Greetings,
The hawk counting season for us hasn't been over for more than six hours,
yet we have some numbers to share with the rest of you. Amazing how well the
Hawkcount site has facilitated "real time" record keeping.
These numbers are official, until I change them. We'll likely still count a
couple more days, but since I'm one of the compilers, I can make these sorts
of rulings and send numbers out before it's quite done. In truth, the next
two months go by in a blur, and I figured I have a few minutes tonight.
Effort: 522 hours, which is 98.85% of our average amount of coverage.
However, for this volunteer site, we had zero days uncovered between 1 Sep and
30
Nov. We missed fifteen days due to rain, which is high. If we had an
average amount of rain days, we might have come close to six hundred hours of
coverage. I can't say enough about the folks that put in the time up there,
but
I would be remiss not to mention Topolsky, who certainly carried the bulk of
the load.
Osprey: 282, 131% of average, seven birds shy of tying the site record.
These guys came on strong early, with 235 of them before 1 October.
Bald Eagle: 178, 216% of average, and a new site record. Bald Eagles
bother me some up there, as we tend to have a couple birds passing back north
at
some point during the day. We do our best to keep an honest count here, and
nothing has changed with the methodology, thus I think the record is sound.
About as sound as it gets at a hawkwatch.
Northern Harrier: 156, 85.7% of average. These guys took a pass until
about 23 October, at which point they at least made a respectable showing.
Sharp-shinned Hawk: 1705, which is 91.7% of average. Another bird that
started out on a good pace, but slowed considerably. At one point we were on
pace to approach the record, but they threw the brakes on after 23 October,
when we got a late surge of 198.
Cooper's Hawk: 407, good for 136% of average. Our first solid Cooper's
season in many years. Good to see.
Northern Goshawk: Ten, which is 53% of average. If there was a moderate
flight this year, we didn't see it.
Red-shouldered Hawk: 179, 96.2% of average. Yet another species that came
early and then stalled.
Broad-winged Hawk: We missed them this year. 3701, which is 50.8% of our
average. The biggest hit or miss species out there. Good for people to see
them when they come through, but impossible to tell much by low or high
numbers.
Red-tailed Hawk: 1736 is the total, we average 1738. Pretty tight, though
with another couple days up there, we'll likely pass it.
Rough-legged Hawk: Two, which is about average, though we've missed this
species a few times in recent years.
Golden Eagle: 21, 117% of average. Some year we'll shatter that record of
29 of these things. It still amazes me the number of them seen in
Pennsylvania that don't make it down here to us or Harvey's Knob, Rockfish Gap
or
others. More likely they skirt us on ridges to the west, but it still begs
the
question of where do they all go.
American Kestrel: 88, 56.8 percent of average. Dismal year for them.
Folks counting on the coast are obviously the gauge of this species, but this
was
bad. A local nestling bander in northern Virginia also had a terrible year
for the species.
Merlin: 24, which is two shy of the average, and about half of the record.
Peregrine Falcon: 32, and the average is 33.
Unknown: only 85, and we usually get about 135. Guess we're getting better
(yep, getting better and banging those square pegs into round holes...).
Total: 8606, which is 70.3% of average, however, if you take Broad-wingeds
out of the mix, we average 4951 birds. This year's total was 4905, which
means we had about an average year. The species that were below average are
species that we don't get many of to begin with (aside from being about 150
Sharp-shinneds short), and those were balanced by high numbers of Osprey, Bald
Eagles, and Cooper's Hawks.
In case anyone was on the edge of their seat, we had about thirty breeds of
dog visit the site. I encourage all hawk watches to keep tabs on dog breeds.
So we'll play around a bit up there, maybe get in three or four more days of
coverage, and we'll keep posting the totals to Hawkcount. If anyone is
interested in the actual final numbers, and a more detailed summary, drop me a
note. Those of you that already receive the summary will of course still get
it. Hopefully before August.
Big ups to Ian Topolsky for filling in holes, and staying on top of the
numbers. I wouldn't have these numbers without him. If anyone is looking for
a
sharp-eyed counter at a site that pays folks, and a guy with nearly an
acceptable sense of humor, I get a finders fee.
Oh, and we're only about eight months away from planning the next season.
Cheers,
Todd
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Todd Michael Day
Jeffersonton, Virginia, USA
BlkVulture@xxxxxxx
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