Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch
Waynesboro, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 19, 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 5 125 159
Bald Eagle 7 63 83
Northern Harrier 2 18 23
Sharp-shinned Hawk 26 162 175
Cooper's Hawk 7 43 54
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 10 14
Broad-winged Hawk 7045 20139 20373
Red-tailed Hawk 2 39 56
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 2 2
American Kestrel 2 31 39
Merlin 1 6 6
Peregrine Falcon 0 2 3
Unknown Accipiter 0 6 6
Unknown Buteo 0 1 2
Unknown Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 5 8
Mississippi Kite 0 1 1
Total: 7097 20653 21004
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Observation start time: 06:30:00
Observation end time: 17:15:00
Total observation time: 10.75 hours
Official Counter: Vic Laubach
Observers: Allen Larner, Brenda Tekin, Gabriel Mapel, Rose Thomas
Visitors:
Approximately 15 visitors today including Sam Young, Wade Hildreth,
Elizabeth, Bill Nettelhorst, Ellyn Kell, Mary Vermeulen, Jennifer Jowdy,
Donna Lewis.
Weather:
A warm day 14.9-21.2C. Partly cloudy in the morning becoming about 70%
cloudy in afternoon. A perfect sky for spotting kettles! Light SE breezes.
Clear visibility.
Raptor Observations:
Another awesome day of BW migration! We had many singles, small groups and
large kettles. Most birds appeared near the north ridge streaming down
either side of the gap or right over us. Lots of oohs and aahs today! At
one point we had 3 counters with clickers counting in 3 different parts of
the sky. Hourly BW count: 5 (8-9), 645 (9-10), 2678 (10-11), 746 (11-12),
70 (12-1), 744 (1-2), 1149 (2-3), 835 (3-4), 172 (4-5).
We watched a Merlin divebomb a group of Blue Jays on the ridge right in
front of us. After about 10 minutes of this it gave up and flew south down
the east side of the gap.
Seven Bald Eagles: 1 immature (10:16) and 6 adults (10:23, 10:25, 12:35,
1:20, 2:46, 2:46).
Non-raptor Observations:
We broke the Augusta County single-day record for Blue Jays with 1,067. 45
Swifts. 2 Hummingbird. 1 Kingfisher. 3 Red-headed Woodpecker. 6 Flickers. 3
Raven. 33 Waxwing. 4 Black-throated Green Warbler. 3 Magnolia Warbler.
Predictions:
Weather similar to today.
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Report submitted by Vic Laubach (laubach@xxxxxxxxxxxx)
Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch information may be found at:
http://www.rockfishgaphawkwatch.org
