Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch
Waynesboro, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 25, 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 15 127 160
Bald Eagle 2 136 143
Northern Harrier 0 21 22
Sharp-shinned Hawk 7 171 174
Cooper's Hawk 3 42 47
Northern Goshawk 0 1 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 1 6 11
Broad-winged Hawk 164 8137 8263
Red-tailed Hawk 0 33 47
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 2 2
American Kestrel 1 111 118
Merlin 1 39 39
Peregrine Falcon 4 16 16
Unknown Accipiter 0 4 4
Unknown Buteo 0 1 2
Unknown Falcon 0 6 6
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 1 14 17
Mississippi Kite 1 6 7
Total: 200 8873 9079
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Observation start time: 11:15:00
Observation end time: 16:30:00
Total observation time: 5.25 hours
Official Counter: Gabriel Mapel
Observers: Brenda Tekin
Visitors:
Daniel Mapel, Jennifer Jowdy, Jere Bidwell
Weather:
Fog and rain throughout the morning which delayed the start of the count
until the rain clouds dissipated after 11am. Unfortunately, Rockfish Gap
remained socked in with fog until 2:30pm so the first 3.25 hours of the
count were conducted from the alternate site at Constitution Park in
Waynesboro. Low, dark clouds remained along the ridgeline all afternoon.
29.7-21.7C temps and humid. Moderate SE breezes.
Raptor Observations:
Several groups of 15-20 Broad-wings moving through but most were distant
birds out over the valleys picked up in spotting scopes. The highlight
bird of the day was a fast-flying falcon-like raptor with a long tail
distant to the west spotted by Brenda at 3:27pm. We were able to watch the
bird in our spotting scopes all the way across, studying the shape and
flight pattern of the bird to identify a Mississippi Kite, the seventh one
on this record-breaking season!
An adult male Merlin at 12:43 gave a nice, direct flyover as did several of
today's four adult Peregrine Falcons (1:22, 1:25, 1:27, 2:40). Two Bald
Eagles (2:18 3rd-YR and 2:28 unaged immature). First Raptor: 11:29 BW,
Last Raptor: 4:10 AK.
Non-raptor Observations:
1 Yellow-billed Cuckoo, 1 House Wren, 50 Chimney Swifts, 1 Great Blue
Heron, 8 Double-crested Cormorants, 1 Red-headed Woodpecker, 9 Flickers,
401 Blue Jays, 5 N. Rough-winged and 10 Tree Swallows, 1 Brown Thrasher, 1
Cape May Warbler, 1 Common Yellowthroat, and 206 Monarch Butterflies.
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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
