Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch
Waynesboro, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 16, 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 0 227
Bald Eagle 9 36 257
Northern Harrier 0 5 45
Sharp-shinned Hawk 3 60 978
Cooper's Hawk 2 19 237
Northern Goshawk 0 2 7
Red-shouldered Hawk 5 59 96
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 22341
Red-tailed Hawk 37 163 335
Rough-legged Hawk 0 1 2
Golden Eagle 3 17 27
American Kestrel 0 1 120
Merlin 2 4 52
Peregrine Falcon 0 0 34
Unknown Accipiter 0 3 20
Unknown Buteo 0 0 13
Unknown Falcon 0 0 2
Unknown Eagle 0 0 1
Unknown Raptor 1 4 26
Mississippi Kite 0 0 3
Total: 62 374 24823
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Observation start time: 07:30:00
Observation end time: 16:30:00
Total observation time: 9 hours
Official Counter: Gabriel Mapel
Observers:
Visitors:
Jennifer Jowdy (happy birthday!), Dave Sharp & Judy Stepenaskie
(Philadelphia, PA), and Lois McKim (I'm glad you got to see your life bird
Golden Eagle today!)
Weather:
Fairly strong and gusty WNW Winds, 6.7-10.7C, a difficult blue sky (0-5%
cloud cover), clear visibility.
Raptor Observations:
Another very good day with a great Eagle flight. Nine Bald Eagles: six
adults (11:01, 11:35, 12:30, 1:04, 1:43, 1:43), and three immatures (11:15
2nd-YR, 11:51 3rd-YR, and 12:30 unaged immature). Three juvenile Golden
Eagles (12:03, 12:06, 1:57). At 3:44pm a Merlin appeared over "Rockpile
#3" to our north and shot fast and low down the west side of the gap
disappearing to the south past the "plateau". This was our 51st Merlin of
the season, tying last year's season record. Just seconds later Jennifer
spotted another fast flying raptor over "Rockpile #3", and this bird flew
straight towards us, and down the east side of the gap low and close. This
was another Merlin, #52 of the season, for a new season record! First
Raptor: 8:36 RT, Last Raptor: 4:04 SS.
Non-raptor Observations:
1 late season Monarch Butterfly. 186 Fish Crows, 170 Robins, 515 Waxwings,
171 RW Blackbirds, 1 Rusty Blackbird, 40 Grackles.
Predictions:
Cool, sunny, SW 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
More site information at hawkcount.org:
http://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=491
