Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch
Waynesboro, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 15, 2008
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
BV 0 0 0
TV 0 0 0
OS 10 32 48
BE 3 7 17
NH 0 2 4
SS 43 86 104
CH 7 12 16
NG 0 0 0
RS 0 1 1
BW 430 679 922
RT 2 9 9
RL 0 0 0
GE 1 1 1
AK 33 52 56
ML 1 1 1
PG 2 2 2
UA 0 0 0
UB 2 2 2
UF 0 0 0
UE 0 0 0
UR 0 1 2
Total: 534 887 1185
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Observation start time: 07:45:00
Observation end time: 17:00:00
Total observation time: 9.25 hours
Official Counter: Vic Laubach
Observers: Brenda Tekin, Dave Hunter
Visitors:
Lots of visitors today including Tom Lord, Dudley Rochester, Louse
Gebhardt, Marshal Faintich, Margaret OBrian, Alan Richardson.
Weather:
Very brisk winds from the NW all day ranging from 29-61km/hr due to a cold
front coming through. Temps started out at 27C and ended at 23C. Low
humidity (45-53%). Very clear visibility. Frequent clouds with about 50%
cloud coverage most of the day made for easy spotting of birds.
Raptor Observations:
We had quite a wonderful day today with the birds flying fast and high
overhead due to the brisk winds (no ketteling today). We had 10 species of
raptors with the highlight being an adult Golden Eagle at 3:27pm. Dave
Hunter first spotted this bird at quite a distance coming head-on where we
all brushed it off as a Black Vulture at first. But due to Dave's
persistence with this bird, he brought it to our attention again a little
while later as it was nearly over us. Thanks to some nice, slow circling
overhead, we quickly realized it was an adult Golden Eagle. In addition, we
had 3 Bald Eagles and also had all 3 falcon species today with our first
Merlin, 2 Peregrine Falcons, and a strong showing of Kestrels. The
Broad-Winged Hawks were all streaming high and fast overhead in groups up
to 21 in size. The hourly Broad-Winged counts were: 11 (8-9am), 35
(9-10am), 33 (10-11am), 39 (11-12pm), 36 (12-1pm), 35 (1-2pm), 74 (2-3pm),
63 (3-4pm), and 104 (4-5pm).
Non-raptor Observations:
Monarchs are picking up with over 96 today. 10 hummingbirds and a
Red-Headed Woodpecker. Two tight flocks of shore birds flew low through the
gap from west to east (one had ~75 birds and another had ~40).
Predictions:
Chance of showers
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Report submitted by Brenda Tekin (bt8x@xxxxxxxxxxxx)
Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch, VA information may be found at:
http://home.ntelos.net/~btkin/rockfish_gap_hawk_watch
Directions to site:
The Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch is held on the grounds of the Inn at Afton,
located on the southern side of Rockfish Gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains,
just above where I-64 (exit 99) intersects with the southern end of the
Skyline Drive and the northern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway, just east of
Waynesboro, VA and approximately 22 miles west of Charlottesville, VA.
