Dillard Childress and I did the count at Harvey's today, Thursday 9/8. It was
a GREAT day to be on the mountain with westerly breezes and temps. in the
60's and low 70's. We had clear blue skies all day but still managed to find 10
migrating raptors, 5 Broad-wings, 2 Osprey, 1 Kestrel, 1 Red-tail, and a
Northern Harrier. Chimney Swifts were a common sight all day and we counted 10
species of butterflies, though only 3 Monarchs. In the middle of the afternoon
a
Barred Owl started calling from the western side of the ridge, which prompted a
parkway visitor at the upper end of the parking lot to call back to it for
quite some time.........and quite loudly. The owl couldn't compete, so quit
calling. Later a probable local Sharp-shinned hawk came crashing through "the"
maple tree in pursuit of an unidentified species of bird. Those of you who have
been to Harvey's know this maple tree is the main shade provider for
hawkwatchers. There were good numbers of Canadians on the parkway today, 4
different
carloads of them heading south....we were wondering if this might be an omen
fortelling a harsh winter ahead. And finally, to keep things interesting,
Purgatory Mountain caught on fire. We watched intently as a helicopter made
numerous
trips back and forth to the James river to collect water in it's bucket and
then fly to the fire and dump it. This went on for several hours, probably
causing us to miss a few hawks. The water seemed to do the trick and knocked
down
the fire quite a bit, but there were still small pockets burning when we left.
All in all, a good day at the knob.
Mike Purdy
Roanoke
