Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch
Waynesboro, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 23, 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 1 1 348
Bald Eagle 2 24 175
Northern Harrier 1 13 66
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 91 2336
Cooper's Hawk 1 15 312
Northern Goshawk 0 0 2
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 35 47
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 28790
Red-tailed Hawk 50 376 558
Rough-legged Hawk 1 1 1
Golden Eagle 1 4 6
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: 58 564 33002
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Observation start time: 10:00:00
Observation end time: 14:30:00
Total observation time: 4.5 hours
Official Counter: Vic Laubach
Observers: William Leigh
Visitors:
Buzz Van Santvoord (Orange County, VA)
Weather:
WINDY! There was a wind advisory until 10pm tonight. 20-25mph WNW winds
with gusts up to 50mph. Tripods were nearly blowing over, difficult to walk
into the wind, and most annoying was that it was difficult to hold
binoculars and scopes steady! Fortunately, the temperature wasn't too cold
(50-59F). Mostly cloudy all day with some slices of blue sky, becoming
mostly dark overcast by 1:30pm. Clear visibility.
Raptor Observations:
Well, the strong NW cold front pushing through today was too tempting to
resist! I had to come up and see what was flying, and there was quite a
show indeed! I'm so glad I had the day off! Buzz Van Santvoord (from Orange
County, VA) had the same idea as me and visited during the morning. Buzz &
I saw Red-tailed Hawks, an adult Bald Eagle at 10:30am, a Sharp-shinned
Hawk, and a Northern Harrier. Even the Bald Eagle was being tossed around
in the high winds! The highlight of the morning was a very late Osprey that
flew right through the gap. This breaks the record for the latest Osprey
sighting at the hawk watch (previous late date was 11/10/99).
Soon after Buzz left, William Leigh showed up for the afternoon and the
birds kept blowing through ... more Red-tailed Hawks, a Coopers Hawk,
another Bald Eagle (juvenile at 1:05pm) and an immature Golden Eagle
(1:20pm), which flew right over our heads. The highlight of the afternoon,
and of the season, was a Rough-legged Hawk which flew by right over our
heads at 1:53pm. I don't know when the last RL was seen here, but it was
before 2002.
For so late in the season, 8 different raptor species was quite a treat!
Note: although the unofficial end-date of the hawk watch was Nov. 20, the
birds don't stop flying! We still try to cover the watch if able,
especially on days like today with a big weather change.
Non-raptor Observations:
Something I've never seen before except on TV occurred right over our heads
this morning. Two big jumbo jets were flying low and very close to one
another (one was immedately below the other one). Through the binoculars, I
discovered that the bottom jet was being fueled in mid-air by the upper
jet. They couldn't have been more than 50 feet apart!
Two groups of ravens today, one with 9 birds and one with 8 birds. I don't
know if they were the same group or not though. Lots of Black and Turkey
Vultures.
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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
