Snickers Gap Hawkwatch
Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Aug 15, 2004
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 2 3 3
Bald Eagle 3 5 5
Northern Harrier 0 1 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 1 1
Cooper's Hawk 0 1 1
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0
Broad-winged Hawk 12 27 27
Red-tailed Hawk 0 1 1
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 0 1 1
Merlin 0 0 0
Peregrine Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown 0 0 0
Total: 17 40 40
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Observation start time: 11:00:00
Observation end time: 17:00:00
Total observation time: 6 hours
Official Counter: Ian Topolsky
Observers: Todd Day
Weather:
With a pleasantly cool start to the day and near ideal hawkwatching
skies, it would've been hard to go wrong. Heck, we even saw some birds...
Winds were blowing (or sighing) out of the NW at 1-2 for the first two
hours, becoming variable and quite calm for the remainder of the day.
Cloudcover was 60-70% and temps peaked at 78F. A fair amount of haze hung
in the valleys to the E & W.
Observations:
Bald Eagle breakdown was as follows: 1st yr, 2nd yr, adult (and in that
order). 1 Sharp-shinned was spotted meandering northward. 3 young
Broad-wingeds also toyed w/ us off and on in the afternoon, leaving room
for speculation as to their intentions. We left them on the vine to ripen
a bit more.
Both Ospreys seen were fishless.
Chimney Swift- 75 (give or take), Barn Swallow- 12, Swallow Sp- 15,
Eastern Kingbird- 1, Cedar Waxwing- 8, Pileated Woodpecker- 1, Am Crow- 4,
Common Raven- 1, Carolina Wren- 1, Gray Catbird- 1, Am Goldfinch- 4 (first
visitors to the platform feeder I erected last week).
Fittingly, the first time in my 28 years that I've ever been defecated
on by a bird happened at the very place where I got hooked on them.
Thankfully, it was not a hawk.
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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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