Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch
Waynesboro, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 20, 2020
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 2 128 195
Bald Eagle 22 143 209
Northern Harrier 2 13 19
Sharp-shinned Hawk 66 192 200
Cooper's Hawk 5 42 55
Northern Goshawk 0 1 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 2 10 18
Broad-winged Hawk 8130 27548 27803
Red-tailed Hawk 5 79 127
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 3 3
American Kestrel 2 80 96
Merlin 1 20 22
Peregrine Falcon 1 5 5
Unknown Accipiter 0 4 5
Unknown Buteo 0 4 4
Unknown Falcon 1 3 3
Unknown Eagle 0 1 1
Unknown Raptor 1 5 9
Mississippi Kite 0 2 3
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1
Total: 8240 28283 28779
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Observation start time: 07:00:00
Observation end time: 17:30:00
Total observation time: 10.5 hours
Official Counter: Vic Laubach
Observers: Allen Larner, Baxter Beamer, Brenda Tekin, Dave Fischer,
Dave Hunter, Janet Paisley, Josh Laubach
Visitors:
Lots of visitors again today including: Mark Johnson, Lois McKim, Penny
Warren, Martina Nurdstrand, group of 20 from the Earthsong Montessori
School, Kelly and Mike Dooley (Roanoke, VA), Ira Lianez, Randy Cline,
William White, Lois Kauffman, Nate Miller, Buddy Leffers, Dave and Andi
Nealon, Nick and Akemi Stone, Leah and Fred Jung, Ruth Weaver plus 8,
Nelson Lewis, Grayson Harlow.
Weather:
Cloudless, clear blue skies all day. Very cold start to the day with 2-19C
temp range. Moderate W winds early changing to NE at 11am and E at 2pm.
Good visibility.
Raptor Observations:
We had a pretty awesome Broad-wing lift-off this morning on the west side
of the gap. As we were watching low Broad-wings gathering above the trees,
we noticed an incredible sight: in the forest trees low on the west side of
the gap, facing the sunrise to the east, we counted up to 70 Broad-wing
Hawks perched in the open parts of the tree branches facing into the sun
with the sun illuminating the fronts of each bird; making them look like
scattered Christmas ornaments on the trees! Apparently they were warming up
in the sun before lift-off. We watched as the birds slowly and randomly
lifted off from their perches and gain height as they joined higher-up
kettles. Over the next hour we watched 2,691 Broad-wings gather into many
kettles to the west (some quite distant) and move southward. Hourly BW
count: 2 (7-8), 2691 (8-9), 1346 (9-10), 256 (10-11), 146 (11-12), 1308
(12-1), 102 (1-2), 530 (2-3), 1114 (3-4), 620 (4-5), 15 (5-5:30). Several
distant large kettles were counted out to the east in middle of the day,
and the last 1.5 hours brought waves of birds overhead. 22 Bald Eagles (17
adult, 5 immature).
Non-raptor Observations:
50 Monarchs, 22 Chimney Swift, 8 hummingbird, 5 Red-headed Woodpecker, 55
Tree Swallow, 48 Blue Jay, 60 Cedar Waxwing, 95 Common Grackle, 1
Blackburnian Warbler, 1 Black-throated Blue Warbler
Predictions:
Very chilly and more blue sky!
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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
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