Snickers Gap Hawkwatch
20 Miles West of Leesburg, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 03, 2005
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 2 12 197
Bald Eagle 0 2 87
Northern Harrier 1 4 51
Sharp-shinned Hawk 14 89 665
Cooper's Hawk 1 16 97
Northern Goshawk 0 1 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 26
Broad-winged Hawk 2 21 5620
Red-tailed Hawk 2 8 98
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 0 1 91
Merlin 0 2 16
Peregrine Falcon 0 0 8
Unknown 0 1 40
Total: 22 157 6997
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Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 13:30:00
Total observation time: 5.5 hours
Official Counter: Mike Reyman
Observers:
Visitors:
None
Weather:
Blue sky with light haze and a few contrails to the east. Winds calm to
light, east-southeast. 10-15 mile easterly winds predicted never
materialized.
Raptor Observations:
Ffirst migrant was juvenile Northern Harrier at 8:52EST, last an adult
Red-tail at 2:05EST. Except for a burst of 8 birds in 10 minutes at
10:18, the flight was characterized by single migrants with large gaps of
time between each. Migrants from 10:30-1:00EST were at limits of
binocular vision and only seen against occasional cloud wisps or
contrails.
Non-raptor Observations:
Too bad we don't count Blue Jays - it would have been a banner day as the
migrating streams crossed from horizon to horizon for first three hours.
Four Ravens gave a playful show at 1:30.
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Report submitted by Mike Reyman ()
Site Description:
Snickers Gap Hawkwatch was established in 1990. It is located in
northern Virginia, on the Clarke and Loudoun County line. It is reached
by taking VA Route 7 to the county line, which runs atop the ridge at
Snickers Gap. On the south side of Route 7 is a commuter parking lot.
The count is conducted from there. It is a volunteer site, and is counted
in fall only, from late August until late November or early December.
There are no facilities at the site, so bring a snack, drinks, and a
chair. Many of the birds can be distant, and a scope is helpful.
As a volunteer site, we are always looking to increase our pool of
counters. We are eager to train those who have never counted, but are
skilled with hawk identification. We are also willing to pair
inexperienced observers with experienced counters. Please contact the
compiler, Todd Day, at blkvulture@xxxxxxx with any questions or if you are
interested in participating in the count.
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