hawk 1 8 117
Northern Goshawk 0 2 5
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 4 19
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 10226
Red-tailed Hawk 14 234 411
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 1 1
American Kestrel 0 1 69
Merlin 0 0 20
Peregrine Falcon 0 0 29
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 1
Unknown Buteo 0 1 4
Unknown Falcon 0 0 4
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 2 10
Mississippi Kite 0 0 1
Total: 16 293 12038
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Observation start time: 10:00:00
Observation end time: 15:30:00
Total observation time: 5.5 hours
Official Counter: Bill Grant
Observers:
Visitors:
Sparse traffic today with only 2 cars from New York and one from Texas
venturing into the knob.
Since this is officially the last day of the count (I think) I want to
thank all those who gave me such good help on Wednesday's this year with a
special thanks fo Carl Christensen without whom I would have missed a lot
of birds since a lot of Wednesday's they were on both sides of the knob,
and to David Brunstetter for being there to share my 6 eagle day last week.
Happy Holidays to all.
Weather:
Cold and blustery. Temp at 10:00 was 3.3C got as high as 8.8 at noon and
then retreated all the way back to 3.5 when I left at 3:30. Winds were very
brisk all day from B 3-4, measured on gust at 29 mph. Lots of clouds until
2:00 but visibility was great all day from 4-5+. The beauty of the day
today was that all the mountains behind Purgatory and Diddles were covered
with snow, even the top of Short Hills. Around 12:15 a ray of sun shown
through the clouds onto Pat's place. The building was spectacular with the
snow all around it and on it's roof. By 1:00 most ot the snow had gone
away except on the ridge with Pat's place. Barometric pressure rose all
day long as the high pressure system approached. Humidity from 47-50%.
Clouds moved very quickly from west to east and by 2:00 most of them were
gone, which strangely enough was when the birds quit flying.
Raptor Observations:
Good count of Redtails with a Cooper's and a Sharpie thrown in for good
measure. 10 TV's played around all day long until just before the 2:00
hour when they disappeared also.
Non-raptor Observations:
4 Ravens appeared over the Knob at 10:00 flying North to South. They also
were around until the 2:00 hour.
No wildlife of any kind observed today coming up to the site or coming
down from it, not even a squirrel. Very unusual.
Absolutely no small birds of any kind seen today, only the raptors and
ravens.
At 1:40 as I was following a redtail who has arisen from the valley up
with my 10x bins, I spotted a V of either geese or swans moving from west
to east towards Smith Mountain Lake.
I was able to count 34 birds in the group but they were up so high I could
not identify them even with 10x. They all appeared to be totally white from
head to tail. Quite a site to see above the redtail.
Predictions:
Temps in the mid to upper 50's, lots of sun, a lot less wind.
I suspect this might be one of those years when the birds aren't just
quite done yet and it might be prudent to check things out at last through
the 1st week of December????????
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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
