Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch
Waynesboro, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Aug 15, 2015
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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 5 5 5
Bald Eagle 0 0 0
Northern Harrier 0 0 0
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 1 1
Cooper's Hawk 0 0 0
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 2 2 2
Broad-winged Hawk 18 18 18
Red-tailed Hawk 2 2 2
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 1 1 1
Merlin 0 0 0
Peregrine Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0
Unknown Buteo 0 0 0
Unknown Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 0 0
Total: 29 29 29
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Observation start time: 07:30:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 8.5 hours
Official Counter: Gabriel Mapel
Observers: Brenda Tekin, Dave Hunter, Rose Thomas
Visitors:
Mary & Daniel Mapel, and Debbie Hartman with grandsons Chase & Dylan
Emswiler. Dylan, only 4 years old, was birdwatching for his first time and
had his Nikon Binoculars at the ready!
Weather:
Moderate WSW Wind early, gradually decreasing, picking up again in late
afternoon out of the SE. 21.7-30.2 degrees Celsius. A mix of sun/clouds
all day (15-65% cloud cover), a great "spotting sky"! Haze in Shenandoah
Valley to West.
Raptor Observations:
We kicked off our Fall 2015 season today (our 40th season at Rockfish Gap
Hawk Watch)! A pleasant day mountaintop, we had quite a decent day for
raptor movement given that we are this early in the season.
The first bird of the season was a gorgeous immature Broad-winged Hawk
spotted by Rose circling over the parking lot at 8:55am EST. Quite a nice
diversity of raptors for opening day, 6 different species represented
including 5 Osprey, 2 early season Red-shouldered Hawks, and our last bird
of the day, a distant Kestrel off to the west at 3:33pm.
Non-raptor Observations:
A decent flight of non-raptors, especially early. 130 Chimney Swifts
tallied today, plus 8 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (including one that flew
over dive-bombing a Barn Swallow!), 11 Ravens, 1 Tree & 60+ Barn Swallows,
1 Gnatcatcher, 1 Catbird, 2 warblers present in the locust tree early
(Black-throated Blue and Prairie), 8 Indigo Buntings, and 2 Red-winged
Blackbirds.
In addition we had our first Reptile sighting of the season, a Five-lined
Skink!
Predictions:
Sunny, light Southeast wind.
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Report submitted by Gabriel Mapel (birdmangabriel@xxxxxxxxx)
Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch information may be found at:
http://www.rockfishgaphawkwatch.org
