Snickers Gap
20 Miles West of Leesburg, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 18, 2008
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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 7 52 54
Bald Eagle 11 39 39
Northern Harrier 1 10 10
Sharp-shinned Hawk 42 145 146
Cooper's Hawk 10 37 37
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 2 16 17
Broad-winged Hawk 1889 3561 3566
Red-tailed Hawk 6 50 54
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 1 1
American Kestrel 3 30 31
Merlin 0 6 6
Peregrine Falcon 0 1 1
Unknown Accipiter 1 3 3
Unknown Buteo 0 2 2
Unknown Falcon 0 2 2
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 4 4
Total: 1972 3959 3973
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Observation start time: 09:00:00
Observation end time: 16:45:00
Total observation time: 7.75 hours
Official Counter: Mike Reyman
Observers: BJ Little, Ian Topolsky, Joan Boudreau, William Leigh
Visitors:
Bill Davis, Duane Shilling, Harry Gerkin. Several couples and individuals
stopped by on way to AT access trail.
Weather:
Cloudless skies until 13:00 EST, then Cumulus at 35 to 50% cloud cover
until 15:00, falling to 5% cloud cover by 16:00. Temperature from 16 in
morning to 24 at 14:00. Barometer steady at 30.20 and humidity from 72% at
9:00 to 53% at 15:00. Winds from West most of morning, switching to North,
then North East by 14:00
Raptor Observations:
Sizable Broad-winged kettles at last with largest kettles at 273 (11:38),
218 (16:05), 215 (11:47), 211 (15:55), and 192 (12:15).
Bald Eagles:
7 Adults at 11:25, 12:05, 12:07, 13:44, 13:51, 13:56 and 15:03;
3 Sub-Adults at 11:53, 13:56, 15:43
1 Juvenile at 13:44
Non-raptor Observations:
Neither the sky or wind direction in the morning looked favorable for a
good count. However the Broad-wings found the low eastern ridge to their
liking today, and most of the large kettles were found very low down the
gap to the east.
Great Blue Heron at 11:40 and Common Loon at 15:21.
Good numbers of Blue Jays and Monarch Butterflies but not counted.
Predictions:
East Winds, hopefully.
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Report submitted by Mike Reyman (dreyman@xxxxxx)
