Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch, VA
Waynesboro, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 21, 2003
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
BV 0 0 0
TV 0 0 0
OS 8 52 58
BE 0 13 18
NH 2 6 6
SS 13 46 52
CH 4 18 19
NG 1 2 2
RS 0 1 1
BW 1581 3287 3340
RT 2 21 26
RL 0 0 0
GE 0 0 1
AK 1 21 26
ML 2 4 5
PG 2 8 8
MK 0 0 1
UA 0 5 6
UB 0 3 4
UF 0 1 1
UE 0 0 0
UR 1 5 5
Total: 1617 3493 3579
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 08:30:00
Observation end time: 17:15:00
Total observation time: 8.75 hours
Official Counter: Brenda Tekin
Observers: Butler&Condon, Nancy Corwin, Pat Alther, Robert Plank
Visitors:
Quite a few, including June Crutchfield, Alice Davis, Wallace Plank
visiting from Colorado who first spotted out first decent kettle of BWs.
Pat Alther, Nancy Davidson, Wade and Lisa Hildreth who had to leave at 1
p.m. (EST) to drive back to NC and missing the big flight, Marlene Condon,
Robert Butler, Nancy Corwin, and more. A BIG welcome to Bill Funk
visiting the hawk watch for the first time arriving only moments before
the big flight.
Weather:
Arrived to find haze and light fog. Fog lifted within hour of arriving but
thick haze persistent out over valley on west side of ridge throughout the
day. Low white cirrus clouds provided great background for faily low
birds throughout the day. By 3 p.m., cloud cover increased to mostly
cloudy.
Wind: Very light out of the north changing to S by midday and then light
variable
Temp: (High) 29.5C
Humidity: 51%
BarPressure: 1019
Thick haze
Observations:
OH WHAT A DAY!
After reading reports out of PA of some big flights yesterday, conditions
appeared to be right to bring them our way and I anticipated a decent
afternoon flight by 3:30 (EST).
The day started slow. One BW between 8:30-9 a.m. (EST) then 6 the next
hour. Between 11-12p.m.(EST) birds began to stir appearing to pop up out
of the trees on the north ridge with total of 197 BWs, 3 Osprey, 1 adult
NoGoshawk and 1 Peregrine. The next hour, what we typically call the
"lull" time, things dropped off considerably and for the next two hours
tallied only 70 BWs. Between 2-3(EST) we began to get small groups coming
over and tallied 115 BW for the hour. This season we've seen decent
afternoon flights and I was not discouraged and remained confident we
would see at last one big push before end of the day.
At the start of the 3 o'clock hour (EST), BWs began pouring in, a
continuous steady flow most coming straight overhead, easily seen without
binoculars. A few went over the valley over west side of gap and a few
along the east over the Piedmont. Looking back as far as one could see to
the north the sky was filled with Broad-wings on the move. The first wave
yielded 226, then 68 and then 889 all within fifteen minutes. From 3:20
it was a few birds here and there. Between 4-5 p.m. only 11.
Monarch Butterfly - many but too busy searching for and counting hawks.
Chimney Swift - pretty much a non-stop flow including several decent
flights of 20+ birds.
Red-headed Woodpecker - 3 adults
Double-crested Cormorant - 1 heading E
Predictions:
Gordy Adamski will be the official counter and he will need help throughout
the day. The Broad-wings are on the move and it's a BIG sky!
========================================================================
Report submitted by Brenda Tekin (bt8x@xxxxxxxxxxxx)
Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch, VA information may be found at:
http://home.ntelos.net/~btkin/rockfish_gap_hawk_watch
***Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch, VA - Established 1976***
The Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch is held on the grounds of the Inn at Afton, located
on the southern side of Rockfish Gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains, just above
where I-64 (exit 99) intersects with the southern end of the Skyline Drive and
the northern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway, just east of Waynesboro, VA and
approximately 22 miles west of Charlottesville, VA.
You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply send email
to va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe, send email to
va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
