Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch
Waynesboro, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 13, 2020
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 23 91 158
Bald Eagle 6 50 116
Northern Harrier 3 5 11
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 11 19
Cooper's Hawk 1 9 22
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 1 2 10
Broad-winged Hawk 93 298 553
Red-tailed Hawk 3 43 91
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 8 28 44
Merlin 2 3 5
Peregrine Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 1
Unknown Buteo 0 2 2
Unknown Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 1 5
Mississippi Kite 0 2 3
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1
Total: 141 545 1041
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Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 8 hours
Official Counter: Brenda Tekin
Observers: Dave Hunter, Shannon and Chris Updike, Vic Laubach
Visitors:
More visitors today including Tim Burnett, visiting for first time, Jill
Hunter, Dave Hogg, Ron Kingston, and Eric and Susan Bodin.
Weather:
Light rain and dense fog carried over from yesterday into the night with
rain moving out but a long dense blanket of fog draped over top of the
ridge most of the morning so first two hours were conducted from alternate
site. Light southerly breeze most of the day shifting to more SE by late
afternoon. From alternate site it was bright clear sky except for the fog
bank and clouds drifting in from the WNW becoming mostly cloudy with fog by
2nd hour. Most of the clouds eventually moved out and diminishing wind.
Raptor Observations:
First bird of the day was a Kestrel that flew low over South River heading
southward. Birds trickled in and out throughout the day, enough to keep
us busy scanning the sky in all directions as they were out to the east, to
the north and out over the western valley.
Another decent showing of Osprey with 23 and 84 Broad-wing that included a
few small groups of 5-7 birds and finally, our first "kettle" of 19 birds,
far out to the NW near the town of Verona, settling with a large group of
vultures.
Chris and Shannon Upike and Vic reported seeing a Merlin taking out a
starling and landing in snag to dine on breakfast. We could use a lot more
Merlin!
Six Bald Eagles, two first years, one fourth year and 3 adults.
Non-raptor Observations:
The sky was full of Chimney Swift and Tree Swallow, sometimes moving moving
in large numbers so today was a conservative count of at least 522 Tree
Small and 2,468 Chimney Swiff.
Other sightings included 22 Ruby-throated Hummingbird, 19 Red-headed
Woodpecker, 2 Rose-breasted Grosbeak, 1 Blue-winged Warbler, 3 Common
Yellowthroat, 1 American Redstart, 2 Magnolia Warbler, 1 Yellow Warbler, 1
Yellow-billed Cuckoo, 1 White-eyed Vireo and 7 Monarch Butterfly
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Report submitted by Brenda Tekin (brenda@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)
Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch information may be found at:
http://www.rockfishgaphawkwatch.org
More site information at hawkcount.org:
http://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=491
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