Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch
Waynesboro, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 18, 2020
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 10 118 185
Bald Eagle 14 94 160
Northern Harrier 1 9 15
Sharp-shinned Hawk 48 78 86
Cooper's Hawk 9 24 37
Northern Goshawk 1 1 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 6 14
Broad-winged Hawk 1870 10356 10611
Red-tailed Hawk 12 67 115
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 1 1 1
American Kestrel 19 59 75
Merlin 11 16 18
Peregrine Falcon 2 3 3
Unknown Accipiter 2 4 5
Unknown Buteo 1 4 4
Unknown Falcon 0 1 1
Unknown Eagle 0 1 1
Unknown Raptor 1 2 6
Mississippi Kite 0 2 3
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1
Total: 2002 10846 11342
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Observation start time: 07:15:00
Observation end time: 18:00:00
Total observation time: 10.75 hours
Official Counter: Brenda Tekin, Gabriel Mapel, Vic Laubach
Observers: Betty Mooney, Brenda Tekin, Cole Burrell, Dave Fischer,
Dave Hunter, Gabriel Mapel, Janet Paisley, Jennifer Jowdy,
Josh Laubach, Nelson Lewis, Rose Thomas,
Shannon and Chris Updike, Vic Laubach
Visitors:
Lots of visitors today including Lois and Bill Kaufman, David and Karolyn
Simmons (Chicago, IL), Sarah/Seth/Bo Raffihan, Penny Warren, Nancy Gray
(Lynchburg), Joan Manhorn, Rich Wood, Bill and Sharon Hall (Charleston,
WV), Daniel Mapel, Randy Cline, Ben Pumphrey and family, Erin Campbell, Sue
and Jim Conlon. Sorry for any misspellings and to any folks whose names we
didn't get a chance to record.
Weather:
Rockfish Gap was socked in with heavy fog all morning so the first several
hours of the count were conducted from the alternate site at Constitution
Park in Waynesboro. Finally the gap cleared around 11am and gave way to a
good sky with mix of sun and clouds. Strong W winds early gradually
shifting to lighter NE winds. 15.5-28C temps. Very hazy today, worsening
throughout the afternoon, which I believe is actually smoke from the
western wildfires.
Raptor Observations:
A very fun day with a great flight of raptors shaken loose by the strong
winds! We had an excellent variety of raptors today with 12 species. The
two big highlights were both uncommon, first-of-season species: an immature
Golden Eagle distant to the west, and an unaged Northern Goshawk that
passed nearly directly overhead at 2:14pm.
A decent Broad-wing flight, nearly entirely on the west side of the gap but
with a few overhead kettles as well. Hourly BW Counts: 9 (7:15-8), 304
(8-9), 715 (9-10), 107 (10-11), 64 (11-12), 17 (12-1), 275 (1-2), 248
(2-3), 79 (3-4), 22 (4-5), 30 (5-6).
We finally had our first decent Sharp-shinned flight of the season with
nearly 50, and an excellent Falcon day with 19 Kestrels, 11 Merlins, and 2
Peregrines (one adult and one immature). The count of 11 Merlins is the
second highest single day count in the history of our hawk watch (second
only to 21 on 9/18/18, and beating 10 on 10/15/05).
Another good Bald Eagle day with 14 (one 1st-YR, three 2nd-YR, one 3rd-YR,
two 4th-YR, and 7 adult). First Raptor: 7:12 BE, Last Raptor: 5:42 AK.
Non-raptor Observations:
35 Chimney Swifts, 14 Hummingbirds, a group of 10 Double-crested
Cormorants, 43 Canada Geese, a flock of 11 unidentified medium-size gulls,
4 Great Blue Herons, 22 Red-headed Woodpeckers, 150 Tree Swallows, 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet, 1 Red-breasted Nuthatch, 6 Red-winged Blackbirds,
1,850 Common Grackles, warblers (Ovenbird, Tennessee, Bay-breasted, Cape
May), 2 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, and 47 Monarch Butterflies (thanks to
Penny Warren and Shannon Updike for their help counting Monarchs today!).
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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
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