Harvey's Knob
Roanoke, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 12, 2006
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 0 0 230
Bald Eagle 2 6 89
Northern Harrier 2 9 65
Sharp-shinned Hawk 6 55 814
Cooper's Hawk 1 17 161
Northern Goshawk 0 3 6
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 21 34
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 4707
Red-tailed Hawk 70 389 649
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 7 14
American Kestrel 0 0 123
Merlin 0 2 24
Peregrine Falcon 0 1 41
Unknown 7 67
Total: 81 517 7024
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Observation start time: 09:00:00
Observation end time: 17:00:00
Total observation time: 8 hours
Official Counter: Tad Finnell
Observers: Bill, Clark Hill, Goffs, John Williamson, Mike Purdy
Visitors:
Pretty good group given the conditions. John Williamson, The Goffs (who
continued to take care of me by bringing me a Subway treat), Mike Purdy,
Clark & Stevie Hill, and Bill our backpacker, who wasn't at all out of
place without Dillard.
Weather:
What a difference a day makes! Tremendous winds on the Parkway, so much so
that trees were blown down at the Peaks of Otter facilities and power was
interrupted. Winds were steady between 20-25 MPH, with gusts probably over
30 MPH most, if not all, of the day. Heavy cloud cover was constantly
moving, allowing shafts of sunlight to peak through to the valley below
creating beautiful vistas on a crystal clear day. Temps stayed in the
lower 40s, and I can only imagine what the wind chill was. Suffice it to
say, I stayed in the vehicle most of the day. The sound of that raging
gale was VERY loud. At one point, John Williamson noticed a funnel
extending below a dark cloud and was able to see through binoculars
rotation, but it soon dissapated.
Raptor Observations:
I kept talley today to see what specie would be our 7000th bird this
season. At 1:43 a large bird appeared and I got out of the car to tell
everyone that that bird was #6999, and then found that the bird was an
adult BE! Mike Purdy announced at that moment that there was another bird
right behind that one, and we all saw that #7000 was an immature BE.
Couldn't have scripted it better!
RTs came through in good numbers on steady tracks through the winds, as
expected. Accipiters and Harriers were at the absolute mercy of the wind.
Non-raptor Observations:
Surprisingly, a number of smaller passerines continued to come through,
though not in big numbers.
A single Snow Bunting flew by, a sparkling jewel against the valley
backdrop.
Predictions:
Well, you can sure bet that Todd Day won't show up!
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Report submitted by Tad Finnell (tadcipiter@xxxxxxxxxx)
Harvey's Knob Hawk Watch information may be found at:
http://mysite.verizon.net/harveys95.5/
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