Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch, VA
Waynesboro, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 29, 2005
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
BV 0 0 0
TV 0 0 0
OS 1 32 175
BE 0 6 40
NH 0 7 30
SS 7 770 1015
CH 4 101 161
NG 0 1 1
RS 8 17 19
BW 0 70 7263
RT 590 1309 1415
RL 0 0 0
GE 2 3 4
AK 0 48 148
ML 1 15 17
PG 1 4 7
UA 0 5 10
UB 0 7 21
UF 0 0 1
UE 0 0 1
UR 0 3 15
Total: 614 2398 10343
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Observation start time: 09:30:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 6.5 hours
Official Counter: Brenda Tekin
Observers:
Visitors:
David Lee and Liz
Weather:
It was suppose to warm up into the 60's today. Not so on top of the
mountain. Very brisk NW wind throughout the day 20-38km/h.
Temp: a very chilly 8c > 14c by 1 p.m. then steadily dropping in the
afternoon.
Humidity: 42%>36%;
Bar.Pressure: 1022<1021;
Cloud Cover: Mostly cloudy (51-75%) during the morning with bright blue
inbetween. By 1 p.m. less than 15% and by 2:30 p.m. not a wisp!
Visibility: as front pushed through, haze cleared out for crystal clear
visibility for miles.
Raptor Observations:
It's a day hawk watcher's hope for with some degree of trepidation. A sure
fire way to see a big Red-tail flight is on the leading edge of a strong
cold front producing brisk northerly winds and bone chilling temps At
least today there was no snow or sleet but it sure was cold enough! These
are the days when records can be broken. Today was such a day with
Red-tails breaking last year's 2nd highest single day record.
Thankfully the clouds pushed through most of the day to provide a backdrop
for the hundreds of RT sailing high overhead. Most were zipping across the
north ridge heading SW with a few going out on east side of the ridge and
some directly overhead. By 2 p.m. with loss of clouds, they were lower in
the bright blue sky. During the bulk of the day most were streaming
through single file with few small groups of 3-4. By 3 p.m. sun was
dropping behind the building and winds were picking back up. It was
getting difficult to hold binoculars steady as temperature dropped and
counter had a bad case of the shakes that only large amounts of hot
fluids, heater cranked up to peak capacity and maybe a hot water bottle
would help. But the RTs were still coming now in groups of 4 to 6 at a
time, low in the sky. By 3:52 p.m. standard time things were finally
slowing down and counter was able to seek warm refuge inside the van.
Several birds came in close enough to photograph including a Red-shouldred
and an immature Golden Eagle. Web links included below for pics.
Red-shouldered Hawk - nice showing, including several close up adults!
http://home.ntelos.net/~btkin/rockfish_gap_hawk_watch/link_pages/RedShoulderedHawk2_link.htm
Golden Eagle - two today - an immature came in close at 12:36 standard and
adult at 2:21;
Web Link to Golden Eagle pic:
F:\Web_Sites\rockfish_gap_hawk_watch\link_pages\GoldenEagle_link.htm
Osprey - late in the season. Came up low, possibly from South River in
Waynesboro, at 1:23;
Merlin - 1:10 p.m.
Non-raptor Observations:
Rusty Blackbird - flock of 13 flew low across the gap heading south along
east side of ridge.
DC Cormorant - flock of 47 heading SE
Cedar Waxwing - several small flocks
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Monarch Butterly - 2 (Sure hope they make the trip!)
Predictions:
sunny and warmer
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Report submitted by Brenda Tekin (bt8x@xxxxxxxxxxxx)
Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch, VA information may be found at:
http://home.ntelos.net/~btkin/rockfish_gap_hawk_watch
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