Snickers Gap Hawkwatch
20 Miles West of Leesburg, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 14, 2005
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 21 53 62
Bald Eagle 2 35 45
Northern Harrier 1 8 11
Sharp-shinned Hawk 20 59 64
Cooper's Hawk 1 20 20
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 7 8
Broad-winged Hawk 545 1095 1157
Red-tailed Hawk 1 46 50
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 2 18 19
Merlin 0 1 1
Peregrine Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown 0 6 6
Total: 593 1348 1443
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Observation start time: 08:15:00
Observation end time: 16:30:00
Total observation time: 8.25 hours
Official Counter: Ian Topolsky
Observers: Lad Topolsky, Slug McGurk, Stuart O' Malley
Visitors:
Shout-outs:
Bob Blakeney. Keen eyes we need, so keep comin'...
Weather:
A schticky one. Tropical Storm / Hurricane Ophelia most likely
contributed to today's flight.
In addition to the annoyingly thick, moisture-rich air that enshrouded
us, she kept feeding us light (0-1 Beaufort), yet steady Easterlies all
day (a seemingly perfect match for BWs and Snickers).
Temp topped off at 28.3C (warm-enough F), CloudCover hovered around
70-90%+ all day.
Visibility sorta sucked (a bit soupy)...
Raptor Observations:
Word to yo' granny, to use the parliance of our times...
A tasty ( and tricky ) pre-peak dish, served up raw courtesy of the
Broad-wingeds; 545 total, 266 in the 2nd hr of observation.
It was like a highschool fire-drill for most of the day; "single
file!!", not a chance...
BE breakdown; 1- 1st yr bird (1-2 EST), 1- ad (2-3 EST).
Osprey; 21 tallied, 1 packin' a lunch (9-10 EST).
Non-raptor Observations:
Passerines (etc) of note:
5, and then later, 38 (43) non-peep flybys. 13 hummingbirds, an endless
supply of Chimney Swifts & 60+ Monarchs.
Canus Familiarus:
2 immature Belgium Malenoise, cool creatures. Could've caught their
names, but it was all business at the time.
Predictions:
The hurricane is going to cause some perturbations in the trend of bird
sightings, and you will have either markedly fewer, or markedly greater
numbers of birds than in recent days...
Shannon Junior, MS
Project Manager/Ecologist Angler Environmental
The Eightball agrees...
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Report submitted by Ian Topolsky (ict_earth@xxxxxxxxx)
Site Description:
Snickers Gap Hawkwatch was established in 1990. It is located in
northern Virginia, on the Clarke and Loudoun County line. It is reached
by taking VA Route 7 to the county line, which runs atop the ridge at
Snickers Gap. On the south side of Route 7 is a commuter parking lot.
The count is conducted from there. It is a volunteer site, and is counted
in fall only, from late August until late November or early December.
There are no facilities at the site, so bring a snack, drinks, and a
chair. Many of the birds can be distant, and a scope is helpful.
As a volunteer site, we are always looking to increase our pool of
counters. We are eager to train those who have never counted, but are
skilled with hawk identification. We are also willing to pair
inexperienced observers with experienced counters. Please contact the
compiler, Todd Day, at blkvulture@xxxxxxx with any questions or if you are
interested in participating in the count.
Directions to site:
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