Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch
Waynesboro, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Aug 28, 2012
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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 4 13 13
Bald Eagle 7 22 22
Northern Harrier 1 3 3
Sharp-shinned Hawk 4 11 11
Cooper's Hawk 1 1 1
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 2 2
Broad-winged Hawk 24 206 206
Red-tailed Hawk 1 5 5
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 2 9 9
Merlin 0 0 0
Peregrine Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0
Unknown Buteo 0 2 2
Unknown Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 0 0
Total: 44 274 274
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Observation start time: 09:00:00
Observation end time: 17:00:00
Total observation time: 8 hours
Official Counter: Rose Thomas
Observers: Gabriel Mapel, Pete Nebel, Vic Laubach
Visitors:
Ignacio Gandara, Mary Mapel
Weather:
The day started out mostly cloudy (90%) becoming only partly cloudy (30%)
by 3pm. Warm 25-29*C temps. Moderate NW wind early slowing to a slight
breeze by 2pm and dissappearing altogether by 3pm.
Raptor Observations:
A cool, dry front from the NW passed through this morning, leaving behind a
swath of migrating flying creatures! Seven Bald Eagles passed over today
(adults at 11:34am, 11:42am, 11:58am, 1:35pm, 4:07pm and immatures at
1:42pm and 3:55pm). 4 more Osprey and another Harrier. The Broad-winged
hawks may be picking up in numbers now.
Non-raptor Observations:
Actually, the non-raptors stole the show today! I arrived at the hawk watch
at 5pm "bird time" (6pm EST) just as Rose was leaving. I remained until 8pm
EST with Gabriel and Mary Mapel where we were really treated with quite a
show! In the late afternoon through about 7pm EST the Chimney Swifts began
moving through in large groups of 10-50 birds, flying from East to West
through the gap. We ending up with 402 Swifts for the day.
Just as the Swift flights began subsiding, the Nighthawks began flooding
through the gap from West to East in large groups of 10-130. The Nighthawks
flew almost non-stop between 7-8pm EST, starting out with low flights
moving in from over Waynesboro shifting to very high flights coming more
from over the ridge flying southward, sometimes too high for naked eye
viewing. Overall, the entire nighthawk flight was a southerly movement once
they passed through the gap. We ended up with 453 Nighthawks!
Just as the sun was setting and the nighthawks were winding down, the bats
moved in, usually fluttering from East to West. We counted up to 27 bats
until the sky just got too dark to see. We finally packed up our gear as
the pink and salmon sunset faded to dark.
Other sightings of interest today:
5 Hummingbirds
43 Cedar Waxwings
10 Monarch butterflies
1 Hand-glider that flew in low over the Inn around 4:45pm.
Predictions:
Beautiful! Gabriel and I plan on staying late again tomorrow night, hoping
for another big flight of nighthawks and swifts. Hope to see you there!
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Report submitted by Vic Laubach (laubach@xxxxxxxxxxxx)
Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch, VA information may be found at:
http://www.rockfishgaphawkwatch.org
