Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch
Waynesboro, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Aug 17, 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 4 9 9
Bald Eagle 0 0 0
Northern Harrier 0 0 0
Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 2 2
Cooper's Hawk 0 1 1
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 1 3 3
Broad-winged Hawk 8 30 30
Red-tailed Hawk 1 3 3
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 0 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: 14 49 49
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Observation start time: 07:45:00
Observation end time: 15:00:00
Total observation time: 7.25 hours
Official Counter: Gabriel Mapel
Observers:
Visitors:
John McGee, Mary Mapel
Weather:
Moderate W Wind until 10:00am EST, gradually decreasing to mild southerly
breezes in the afternoon. Another warm day (22.0-28.7C). No clouds early
making for tough spotting, but we finally got some clouds (25-30% cloud
cover) in the afternoon. Fairly clear early, but haze in the Shenandoah
Valley to west for most of the day.
Raptor Observations:
The day started out hopeful with the first bird of the day, an imm
Red-shouldered Hawk that gave a nice flyby while being chased by Crows at
8:18am. It was followed shortly thereafter by the first Broad-wing of the
day but then no more raptors for the next 2 hours.
Things finally picked up around noon for a slow but steady showing of
Broad-wings for a couple of hours as well as 4 Osprey and a Red-tail. The
last bird of the day was a BW at 2:19pm and then everything died off, and
even the Vultures abandoned the skies.
Non-raptor Observations:
50+ Chimney Swifts, 4 Hummingbirds, 1 Red-eyed Vireo, 8 Ravens, 9 Waxwings,
1 Scarlet Tanager, 12 Indigo Buntings. 3 Monarch Butterflies.
Predictions:
More clouds, cooler temps, thunderstorms in the afternoon.
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Report submitted by Gabriel Mapel (birdmangabriel@xxxxxxxxx)
Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch information may be found at:
http://www.rockfishgaphawkwatch.org
