Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch
Waynesboro, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 16, 2011
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 4 92 332
Bald Eagle 0 38 124
Northern Harrier 1 17 38
Sharp-shinned Hawk 149 1043 1633
Cooper's Hawk 26 140 227
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 6 7
Broad-winged Hawk 1 75 28785
Red-tailed Hawk 11 61 90
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 1 1
American Kestrel 8 83 268
Merlin 0 8 18
Peregrine Falcon 0 7 25
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 2
Unknown Buteo 0 1 5
Unknown Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 2 2
Total: 200 1574 31557
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 07:15:00
Observation end time: 15:30:00
Total observation time: 8.25 hours
Official Counter: Multiple Counters
Observers: Allen Larner, Brenda Tekin, Gabriel Mapel, Vic Laubach
Visitors:
Judy Johnson from Savannah, GA. Tom Mizelle. Mark Johnson.
Weather:
Beautiful, sunny, warm fall day! The fall colors are near peak. Mostly all
blue skies with only a few high, thin clouds, and the jet contrails seemed
more pronounced today than usual. Light, W winds today. Temp 15.4-19.2C.
Clear visibility and 34-42% humidity.
Raptor Observations:
The long-held season record for Kestrels was finally broken today. The
261st Kestrel for 2011, spotted by Mark Johnson, gave us a terrific
fly-over at 10:35am today, almost as if he knew he was a star! The previous
season record was 260 in 1986.
A beautiful female N. Harrier gave a long, close fly-through at 1:25pm ...
starting out above the ridge, circling, then flying down below the ridge
low right toward us, then lifting up and over the watch.
A single, late Broad-Winged Hawk flew slowly over at 2:30pm, escorted by
two Sharpies.
Another strong showing of Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks today.
Non-raptor Observations:
Lots of interesting non-raptors today. Warblers continue to migrate down
the Blue Ridge. Black-throated Blue, Cape May, and Palm Warblers were
identified.
1 Red-Headed Woodpecker.
Red-Bellied Woodpecker.
Hairy Woodpecker.
Tufted Titmouse
Some Tree Swallows.
35 Monarchs.
Predictions:
Sunshine and clouds mixed. High 73F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.
========================================================================
Report submitted by Vic Laubach (laubach@xxxxxxxxxxxx)
Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch, VA information may be found at:
http://www.rockfishgaphawkwatch.org
