Harvey's Knob
Roanoke, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 10, 2017
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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 0 0 92
Bald Eagle 3 7 126
Northern Harrier 0 0 19
Sharp-shinned Hawk 8 14 237
Cooper's Hawk 2 5 100
Northern Goshawk 0 0 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 4 4 19
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 7665
Red-tailed Hawk 55 66 230
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 0 0 70
Merlin 0 0 12
Peregrine Falcon 0 0 15
Unknown Accipiter 0 1 5
Unknown Buteo 0 0 3
Unknown Falcon 1 1 3
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 1 8
Total: 73 99 8605
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Observation start time: 09:30:00
Observation end time: 15:45:00
Total observation time: 6.25 hours
Official Counter: Mitch Mitchell
Observers: Bill James, Dan DeHart, Dave Brunstetter, Don A.
Visitors:
Not a lot of folks stopping and very few inquiries. They may have thought
anyone crazy enough to sit out in the cold and stiff wind may be a bit
unbalanced.
Weather:
Clear and sunny with very little cloud cover throughout the day.
Temperature started at 37F and only got as high as 42 but winds ranging
from 7 to 15 mph from the northwest made if feel much colder. Visibility
was a 4 for the first couple of hours before clearing to a 5 the rest of
the day.
Raptor Observations:
With rainy weather basically every day since last Friday's count and
today's conditions favorable for birds we had a very good day with 73 total
counted. There were three eagles counted with an adult at 9:55, immature
at 11:18 and another adult at 2:00. We spotted a pair of adult eagles at
11:25 out over the western valley and thought they would head north after
steadily gaining altitude but they turned northward instead. We watched the
eastern side of the overlook but did not see the pair again.
Non-raptor Observations:
There was a large group of unidentified non-raptors that crossed from the
western valley to the east around midday, possibly starlings. Usual
TV/BV/Raven activity.
Parkway traffic was still fairly heavy with leaf peepers and the color on
the trip up the mountain was pretty nice. Most of the leaves on the trees
around the knob have already turned and dropped off.
Predictions:
Although tomorrow's high is predicted to be in the same range as today the
overnight low is supposed to be much lower than last night. Winds should
be lighter and from an easterly direction.
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Report submitted by stan Mitchell (mitchmitchell7@xxxxxxxxxxx)
Harvey's Knob information may be found at:
http://bijame.googlepages.com/home
More site information at hawkcount.org:
http://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=482
