Hi All,
Early this morning fellow bird club member David Raines and I drove out to a
new potential hawk watching site near Peapatch, VA about 10 miles east of my
place here on Compton Mt. The area is at 2700 feet elevation and has nearly 180
degrees of open view to the north. We just recently found the spot.
We arrived about 8:45 but the viewing area was fogged in. While we waited for
the fog to lift we heard and saw several bird species including our first of
the season Dark-eyed Junco, a Vesper Sparrow, Eastern Meadowlarks, Northern
Flickers, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, a Tennessee Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warblers, a
Common Raven and 12 Wild Turkeys.
About 10:30 after the fog lifted we began seeing accipiters rising on thermals
out of the valley. We saw the following raptors:
Cooper's Hawk 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk 5
Unidentified Accipiters 5 ( Just too far away)
American Kestrel 2
A male Northern Harrier 1
All of these raptors were seen between 10:30 and 12:00 when we had to leave
because of other obligations, but the place does show promise. Too bad we
didn't find this spot before the Broad-wing migration in September.
Roger Mayhorn
Compton Mountain
Buchanan County
