Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch
Waynesboro, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 23, 2020
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 6 145 212
Bald Eagle 5 170 236
Northern Harrier 2 16 22
Sharp-shinned Hawk 65 394 402
Cooper's Hawk 22 77 90
Northern Goshawk 0 1 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 3 15 23
Broad-winged Hawk 48 29253 29508
Red-tailed Hawk 3 96 144
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 3 3
American Kestrel 6 92 108
Merlin 1 21 23
Peregrine Falcon 2 14 14
Unknown Accipiter 0 4 5
Unknown Buteo 1 5 5
Unknown Falcon 0 4 4
Unknown Eagle 0 1 1
Unknown Raptor 1 11 15
Mississippi Kite 0 2 3
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1
Total: 165 30324 30820
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Observation start time: 07:30:00
Observation end time: 16:30:00
Total observation time: 9 hours
Official Counter: Gabriel Mapel
Observers: Janet Paisley, Jennifer Jowdy, Rose Thomas, Vic Laubach
Visitors:
Penny Warren, Ann Cline, Gretchen and Jim Lynn (Buckhannon, WV), Tom
Merica, Jim and Claire Hostetter (Great Falls, VA), Alison and Philip
Harway, Judy and Dennis Ruhl (Warrenton, VA), Mary and George Wickham
(Richmond, VA), Marc Desolminhiac (Norfolk, VA), Judy and William Martin
(Richmond, VA), a group of 8 from the Cardinal Newman Academy (Richmond,
VA), Daniel Mapel, Buddy Leffers, Meriwether Payne and Susan Harris
(Oyster, VA).
Weather:
A nice day with 9-22C temperature range. Strong WNW Winds this morning
then light SW winds this afternoon. We had yet another tough, all blue sky
this morning but thankfully we had nice clouds this afternoon (90% cloud
cover by end of count).
Raptor Observations:
Fairly slow overall with an extremely slow start, but 10:30-2:30 was pretty
fun with a steady flow of raptors. Excellent diversity with 11 species and
decent numbers of many of them. We were hopeful for a good Broad-wing
flight but it didn't materialize with the largest group consisting of only
five.
A decent Kestrel flight and two adult Peregrines (10:55 and 12:28). A
late-day Merlin sealed the three-falcon day. The Merlin put on quite a
show for several minutes, briefly chasing Chimney Swifts around the sky in
front of us, and then circling quite high in a thermal before powering off
to the south.
Five more Bald Eagles (four adults and one 3rd-YR), a couple of which came
across the gap low and close. Two Harriers (10:41 adult female and 3:28
immature). First Raptor: 8:23 SS, Last Raptor: 4:10 SS.
Non-raptor Observations:
Lots of bird movement today including 1 Common Nighthawk, 80 Chimney
Swifts, 4 Hummingbirds, 1 Great Blue Heron, 3 Red-headed Woodpeckers, 13
Flickers, 365 Blue Jays, 24 Tree Swallows, 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet, 7
Red-breasted Nuthatches, 2 Field Sparrows, warblers (those identified
included Worm-eating, Cape May, Magnolia, BT Blue, BT Green), 2 Scarlet
Tanagers, and 1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak. 52 Monarch Butterflies.
========================================================================
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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