Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch
Waynesboro, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Aug 17, 2008
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
BV 0 0 0
TV 0 0 0
OS 0 0 0
BE 1 2 2
NH 0 0 0
SS 0 7 7
CH 0 0 0
NG 0 0 0
RS 0 0 0
BW 33 34 34
RT 0 0 0
RL 0 0 0
GE 0 0 0
AK 0 0 0
ML 0 0 0
PG 0 0 0
UA 0 0 0
UB 0 0 0
UF 0 0 0
UE 0 0 0
UR 0 0 0
Total: 34 43 43
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 09:00:00
Observation end time: 14:30:00
Total observation time: 5.5 hours
Official Counter: Vic Laubach
Observers:
Weather:
Today's weather was gorgeous again with temps a little warmer than
yesterday (high reached 82*F). Very light breezes from the North, humidity
started out at 49% and ended at 36%. Skies were partly cloudy (a good
backdrop to spot hawks).
Raptor Observations:
Only Broad-winged Hawks were flying today with the exception an adult Bald
Eagle at 10:07am. He (or she?) came in very low from the north, circling
just over the treetops in the gap and landed. After ~15 minutes he took off
again circling just above the treetops and landed again 5 minutes later. I
kept watch for about 20 min and thought I'd lost him when he suddenly
appeared right in front of me, gaining height, and then slowly headed due
south while circling overhead. Broad-winged Hawks were usually in small
groups with a nice kettle of 9 birds in the final half-hour of the day. One
Coopers Hawk circled for an eternity high over the north ridge and just
disappeared out of sight so wasn't counted. Lots of Black and Turkey
Vultures again today as well as several local Red-Tailed Hawks constantly
in the air.
Non-raptor Observations:
7 Monarch butterflies
Predictions:
Hot!
========================================================================
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
