Harvey's Knob
Roanoke, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 31, 2006
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 0 27 230
Bald Eagle 0 15 83
Northern Harrier 0 25 56
Sharp-shinned Hawk 11 538 759
Cooper's Hawk 3 95 144
Northern Goshawk 0 3 3
Red-shouldered Hawk 1 8 13
Broad-winged Hawk 0 59 4707
Red-tailed Hawk 6 179 260
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 5 7
American Kestrel 0 30 123
Merlin 0 15 22
Peregrine Falcon 0 13 40
Unknown 18 60
Total: 21 1030 6507
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 10:00:00
Observation end time: 16:30:00
Total observation time: 6.5 hours
Official Counter: Mike Purdy
Observers: Baron Gibson
Visitors:
Visitors included Bill Bennett from Roanoke, a young couple with their 3
mo. old son from Atlanta, Ga. on their way home from a wedding on Long
Island. Parkway travelers from Maine, Fla., N.H., N.Y., N.C., N.J., W.V.,
and Tn. Also Allen Austin with his mom.
Two "section" hikers heading south. When I asked them how far they were
going, they said "to Georgia". When I asked them when they started, one
said "15 years ago".
Weather:
It was a beautiful day on the mountain, shirt sleave weather with temps.
ranging from 48-67F. There was a nice breeze most of the day, mostly out of
the SW but frequently shifting to W, NW and even East. The sky was mostly
clear with a few cirrus clouds overhead and a few cumulus clouds on the
western horizon. Visibility was very good, especially looking to the east.
Raptor Observations:
Probably due to mostly SW winds our count was low with only 21
individuals.
Today and yesterday we observed both Turkey and Black Vultures that we
felt were migrating. We counted them but did not put them in the official
count. Today we counted 52 south bound TVs and 17 north bound
TVs.(yesterday 69 south bound) We counted 14 BVs that were possible
migrants. There were two groups of 5 and one group of 4, all high and
moving south. Other BVs seen were in pairs flying here and there and never
appearing to be migrating.
A Sharp-shinned hawk zipped across the parkway from the east side of the
road and headed down the Appalachian Trail, just 2 feet off the ground.
Non-raptor Observations:
Two flocks of Cedar Waxwings migrating, one with approx. 30 and the other
with approx. 20. A small group of swallows out over the valley that were
probably Trees. Four migrating Robins and a single Blue Jay heading south.
Ravens kept us company all day, with one escorting a migrating Red-tailed
Hawk out of the area.
We observed a lot of smoke in the valley on the west side coming from an
apparently good sized fire. We came to the conclusion that it was probably
a controlled burn, maybe by the forest service. It was almost out when we
left at 4:30.
Predictions:
Should be a little better with winds out of the WNW.
========================================================================
Report submitted by Mike Purdy (MikeLPurdy@xxxxxxx)
Harvey's Knob Hawk Watch information may be found at:
http://mysite.verizon.net/harveys95.5/
You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply send email
to va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe, send email to
va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
