Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch
Waynesboro, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 17, 2010
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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 6 94 114
Bald Eagle 4 49 62
Northern Harrier 0 13 15
Sharp-shinned Hawk 55 203 219
Cooper's Hawk 4 27 31
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 1 1
Broad-winged Hawk 904 6498 6550
Red-tailed Hawk 2 29 38
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 1 1
American Kestrel 5 82 87
Merlin 0 2 2
Peregrine Falcon 0 2 2
Unknown Accipiter 1 1 2
Unknown Buteo 0 3 3
Unknown Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 4 7
Total: 981 7009 7134
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Observation start time: 07:00:00
Observation end time: 17:00:00
Total observation time: 10 hours
Official Counter: Vic Laubach
Observers: Dave Hunter, Gordy Adamski
Visitors:
Lysanne Taylor, Bill Gallagher, Lois Gebhardt, Dudley Rochester, Tom Lord,
Diane Lepkowski, Robert Plank, Marshall Faintich, Peter Clark, Penny
Warren, Alice Davis, Marylynn Gillaspie, Pete Nebel, Pat & Frank Wilczek,
John & Carol Flora, Heidi Kroft & Paul Nasca (from Fredricksburg), Janet
Paisley, Gabriel Mapel and his father, Daniel, Dan Perkuchin
Weather:
Warm with mostly overcast skies until 12noon. By 1pm almost all clouds
disappeared leaving us with lots of clear, blue sky to scan. Temp.
20.0-22.5C. Moderate NW winds, decreasing a bit by 2pm and becoming calm by
4pm.
Raptor Observations:
Another great day for Broad-Winged Hawks! The morning was quit busy with
big lift-offs of BW Hawks which milled around low and gathered into kettles
before streaming southward. Once the clouds disappeared, so did the BW
Hawks. A fair number of BW Hawks were spotted VERY high in the sky and
could only be seen when crossing what few clouds there were. Once they
moved beyond the clouds they disappeared into the blue sky. Thus, we
suspect that many of the BW Hawks passed overhead uncounted due to their
extreme height. The hourly BW count is as follows: 2 (7-8am), 111 (8-9am),
209 (9-10am), 160 (10-11am), 150 (11am-12pm), 6 (12-1pm), 54 (1-2pm), 68
(2-3pm), 114 (3-4pm), 30 (4-5pm).
Most of the Sharp-Shinned Hawks flew over in the morning. Six more Osprey
today and 4 more Bald Eagles: a pair of immatures (11:41 & 11:43am), 1
adult (3:36pm), and 1 juvenile (4:01pm).
Non-raptor Observations:
8 Ravens. Many Chimney Swifts. 1 Pileated Woodpecker. 2 Flickers. 4
Hummingbirds. >450 Monarchs. The Vultures were up and flying early before
7am.
Predictions:
Sunny and warm again.
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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
