Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch
Waynesboro, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 20, 2011
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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 0 0 347
Bald Eagle 0 22 173
Northern Harrier 0 12 65
Sharp-shinned Hawk 5 90 2335
Cooper's Hawk 1 14 311
Northern Goshawk 0 0 2
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 35 47
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 28790
Red-tailed Hawk 3 326 508
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 3 5
American Kestrel 0 1 294
Merlin 0 1 26
Peregrine Falcon 0 0 27
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 3
Unknown Buteo 0 0 5
Unknown Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 2 6
Total: 9 506 32944
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Observation start time: 09:00:00
Observation end time: 14:00:00
Total observation time: 5 hours
Official Counter: Vic Laubach
Observers: Pete Nebel, Rose Thomas
Weather:
Warm temps. 50-60F. Overcast but the sun still cast a fairly bright day.
Light SW breezes. A little hazy down low. Visibility 20km.
Raptor Observations:
Five Sharp-shinned Hawks were a surprise today with only 3 Red-tails.
Well, another season has ended, and it was certainly a terrific one! We
had terrific turn-outs of both birds and visitors to the RGHW. A big thanks
to our newly-retired counter, Rose Thomas, who put in many, many hours and
really covered those weekdays, many of which would have gone un-covered.
Another big thanks to our other counters this season: Brenda Tekin, Vic
Laubach, Dave Hunter, Peter Nebel, William Leigh, and Diane Lepkowski.
Thanks also goes out to all the observers who helped out this season: Mark
Johnson, Allen Larner, Dan Perkuchin, Josh Laubach, Andrew Clem, and Pat
Alther. A final, big thanks to Gabriel Mapel who's young, 12-year old eyes
and keen obervational skills really helped cover that big, blue sky on many
days!
I thought I'd write a brief summary of our terrific 2011 season. We had an
unusual number of rainy, foggy days in September, but still managed great
numbers somehow. A big push of Red-tails never materialized, likely because
we had too many days with warm, southerly winds and few brisk NW cold
fronts pushing through.
The total season raptor count of 32,944 was the second highest count ever
(the high was 35,121 last year).
347 Osprey is a new season record (previously 233 in 1986). On October 2,
we had the second highest single-day record of 41 (record is 45 on
9/19/2009).
173 Bald Eagles is a new season record (previously 115 in 2010).
2,335 Sharp-shinned Hawks was the second highest season record (record was
3,644 in 1986).
311 Coopers Hawks is a new season record (previously 271 in 2000).
47 Red-shouldered Hawks was the 5th season high (record was 67 in 2006).
28,790 Broad-winged Hawks was the 2nd season high (record was 32,490 in
2010). On Sept. 18, we had the 2nd highest single-day record of 10,766
(record is 11,783 on 9/16/1986).
294 Kestrels is a new season record (previously 260 in 1986).
26 Merlins is a new season record (previously 23 in 2003).
27 Peregrine Falcons is 4th season high (record is 51 in 2006).
The remaining raptors (NH, NG, RT, GE) all gave healthy season numbers.
Everyone have a great winter, spring and summer. See you next fall!
Non-raptor Observations:
4 Ravens.
1 Stinkbug!
Predictions:
Rain
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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
