Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch
Waynesboro, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 17, 2018
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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 2 39 72
Bald Eagle 5 20 27
Northern Harrier 0 6 7
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 3 6
Cooper's Hawk 0 4 9
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 2 7
Broad-winged Hawk 2 155 281
Red-tailed Hawk 0 15 29
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 0 9 16
Merlin 5 6 6
Peregrine Falcon 1 2 2
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0
Unknown Buteo 0 1 2
Unknown Falcon 0 1 1
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 4 7
Mississippi Kite 0 4 5
Total: 16 271 477
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Observation start time: 14:00:00
Observation end time: 16:30:00
Total observation time: 2.5 hours
Official Counter: Vic Laubach
Observers: Gabriel Mapel, John Rowlett
Visitors:
Bill Nettlehorst
Weather:
Heavy rain during the night and morning with strong, gusty SSE winds and
fog. Localized flooding. The weather broke in afternoon where the rains
stopped and fog slowly lifted. Moderate SE winds. Temps 25.2-30.1C. 75-100%
cloud cover. Visibility was very poor at Rockfish Gap with dense fog so the
2-3pm count was conducted at the secondary site at Constitution Park in
Waynesboro. The Gap then cleared and the count was continued there from
3-4pm, but then dark, low clouds and dense fog moved in quickly from the
east. The 4-4:30pm count was then conducted back down at Constitution Park.
Raptor Observations:
5 Merlins today along with 5 Bald Eagles (all adult) at 2:00, 2:40, 2:42,
2:46, 4:20. An adult Peregrine at 3:30.
Non-raptor Observations:
104 Monarchs, 4 Common Nighthawks, 1 DC Cormorant, lots of Chimney Swifts
and Tree Swallows.
Predictions:
Intervals of clouds and sun, a couple of showers; humid
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Report submitted by Vic Laubach (laubach@xxxxxxxxxxxx)
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