Mendota Fire Tower
Mendota, VA, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 24, 2013
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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 1 26 26
Bald Eagle 2 16 16
Northern Harrier 0 1 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 13 13
Cooper's Hawk 0 6 6
Northern Goshawk 0 1 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 2 2
Broad-winged Hawk 1607 3901 3901
Red-tailed Hawk 1 3 3
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 0 7 7
Merlin 0 1 1
Peregrine Falcon 0 4 4
Unknown Accipiter 0 3 3
Unknown Buteo 0 0 0
Unknown Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 4 4
Total: 1612 3988 3988
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Observation start time: 09:15:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 6.75 hours
Official Counter: Thomas O. Hunter
Observers: Jennifer Meade, John Whinery, Mike Sanders, Ron Harrington
Visitors:
The adults helping with the schoolchildren were Annie Fritz, Karen
Hartsock, Nancy Johnson Anthony Odle and Jennifer Meade. Thank you to all
the students and staff at both schools.
We had late visitors Larry Hannemann and Joi Stewart from Bristol, TN
Weather:
Winds were light and variable. Good cloud cover until late afternoon.
Raptor Observations:
Great flight from 9 until 1 and then 10 raptors in the last 3 hours.
Non-raptor Observations:
The tower was visited by the 6 and 7th grade classes from Fort Blackmore
and Dungannon Elementary Schools. 21 students arrived at 10 am to a
spectacular close in flight of Broad-winged Hawks. Jennifer Meade is the
principal of both schools and one of our substitute official counters. One
of the teachers Karen Hartsock was a great help in counting the hawks but
the star of the day was one of the students Donnie Saur. He really stepped
in and helped with the count. He was keeping the adult counters on count.
They were asking him what the count numbers were. These hawks were very
high and moving very fast and Donnie kept up with them. A great job and
very much appreciated.
Predictions:
Rain is in the forecast for tomorrow.
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Report submitted by Thomas O. Hunter (opiehunter@xxxxxxxxx)