Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch
Waynesboro, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 02, 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 41 51 291
Bald Eagle 5 9 95
Northern Harrier 1 1 22
Sharp-shinned Hawk 18 67 657
Cooper's Hawk 2 12 99
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 1
Broad-winged Hawk 17 23 28733
Red-tailed Hawk 3 12 41
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 1 1
American Kestrel 7 13 198
Merlin 0 0 10
Peregrine Falcon 4 4 22
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 2
Unknown Buteo 0 0 4
Unknown Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 0 0
Total: 98 193 30176
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Observation start time: 09:30:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 6.5 hours
Official Counter: Vic Laubach
Observers: Pete Nebel, Rose Thomas
Visitors:
Shawn Johnson and the Crozet Pack 79 Cub Scouts came by for a visit.
Weather:
Dark overcast day with tiny blue slices of sky showing once in a while.
Strong NW 24-30 mph winds all day. Clear visibility of >25km. Chilly temps
52-55F. Started raining at 4pm.
Raptor Observations:
This was a day for the "Big Birds" ... big falcons, big buteos, big
Accipiters, Osprey and Eagles! The strong NW winds were blowing them
through in a constant flow! Almost every bird was first spotted low over
the ridge to the north, which then gained a little height before streaming
south to the east side of the mountain riding the winds. One exception was
the eagles, which all rose over the ridge and proceeded down the west side
of the mountain. Those eagles don't seem to care which way the wind is
blowing or how hard, they just go wherever they darn well please!
With 41 Osprey, we almost broke the single day record of 45 on 9/19/09.
There was a group of 6 Osprey in the morning.
4 Peregrine Falcons, 3 Red-tailed Hawks and a Northern Harrier made up the
big falcons and buteos.
5 Bald Eagles: adult at 9:55am, 3 immatures in single file at 1:42pm, and
another immature at 3:45pm.
Non-raptor Observations:
Lots of Chimney Swifts.
One group of ~25 Tree Swallows.
A flock of 45 DC Cormorants headed southeast over the ridge.
1 Canada Goose.
Predictions:
High 54F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
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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
