Greetings,
It is September, and that means that Snickers Gap Hawk Watch in very
western Loudoun County (or very eastern Clarke County) is up and running.
We've
had a few August days covered this year as well. For those that tire of
the daily hawk reports from the various hawk watch sites around Virginia,
get that delete button working.
As is nearly always the case with volunteer hawk counts, we struggle to
get our days covered. Ideally, we would have someone up there every day
between now and the end of November. Between our regular counters, we have
all
of the Sundays and Wednesdays covered, and then a patchwork of coverage on
the other days.
If you are an experienced birder comfortable identifying distant raptors
(and plenty of close ones too!), and you own a scope, we'd love to put your
name next to some dates. Either email me at the address below, or Joan
Boudreau at icepeep at aol.com (copied above). We can either just send you up
there on your own, or if you would like to come up on a day where one of
the regular counters is present to learn the ropes, we can make that happen
too.
If you are an experienced birder but have no confidence in identifying
distant raptors, I'm willing to bet you are better than you think. We'd love
to pair you with someone that has been at it a while and build that
confidence up. Let us know if you are interested, and we'll see what we can
do.
If you are not an experienced birder and suck at raptors, well then you
really should come up there. You'll get better at them in a hurry! Hawk
watching offers a more social aspect of birding than nearly all other forms of
birding. We mostly sit in chairs, talk as loudly as we need, and discuss
the birds as they fly by (as well as other things!). No need to be using
ears much at Snickers (though we don't completely dismiss ear-birding).
If you are a former counter that hasn't been around for a while, I think
you should get around to getting back up there this year.
Give it a shot. Come up some weekend and say hello. If weekends aren't
possible for you, then come on a Wednesday, or check with either me or Joan
about when we might have someone up there.
Snickers Gap is on Route 7 between Leesburg and Winchester on the Loudoun
and Clarke County line, where Route 7 crosses the Blue Ridge. We conduct
the watch from a commuter parking lot on the south side of Route 7, and the
west side of Route 601 (Blue Ridge Mountain Road [or Mount Weather Road
according to some]). We are typically up there from nine AM or so until four
or five PM, or so. Weather, daylight, and flight of birds play a role on
those things. It is about an hour drive from most places in Northern
Virginia, depending on time of day and day of the week. It is an even shorter
drive from Winchester.
Broad-winged Hawk peak is within a few days on either side of 19 September,
where we might see thousands on a given day (and for Snickers,
particularly [but not exclusively] on an east wind for that species). That
window is
good for Osprey and Bald Eagle too. If Broad-wingeds aren't your thing,
October will give us Accipiters, and November will bring Red-taileds and a
couple dozen Golden Eagles (northwest wind after a cold front is ideal for
those months).
We do see other species too, including Northern Harrier, Red-shouldered
Hawk, all three falcons, and rarely Northern Goshawk and Rough-legged Hawk.
We also can have good flights of Red-headed Woodpeckers, hummingbirds,
swallows, swifts, Cedar Waxwings, Blue Jays, Yellow-shafted Flickers, Common
Loons, Tundra Swans, Double-crested Cormorants, Canada Geese, finches and
Red-breasted Nuthatches on years when they are moving, and other stuff that I
am forgetting.
Hope to meet you up there.
Cheers,
Todd
-------------------------------
Todd Michael Day
Jeffersonton, Virginia
Culpeper County
blkvulture@xxxxxxx
-------------------------------
