Hughes River Gap, VA
east of Luray, VA, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 15, 2006
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 2 3 3
Bald Eagle 0 0 0
Northern Harrier 1 1 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk 6 9 9
Cooper's Hawk 2 4 5
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0
Broad-winged Hawk 49 69 70
Red-tailed Hawk 0 0 2
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 0 1 1
Merlin 0 0 0
Peregrine Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown 1 3 3
Total: 61 90 94
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Observation start time: 07:00:00
Observation end time: 13:00:00
Total observation time: 6 hours
Official Counter: Todd M. Day
Observers: Bruce Jones
Weather:
What a tease. Good weather forecast, and we knew it was good to our east,
with nice wind, big puffy clouds, and probably lots of hawks.
Unfortunately we were at 3100 feet with a ceiling of about 3400 feet. We
flirted with hawks, but didn't see as many as we should have.
Wind was blowing 15mph from the NW and then the N most of the morning, but
did die down to about 10mph for the last couple hours.
Raptor Observations:
Everything was moving in a hurry. We'll figure this place out eventually,
but it did feel right up there today.
Non-raptor Observations:
Ravens were spectacular, barrel rolling, lots of odd vocalizaions, and just
great interaction and paired soaring. Hundreds of warblers and
warbler-type birds zipped past going north, and nearly none were
identified.
Black Vulture, 12
Turkey Vulture, 30
Chimney Swift, 12
Red-headed Woodpecker, 1
Pileated Woodpecker, 1
Eastern Phoebe, 1
Eastern Kingbird, 1
Blue Jay, 16
American Crow, 2
Common Raven, 12-20
Tree Swallow, 12
Cedar Waxwing, 1
Scarlet Tanager, 2
Eastern Towhee, 2
Chipping Sparrow, 1
Slate-colored Junco, 5
Red-winged Blackbird, 1
American Goldfinch, 2
Harley Davidson's, 145, all done by about eleven AM.
One little yippy mutt.
Predictions:
A long flight, but Topo is in the house.
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Report submitted by Todd Day (blkvulture@xxxxxxx)
Site Description:
Stony Man Mountain sits at 4011 feet above sea level atop cliffs that are
weathered remnants of ancient lava beds. The panoramic view afforded from
these cliffs is roughly 270 degrees, spanning counter-clockwise from east
to south. It is the second highest peak in Shenandoah National Park. It
sits in Page County on the eastern edge near the Madison County line, and
looks down at the town of Luray.
However, since we weren't able to find any birds from atop Stony Man, we
decided to drop in elevation and conduct a watch from Hughes River Gap,
just north of Stony Man.
This is the first year that a concerted effort has been made to observe
migrant birds as they pass by the site. Not a full-time site, we're
hoping for one-hundred hours of observation in 2006, mostly between 1
September and mid-October and maybe a few days in November. Primarily
we'll count on weekends, and perhaps midweek following cold fronts.
Directions to site:
Find your way to Shenandoah National Park's Skyline Drive, and proceed to
mile approximately milepost 38. There is an scenic viewing area on the
west side of Skyline Drive and might be called Stony Man Mountain Viewing
or something similar. There is also a sign here that reads Hughes River
Gap. This is about a fifteen minute drive south from Thornton Gap where
US 211 crosses Skyline Drive. We watch from a large parking area that
overlooks Luray and has good horizon from ENE to W.
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