Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch
Waynesboro, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Aug 28, 2011
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 4 12 12
Bald Eagle 1 3 3
Northern Harrier 0 0 0
Sharp-shinned Hawk 2 10 10
Cooper's Hawk 1 4 4
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0
Broad-winged Hawk 40 122 122
Red-tailed Hawk 4 4 4
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 10 10 10
Merlin 0 2 2
Peregrine Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0
Unknown Buteo 0 0 0
Unknown Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 0 0
Total: 62 167 167
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 14:00:00
Total observation time: 6 hours
Official Counter: Multiple Counters
Observers: Brenda Tekin, Rose Thomas, Vic Laubach
Visitors:
Robert Plank;
Josh Laubauch helped out today.
Weather:
I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the bedroom curtain around 7:45
a.m. and saw the gorgeous blue sky! Yep, it was sunny alright because no
cloud had a chance with the BRISK NW winds clocking no less than 29-38 km/h
for the entire morning! It was steady with an occasional stronger gust.
By late morning wind seemed to diminish somewhat, 20-28 km/h and a few
stronger gusts. Temp: 23.2>25.4c; Humidity: 60% dropping to 43%;
Bar.Pressure: still below 1000 at 987 increasing to 989 then to 1000; Cloud
Cover: 0; thick haze but still decent visibility
Raptor Observations:
Can we say WEEEEeeeeeeeee?!!!!!! What is it about strong winds and
Kestrels? They didn't have a prayer of a chance. The minute they hit the
gap it was Mother Nature in control all the way. And yet, some of them
just wouldn't give up...struggling to go against the wind but beaten back
and eventually giving up, probably from pure exhaustion. One noticeably
small juvenile Bald Eagle at 10:15 a.m. a lot more steady on the wind than
the other birds. A decent showing of Broad-wings, some sailing hight
overhead in all that deep blue sky....And quite a few Red-tails although
most seemed to be hunting and not moving through.
Non-raptor Observations:
Chimney Swifts - good numbers, many zipping upward as they hit the strong
updrafts; Barn Swallows - good numbers as well; Ruby-throated Hummingbird
-3;
Monarch Butterfly - 2.
Predictions:
Sunny and diminished winds, probably shifting more out of the S-SW.
========================================================================
Report submitted by Brenda Tekin (brenda@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)
Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch, VA information may be found at:
http://www.rockfishgaphawkwatch.org
