Stony Man Mountain
east of Luray, VA, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Aug 27, 2006
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 0 0 0
Bald Eagle 0 0 0
Northern Harrier 0 0 0
Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 0 0
Cooper's Hawk 1 1 1
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0
Broad-winged Hawk 1 1 1
Red-tailed Hawk 2 2 2
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 0 0 0
Merlin 0 0 0
Peregrine Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown 0 0 0
Total: 4 4 4
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Observation start time: 06:00:00
Observation end time: 14:00:00
Total observation time: 8 hours
Official Counter: Todd M. Day
Observers: Ian C. Topolsky
Visitors:
Of the 149 folks that we tallied taking in some time at Stony Man today,
surprisingly few asked what we were up to.
Weather:
Was pleasantly cool from six-thirty until about nine AM EDT. Cloudy and
hazy all day; temp ranged from 66 to 82. Wind was mostly southwest, at
between 1 and 3 on the Beaufort scale.
Raptor Observations:
The first raptor of the season was a huge, immature Cooper's Hawks at 11:30
EDT. Couple of Red-taileds that looked to be moving, but as always at this
latitude, who knows.
An adult Peregring Falcon came ripping in from the northeast and perched
on the cliffs below us between ten and eleven AM EDT. No idea how long it
stayed there, but we never saw it again.
Non-raptor Observations:
Black Vulture, no more than 15
Turkey Vulture, ~40
Hummingbird, 1
Pileated Woodpecker, 1-2
Eastern Wood-Pewee, 1 on the hike in at 06:07 EDT
Blue Jay, 12
American Crow, 8
Common Raven, 15
Tree Swallow, 1
Veery, 3
American Robin, 1
Cedar Waxwing, one flock of 8
Blackburnian Warbler, 1
Cape May Warbler, 1 adult male
Black-throated Green Warbler, 1
Black-and-white Warbler, 1
Eastern Towhee, 2
Slate-colored Junco, 12+
Bobolink, 1
American Goldfinch, 5
Unidentifed Warblers, 4
Monarch Butterflies, 68-ish
Eastern Tiger Swallowtails, 9
Silver-spotted Skipper, 2
Unidentified Butterflies, 12
Green Darners, 50-ish
Unidentified Odes 100-ish
Homo sapiens, 149
Wows, 7
Holy Poops, 1
Predictions:
A door knob will be opened by a bare hand. Stony Man will remain, but no
one will count birds there.
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Report submitted by Todd Day (blkvulture@xxxxxxx)
Site Description:
Stony Man Mountain sits at 4011 feet above sea level atop cliffs that are
weathered remnants of ancient lava beds. The panoramic view offered from
these cliffs is roughly 270 degrees, spanning counter-clockwise from ENE
to SSE. It is the second highest peak in Shenandoah National Park. It
sits in Page County, and looks down at the town of Luray.
This is the first year that a concerted effort has been made to observe
migrant birds as they pass by the site. Not a full-time site, we're
hoping for one-hundred hours of observation in 2006, mostly between 1
September and mid-August. Primarily we'll count on weekends, and perhaps
midweek following cold fronts.
Directions to site:
Find your way to Shenandoah National Park's Skyline Drive, and proceed to
mile 41.7, the north entrance to Skyland, and park at the Stony Man
parking lot (this is about a twenty minute drive south from Thornton Gap,
where US 211 crosses Skyline Drive). It's a 0.7 mile hike to the summit.
Per National Park rules, no pets are allowed on this trail or at the
summit. The summit is rocky and not an easy place to set up a chair, or a
scope for that matter.
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