Snickers Gap Hawkwatch
Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 27, 2004
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 0 35 280
Bald Eagle 2 60 132
Northern Harrier 8 53 98
Sharp-shinned Hawk 19 973 1564
Cooper's Hawk 4 198 354
Northern Goshawk 0 7 7
Red-shouldered Hawk 11 70 96
Broad-winged Hawk 0 6 3701
Red-tailed Hawk 74 566 650
Rough-legged Hawk 0 1 1
Golden Eagle 0 2 2
American Kestrel 0 19 86
Merlin 0 13 23
Peregrine Falcon 0 22 29
Unknown 2 34 69
Total: 120 2059 7092
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Observation start time: 09:00:00
Observation end time: 15:00:00
Total observation time: 6 hours
Official Counter: Ian Topolsky
Observers: BJ Westervelt
Visitors:
A student of BJ's and our firetruck repair guy.
Weather:
Winds were out of the NE at 1 to start, eventually wrapping around to S
at 0-1 (always fun). Cloudcover was 85-100% most of the day, with a couple
spits of rain in the afternoon. High Temp 64F.
Observations:
For much of the day we were held hostage by a low-pressure system that
had parked itself over us. It began retreating by mid-afternoon, revealing
a sliver of cloudless, blue skies that spanned the entire horizon. As the
abrupt dividing line of crystal-clear blue vs steel-grey withdrew south,
Snickers Gap became another world (for 15 minutes).
At one point, I picked up on a Red-tail right overhead (and almost "out
of bounds"). A routine search of the immediate airspace and line it was
taking soon revealed another RT, following very closely behind.
By the time I had followed the line back to the northern horizon
(totally blue by now), I had counted 24 Red-taileds, 2 Red-shouldereds, 1
Northern Harrier, 2 Sharp-shinneds and 2 1st-yr Bald Eagles, many of which
were coming out of a mixed kettle over "The Walnut", struggling hard to
gain altitude (and headway), and streaming out in twos and threes like
Broad-wingeds. Then,
nothing...
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Report submitted by Ian Topolsky (ict_earth@xxxxxxxxx)
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.
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