Snickers Gap Hawkwatch
20 Miles West of Leesburg, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 17, 2005
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 11 95 104
Bald Eagle 7 47 57
Northern Harrier 5 16 19
Sharp-shinned Hawk 35 165 170
Cooper's Hawk 1 30 30
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 4 13 14
Broad-winged Hawk 153 1616 1678
Red-tailed Hawk 1 58 62
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 25 45 46
Merlin 3 4 4
Peregrine Falcon 1 1 1
Unknown 1 12 12
Total: 247 2102 2197
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Observation start time: 06:45:00
Observation end time: 17:00:00
Total observation time: 10.25 hours
Official Counter: Todd M. Day
Observers: Bev Leeuwenburg, Doug Poffenbarger, Jesse Fulton,
Joan Boudreau and Bob Abrams, Lad Topolsky,
Larry Cartwright, The Littles
Visitors:
Pretty much the whole gang. Audubon Naturalist Society had a group there,
and I got no names from them. Otherwise we had the repeat offenders:
Larry, Laddy, Doug, Joe, BJ, Jon, Jesse, Bob, Joan, Bev, Topo, Shannon,
Jim, and another couple dozen names I never got and a few people I'm
forgetting.
Weather:
Unfavorable for Snickers in mid-September with westerly (NW) winds, but
otherwise it was a pretty nice day to be looking for hawks. Temp maxxed
out at 84, low was 70 at seven-thirty AM. Winds died in the late
afternoon, but by that point it was too late to get many birds.
Raptor Observations:
A great day for Kestrels for our humble hawkwatch. Being on the ridge, we
don't usually get more than a few a day. Good diversity of species, with
eleven noted.
Non-raptor Observations:
An early Wood Duck, which is a bit odd
Blue Jay, 50+
American Robin, 33
Common Raven, 12
Chimney Swift, ca. 200
Hummingbird, 11
Black-throated Green Warbler, 1
Black-and-white Warbler, 1
American Redstart, 2
Northern Cardinal, 4
Cedar Waxwing, ca. 100
White-eyed Vireo, 1
Red-eyed Vireo, 2
Red-breasted Nuthatch, 1
Tree Swallow, 6
Wood Thrush, 3
Pileated Woodpecker, 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker, 4
Yellow-shafted Flicker, 2
Lots of stuff early flying about but never identified.
Plus the usual American Crows, chickadees, titmice.
The dog count was a bit of a disappointment. A Miniature Whippet (who
knew?); a Yorkipoo (really a fancy mutt); then a bunch of proper mutts.
Predictions:
OK. I'll take the bait. I predict we'll get 766 birds tomorrow.
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Report submitted by Todd Day (blkvulture@xxxxxxx)
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