Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch
Waynesboro, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 05, 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 0 347
Bald Eagle 6 9 160
Northern Harrier 1 3 56
Sharp-shinned Hawk 9 57 2302
Cooper's Hawk 2 5 302
Northern Goshawk 0 0 2
Red-shouldered Hawk 14 26 38
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 28790
Red-tailed Hawk 115 219 401
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 2 2 4
American Kestrel 1 1 294
Merlin 1 1 26
Peregrine Falcon 0 0 27
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 3
Unknown Buteo 0 0 5
Unknown Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 0 4
Total: 151 323 32761
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Observation start time: 08:30:00
Observation end time: 15:15:00
Total observation time: 6.75 hours
Official Counter: Brenda Tekin
Observers: Gabriel Mapel, Pat Alther, Pete Nebel, Vic Laubach
Visitors:
Thanks to the observers helping today -- Pat Alther, returning after a
year's absence; Gabriel Mapel, Vic Laubach, Peter Nebel, and Tom Mizelle.
And a welcome and hope you come back to the fine folks with the Rockbridge
Master Naturalists group.
Dorborah Foster visiting the area from Winston Salem, NC stopped by to
check out the scenery and arrived in time to see both a Bald and Golden
Eagle! Talk about beginner's luck!!!
Weather:
Chilly autumn day full of bright blue sky and NO clouds. Light wind
predominately from the NW for most of the day and switching to NE by late
afternoon, increasing to maybe 5-7 km/h. Temp: 5.4c increasing to 10.5c;
Humidity: slowly dropped throughout the day from 47% to 36%; Bar.Pressure:
steady at 1012; very little haze and good visibility for over 40 miles!
Intersting observation: many of the trees still retain most of their fall
foilage.
Raptor Observations:
It was a long day but with enough birds and diversity to keep us
entertained all the way to the last hour. We ended the day with nine
different species, certainly something we don't normally see in November. A
nice push of Red-tails and it's quite possible we missed a few flying high
in the bright blue sky. Vic Laubach picked up on a kestrel, a bit late in
the season for this small falcon. Another record setter was set with 14
Red-shouldered Hawks, several moving through in pairs, setting the 2nd
highest single count since 1976. Peter Nebel kept finding Bald Eagles
throughout the day, some not moving through and uncountable. Late in the
day we finally had our first Golden Eagle of the day, an imm. at 2:56 p.m.
(photographed), followed 3 minutes later by two Bald Eagles (an adult and
juvenile flying together). Ten minutes later the second Golden Eagle, a
sub adult I.
Other Bald Eagle sightings for the day:
adult(10:40); adult(2:07); adult pair (2:43) that were probably the same
pair observed a few hours earlier (12:38) that dropped down between two
lower ridges over Waynesboro below I-64. Another pair observed earlier at
10:34 circling out over the eastern Rockfish Valley headed NE and not
counted and a juvenile high overheading north at 1:24.
Non-raptor Observations:
Highlight were the six Tundra Swan heading ESE flying high found by Peter
Nebel. When asked "How did you find them?" his response "I was looking
up!"
Pat Alther spotted a single Field Sparrow, an uncommon visitor to the hawk
watch. Also noted were several small flocks of Dark-eyed Junco, Cedar
Waxwing and one impressive 50+ murder of crow.
Monarch Butterfly still trickling through with ten for the day.
Predictions:
More sunshine, somewhat warmer and hopefully a few clouds.
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Report submitted by Brenda Tekin (brenda@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)
Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch, VA information may be found at:
http://www.rockfishgaphawkwatch.org
