Snickers Gap Hawkwatch
Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 26, 2004
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 0 2 282
Bald Eagle 3 31 175
Northern Harrier 1 43 156
Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 77 1697
Cooper's Hawk 1 35 407
Northern Goshawk 0 1 10
Red-shouldered Hawk 2 64 177
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 3701
Red-tailed Hawk 0 766 1651
Rough-legged Hawk 0 1 1
Golden Eagle 0 13 19
American Kestrel 0 1 88
Merlin 0 1 24
Peregrine Falcon 0 2 32
Unknown 0 12 84
Total: 7 1049 8504
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Observation start time: 09:00:00
Observation end time: 15:00:00
Total observation time: 6 hours
Official Counter: Ian Topolsky
Observers:
Visitors:
A friendly and familiar face to Snickers, Bill "the Budd truck guy"
McCarthy. He flat-out insisted on paying me 20 dollars (or bones or clams,
to use the parliance of our times) to help him load/unload his car into
the tractor-trailer he keeps parked in the lot (discretely, when
possible).
For 10 minutes I was making $120 an hour.
If only I could find 5 or 6 well-timed, 10min/$20 jobs on a daily basis
(maybe even in the same hour), hmmm...
Weather:
All in all a beautiful day in the neighborhood as I pulled up this
morning, crop full.
Winds were still pretty much out of the NW, though considerably lighter
than yesterday (1-2 Beaufort). Blank blue skies gradually gave way to some
great cloudcover as the day progressed. Temp 35-43F.
Observations:
Not a whole lot in the way of raptors today. It's just that time...
Bald Eagles- 3 adult birds, two came together and were interrogated by 3
local adult Balds as they slid through. 5 adult birds in the sky at once
was a bit of a treat.
Loons. Love seeing a push of the frantic-looking buggers. They made my
day. 168 total, scattered all about the sky from 12:30 on. 160 Canada
Geese.
Still no swans, maybe tomorrow.
Also:
Though she's just recently taken to appearing in the blackened crust of
grilled-cheese sandwiches worth $28,000, the Virgin Mary is on view
free-of-charge at Snickers annually, as soon as the leaves start to fall.
It might just be a well-placed stone figure amongst the rock
outcroppings of the NW ridge (behind this one house), but what do I know?
There's a particularly gorgeuous halo around a full moon here in
Hamilton tonight...
Predictions:
She's gonna be a cold one one tonight...
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Report submitted by Ian Topolsky (ict_earth@xxxxxxxxx)
Snickers Gap Hawkwatch was established in 1990. It is located in
northern Virginia, on the Clarke and Loudoun County line. It is reached
by taking VA Route 7 to the county line, which runs atop the ridge at
Snickers Gap. On the south side of Route 7 is a commuter parking lot.
The count is conducted from there. It is a volunteer site, and is counted
in fall only, from late August until late November or early December.
There are no facilities at the site, so bring a snack, drinks, and a
chair. Many of the birds can be distant, and a scope is helpful.
As a volunteer site, we are always looking to increase our pool of
counters. We are eager to train those who have never counted, but are
skilled with hawk identification. We are also willing to pair
inexperienced observers with experienced counters. Please contact the
compiler, Todd Day, at blkvulture@xxxxxxx with any questions or if you are
interested in participating in the count.
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