Mendota Fire Tower
Mendota, VA, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 14, 2018
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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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 2 2 2
Cooper's Hawk 1 1 1
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0
Broad-winged Hawk 7 7 7
Red-tailed Hawk 0 0 0
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 Accipiter 1 1 1
Unknown Buteo 0 0 0
Unknown Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 0 0
Total: 11 11 11
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Observation start time: 08:30:00
Observation end time: 14:00:00
Total observation time: 5.5 hours
Official Counter: Ron Harrington
Observers: Sam Evans
Visitors:
None-
Weather:
A rather warm day, with temperature reaching in the low eighties. Early
morning fog on the mountain rapidly dissipated by 9:15 with good visibility
the rest of the day. The wind speed varied back and forth from a moderate
breeze (13-18 mph) to gentle breeze(8-12), but always steady from the
Northeast. Cloud cover varied considerably from approximately 20% at times
to 90%.
Raptor Observations:
The first broad-winged hawks came by at 10:00. Four were seen in the 10:00
o'clock hour, one in the 11:00 o'clock hour, and two shortly after 12:00.
All were seen with the naked eye riding on the wind down the northwestern
side of the mountain. Saw a couple of local red-tailed hawks around.
A sharp-shinned hawk was chasing a broad-winged hawk. Had the usual array
of local turkey and black vultures around. A black landed in the tower
above us.
Non-raptor Observations:
Non-raptor species included ravens (3), chickadee, titmouse, bluejay,
chimney swift, Carolina wren, junco, wood pewee, black-throated green
warbler, black-throated blue warbler, hairy woodpecker; and others we
couldn't from our location. Had one Monarch butterfly. We had to leave at
1:00.
Predictions:
Volunteers will need to keep an eye on the forecast for tropical storm
Florence. May have clouds, increasing wind and rain late in the day. Looks
like heavy rains and wind moving in for Sunday thru Tuesday. Stay safe.
After this clears out (hopefully by Wednesday) we should have some good
weather for hawks to be moving!
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Report submitted by Ronald Eugene Harrington (roneharrin@xxxxxxx)
More site information at hawkcount.org:
http://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=706
