FreeLists / va-bird / [va-bird] Snickers Gap, VA 2005 Summary

["P R Mocko" <paulbirds19@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

From Todd Day:

Hola,

A brief summary of the 2005 season at Snickers Gap, Virginia (with hopes of 
keeping the wolves at bay until summer when I get around to doing a more 
proper version).

This was our sixteenth season, however for statistical purposes, we don't 
include 1990's totals, our first season, as we had under 200 hours of 
observation, mostly in September.

Our first day at the Gap in 2005 was 24 August, a bit later than recent 
years.  We ended 1 December, which is about typical.  We lost thirteen 
complete days to weather, mostly rain (the other being low fog and threat of 
rain), which is a little more than average.  Ten of these days were in 
October, which is unprecedented.  Several days were cut short due to 
deteriorating weather.  Between 1 September and 30 November (our official 
season), we had eight days without coverage on days where whether wasn't an 
issue, not including Thanksgiving.  Our total effort ending up being about 
487 hours, which is 93% of average, but sadly our lowest total since 1991, 
and only our fourth time ever under 500 hours.

Overall it was a pretty good year.  Our total raptors were 11870, a little 
over three percent below our average total (12249).  However, Broad-wingeds 
were below average a bit, which means something else picked up the slack.  
We set a new site record for Bald Eagles, however, counting them this year 
was more challenging than other years, or perhaps we're becoming wise to our 
previous follies.  Merlins looked like they were headed for a record year, 
but quickly dropped off and missed the mark.

Species by species:

Osprey.  A good year for them, our seventh best total (242), 108% of 
average.  Our last bird was 17 November, our third latest ever; our high 
count was 21 on 14 September.

Bald Eagle.  A new site record with 192 seen.  Previous best was 180 in 
2004.  The high count was 14 on 29 October.  This species is increasingly 
problematic for us.  Many days we see several bald eagles of all ages 
behaving unlike migrants (though typically adult and hatch-year birds are 
the culprits).  They often fly north, or appear well out over the ridge and 
then drop back down.  We don't count these presumably non-migrant birds, and 
we try to apply a standard to each eagle we count that it needs to be headed 
in a southerly direction and acting like a migrant.  The problem is that 
these birds we see flying north or hanging around might also act like a 
migrant and head south at some point.  Our site sits near the Shenandoah 
River where a pair or two is said to nest, and we're not terribly far from 
the Potomac River.  It seems feasible that the area could be a staging area 
for birds heading south, as I don't think many birds are overwinter here, as 
our encounters with these northbound or dallying birds decrease in November.

Northern Harrier.  We average 185, we counted 145 (78.4%).  Our last bird 
was 20 November, which is the second earliest last sighting for the species. 
 We usually see them daily through about 28 November.  High count was 11, 
on 23 October and 6 November.

Sharp-shinned Hawk.  An average season, almost exactly.  We had 1840, we 
average 1844.  Makes sense that it ends up as our eighth best.  We seemed to 
have more of them in September than in previous years, but that might have 
just been a perception.  High count was 228 on 16 October, our fifth best 
single-day count.

Cooper's Hawk.  A very good year for us, our third best, and on the heels of 
2004, which was our second best.  The total of 359 was 117% of our average 
(308).  We set a new late date with a bird seen 1 December.  Still well shy 
of 1995's record of 521.  Single-day high count was 38 on 23 October, our 
fourth best.

Northern Goshawk.  Eight counted, which is 44% of our average.  Two on 12 
November was the high count and the late date this season.

Red-shouldered Hawk.  They were on pace for a record season in early 
October, however they ended up well below average.  We tallied 159, good for 
86.4% of average (184).  High count was 16 on 29 October; last bird was 1 
December.

Broad-winged Hawk.  The species that to many makes the whole season seem 
like a good year or a bad year, and really it's pretty much just dumb luck 
if a bundle of them fly by your site and are able to be spotted.  We had 
6825, and average 7327.  Our biggest day was rather late for a good count, 
28 September with 1439 seen; 1194 were seen the next day, and after that we 
never broke 20.  The last bird was 20 October, tied for our third latest.

Red-tailed Hawk.  The real meat and potatoes of a ridge site.  A 
better-than-average year, 1797 counted (1696 average), our fourth best 
season.  We've never been close to our record of 3113 in 1999.  Our high 
count was 293 birds, our second best single-day total.

Rough-legged Hawk.  Our most scarce nearly-annual species.  We had two this 
year (our average), on 11 and 21 November.

Golden Eagle.  A disappointing total, only 14.  We average 19, and likely 
the lack of coverage late in the season was a factor.  Our first bird was 23 
October, a good date for one and tie for the latest first-sighting.  Three 
was the high single-day total on 27 Oct.

American Kestrel.  Coming off a dismal year in 2004 where we only had 88 of 
them, we'll take the 139 that we got.  Another below average year (153).  
Single-day high was 25 on 17 September, and our last Kestrel was 29 October.

Merlin.  They started out going for broke, but didn't have what it takes.  
We had fifteen by 1 October (stop laughing now, you coastal sites...), 
finished with 40 for the season, seven shy of tying the record.  Remarkable 
that had they set a new record, it wouldn't even be good for a single-day 
high at a coastal site.  Seven was the biggest day, on 16 October.

Peregrine Falcon.  A lot of ridge sites had a good number of these birds, 
but not us.  We only mustered up 17, about half our average (33).  The high 
count was two birds on four different days.  The only falcon we saw in the 
month of November was a Peregrine, and it was on All Saint's Day (or, my 
brother's birthday).

A big thanks goes to all the folks that helped us piece together another 
season at Snickers Gap.  Here's hoping we find that retiree that knows hawks 
and has nothing to do with their time from September through November.

Happy Holidays to those on Birdhawk that probably won't be hearing from me 
again until August 2006.

Cheers,

Todd

---------------------------------
Todd Michael Day
Jeffersonton, VA, USA
blkvulture@xxxxxxx
---------------------------------


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