[va-bird] HSR: Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch (27 Sep 2006) 928 Raptors

Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch
Waynesboro, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 27, 2006
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Species            Day's Count    Month Total   Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
BV                           0              0              0
TV                           0              0              0
OS                           9            142            148
BE                           0             45             45
NH                           1             24             26
SS                          35            392            398
CH                           2             54             56
NG                           0              0              0
RS                           0              5              5
BW                         872          13564          13595
RT                           3             33             38
RL                           0              0              0
GE                           0              2              2
AK                           0             64             65
ML                           0              3              3
PG                           6             29             29
UA                           0              2              2
UB                           0              5              5
UF                           0              2              2
UE                           0              1              1
UR                           0              9              9

Total:                     928          14376          14429
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Observation start time: 07:30:00 
Observation end   time: 17:30:00 
Total observation time: 10 hours

Official Counter: Multiple Counters

Observers:        Andrew Clem, Dave Hunter, Tom Pendleton,
                  Wm. (Bill) Gallagher

Visitors:
Several observers and visitors today including
Tom Pendleton; Bill Gallagher, Dave Hunter, Vic Laubach, and Brenda Tekin
(last 1.5 hours);

Visitors: Tayloe Griffith, Mark Chittenden


Weather:
NEED TO CONFIRM WITH TODAY'S COUNTERS ON ACTUAL STARTING TIME AS THERE
APPEARS TO BE OVERLAP IN TIMES INDICATING BOTH EASTERN STANDARD AND
DAYLIGHT SAVINGS Were USED SO ACTUAL FLIGHT TIMES OF BW MAY BE OFF BY ONE
HOUR UNTIL IT CAN BE VERIFIED.

Brisk north winds diminishing to 6-11km/h by 10 a.m., increasing to brisk
winds out of the SE for most of the afternoon.  By 4p.m. winds were near
non-existant. Temp: 22c was high for the day and holding steady at 21.5c
(although weather instrument may be going on the fritz); visibility for
miles with haze.

Raptor Observations:
AS A REMINDER: HOURLY DATA IS BASED ON EASTERN STANDARD TIME NOT DAYLIGHT
SAVINGS. 

Maybe it was the bright clear skies and birds were flying high during the
morning hours.  It was a very slow morning for volunteer counter Andrew
Clem and several others rewarded with few sharp-shinns and one northern
harrier at 7:45 am. Tom Pendleton arrived for a 2-hour stint and ended up
staying the remainder of the day joined by Bill Gallagher.  By 1pm EST not
one BW had been observed.  There would be only 1 between 1-2pm EST.  Dave
Hunter showed up a little after 2pm (EST)and at the point of being brought
current on the day's low count, he noted a BW flying by and then another,
another, and before you know it, as Tom Pendleton put it, BWs kept popping
out of the clouds some streaming through in small numbers with several
kettles of 38, 37, 71, 22 and one impressive kettle of 214 BW!  Shazamm! 
As luck would have it, Bill Gallagher, taking time from a very busy
schedule, was on hand for the big flight of the day.  676 BW flew over
between either 1-2 or 2-3pm(EST) with quite few kettles of 38, 43,59 birds
and one very impressive kettle of 214.  118 BW were counted the following
hour, then 16, then 60.

Equally impressive were the 6 Peregrine Falcon including a later flyer at
5:15pm EST.

Non-raptor Observations:
Red-headed Woodpeckers;
DC Cormorant (no numbers);
Magnolia Warbler;
Northern Parula that struck glass and luckily recovered a short time
later;
Tanager species;
Hummingbird; 
Monarch Butterfly - 50+;
========================================================================
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


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