Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch
Waynesboro, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 21, 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 9 129 178
Bald Eagle 2 132 141
Northern Harrier 3 14 16
Sharp-shinned Hawk 44 264 272
Cooper's Hawk 18 90 102
Northern Goshawk 1 1 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 2 16 19
Broad-winged Hawk 2061 20538 20636
Red-tailed Hawk 2 38 55
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 2 2
American Kestrel 9 76 79
Merlin 3 23 23
Peregrine Falcon 2 6 7
Unknown Accipiter 3 9 9
Unknown Buteo 0 1 6
Unknown Falcon 1 2 2
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 1 7 11
Mississippi Kite 0 2 3
Total: 2161 21350 21562
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Observation start time: 06:45:00
Observation end time: 17:00:00
Total observation time: 10.25 hours
Official Counter: Gabriel Mapel
Observers: Baxter Beamer, Brenda Tekin, Rose Thomas, Vic Laubach
Visitors:
Mary Mapel, Lois Kauffman, David White, Dave Fischer (Cary, NC), Bob Letts,
Lois McKim, Bob & Anne Beckley (Williamsburg), group of 11 from the
Montgomery County, WV Parks & Rec staff, Bill Miller (Laurel Hill, NC),
Jennifer Jowdy, Kim Bolyard with two groups (13 & 11) from the Bridgewater
College Ecology Class, Marshall Faintich, Elizabeth Hunter (Bakersville,
NC), Chris Murray (all the way from Saipan in the Northern Mariana
Islands!), Maggie & Loretta McCray.
Weather:
A nice but warm (18.1-27.0C) day. Moderate WNW Winds until 1pm with light
ESE Breezes thereafter. A great sky with a mix of sun and clouds for most
of the day. Moderate visibility with thick haze in the distance clearing
up a little bit this afternoon.
Raptor Observations:
Another very respectable BW flight this morning but boy oh boy we had to
work for those birds. From 9-10 we watched a lot of kettling, streaming,
kettling, streaming action DISTANT over the Shenandoah Valley to the west.
The thick haze certainly didn't help, and more than once we had groups
become completely invisible once on edge after streaming out of a kettle.
By 10:30 the flight path had shifted to a flight path on the east side of
the gap not too far out but those birds certainly were high up and hard to
see. Thank gosh for clouds or we wouldn't have seen them at all. Hourly
BW Count: 0 (6:45-8), 4 (8-9), 683 (9-10), 484 (10-11), 729 (11-12), 82
(12-1), 6 (1-2), 14 (2-3), 43 (3-4), 16 (4-5).
This afternoon the Broad-wing flight was much slower but the action was
just as fun with many different raptor species flying over all across the
sky, most very high up. The highlight of the day was the first Northern
Goshawk of the season, a stunning adult, providing good views as it flew
across the gap at 2:54pm. The NG was raptor species #12 of the day tying
our all-time single-day record for number of raptor species in one day. We
all searched high and low for a Golden Eagle or Mississippi Kite to take us
to that elusive #13 but it just never happened.
IMM NH 8:20, unaged NH 10:27 and 1:30, adult PG 10:54 and 1:30, unaged ML
11:20, 11:52, and 3:31, adult BE 1:57 and 4:02. First Raptor: 7:02 OS,
Last Raptor: 4:25 BW.
Non-raptor Observations:
Another good non-raptor day. Highlights included: 8 Canada Geese, 1 Great
Blue Heron, 173 Chimney Swifts, 7 Hummingbirds, 9 Red-headed Woodpeckers,
31 Flickers, 1 E. Phoebe, 39 Blue Jays, 69 Waxwings, warblers (many
unidentified plus 1 Black-and-white, 1 C. Yellowthroat, 1 Cape May, 1
Magnolia, 1 Blackburnian, 3 BT Blue, 2 BT Green), 4 Scarlet Tanagers, 2 RB
Grosbeaks, and 159 Monarch Butterflies.
Predictions:
Warm and sunny again.
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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
