Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch, VA
Waynesboro, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 29, 2003
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
BV 0 0 0
TV 0 0 0
OS 6 120 126
BE 1 27 32
NH 7 17 17
SS 17 194 200
CH 5 45 46
NG 0 3 3
RS 1 4 4
BW 47 8628 8681
RT 4 30 35
RL 0 0 0
GE 1 2 3
AK 10 73 78
ML 0 12 13
PG 0 21 21
MK 0 0 1
UA 2 7 8
UB 1 5 6
UF 3 4 4
UE 0 0 0
UR 1 6 6
Total: 106 9198 9284
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Observation start time: 07:30:00
Observation end time: 17:00:00
Total observation time: 9.5 hours
Official Counter: John Irvine, Jr.
Observers: Donna Lewis, Ed Lewis, Tad Finnell, Tom Pendleton
Visitors:
First, "Thanks" to John Irvine, former coordinator of Rockfish Gap, who,
along with Tom Pendleton, manned the site the entire day!
Several visitors/observers to help - Donna Lewis who kept finding "one
more bird" while John was trying to tally up the day's count, Ed Lewis,
Robert Plank, Peter and Angela Nebel, Tad Finnell from Harveys Knob,Allen
Larner, Bob Thompson, Helen Priest
Weather:
In a word - Brrrrrr! Brisk wind out of NW changing to WNW throughout the
day, high temp. 17.5 C and that was 8-9 a.m. EST. It dropped to 14C by 9
a.m. and never reached above 15C.
Day started out with no clouds with periods of mostly cloudy late morning,
diminishing to partly cloudy.
Clear visibility for miles.
Observations:
A decent flight with increase in SS and Kestrel moving through. And, seven
Northern Harrier to go along with one adult Bald Eagle and adult Golden
Eagle.
The BE and GE came within 10 minites of each other. Golden Eagle hung
around for about 5 minutes!
Chimney Swift numbers dropping off - 15 noted today
Blue Jay - 30+
Tree Swallow - 8
Palm Warbler - 1
Common Raven - 2 - at 4:45 p.m.EST a Red-shouldered came up low over north
ridge. Two Common Raven flew over to investigate and one took after it,
stooping and forcing it down into the trees. Raven eventually lost
interest and Red-shouldered took to air to continue southward.
Monarch Butterfly - Latest blast of cold air really got them moving today
- 132 counted
Predictions:
Subsiding winds, sunny skies and chilly. Perfect for SS and Kestrel!
We can only hope we have someone who will be able to keep the count for us
today.
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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.
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