Snickers Gap Hawkwatch
20 Miles West of Leesburg, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 13, 2003
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 3 62 266
Bald Eagle 1 24 104
Northern Harrier 2 64 123
Sharp-shinned Hawk 18 586 1118
Cooper's Hawk 5 85 158
Northern Goshawk 0 3 4
Red-shouldered Hawk 2 24 46
Broad-winged Hawk 0 74 11646
Red-tailed Hawk 19 55 159
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 3
American Kestrel 0 38 169
Merlin 0 7 21
Peregrine Falcon 0 15 43
Unknown 0 36 62
Total: 50 1073 13922
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Observation start time: 09:00:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 7 hours
Official Counter: Jesse Fulton
Observers: Bev Leeuwenburg
Visitors:
A decent number of eyes to the skies today. Susan Thrasher & Greg, Len
Alfredson, Ed Hand, Walt Thomas, Joe Coleman (probably Jura too) and the
Bates' (Ralph & Gwen- no connection to the motel).
Weather:
Clean blue skies enveloped the Gap until 2 EST, when the cirrus clouds
began to spring up. Wind was out of the W at 3 on the Beaufort Scale to
start with, dropping off to 0 by 3 EST. Temp topped off at 64F.
Observations:
A bit of a slow day today and probably a fair amount of work to get what
we did- pulling birds out of the blue ain't too fun...
As far as I know, there were no Ospreys packing a lunch; the single Bald
Eagle was an adult bird.
2 Belted Kingfishers passed by, headed E.
Predictions:
Will Bev's chair be opened and closed without a struggle tomorrow?
"YOU MAY RELY ON IT"
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Report submitted by Ian Topolsky (ict_earth@xxxxxxxxx)
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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