Snickers Gap Hawkwatch
20 Miles West of Leesburg, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 23, 2003
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 3 108 121
Bald Eagle 9 53 59
Northern Harrier 1 29 34
Sharp-shinned Hawk 21 318 320
Cooper's Hawk 0 39 40
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 1 15 15
Broad-winged Hawk 1402 8659 8687
Red-tailed Hawk 2 70 70
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 2 2
American Kestrel 23 73 73
Merlin 0 9 10
Peregrine Falcon 0 6 6
Unknown 0 15 15
Total: 1462 9396 9452
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Observation start time: 08:30:00
Observation end time: 17:00:00
Total observation time: 8.5 hours
Official Counter: Bev Leeuwenburg
Observers: BJ Westervelt, Ian Topolsky, Jon Little, William Leigh
Visitors:
Tom Armour & his wife, Glen Gerada. Richar & Heather Taylor, Joe Coleman,
Ralph Wall, Shannon Dart and last-but-not-least, Bart Frazier (hope you
make it up again sometime).
Weather:
We had some pretty decent hawkwatching skies up at the Gap today. After
an early morning deluge, skies went crystal for an hour or so before
usefull cloudcover rolled in from the NW. From 9:30 (EST) on, cloudcover
held tight at 60%+ with just a few brief periods of 20 to 30%. Winds were
out of the NNW at 3 for the first few hours and slowly dropped down to 2
by 2:00 (EST). Temps topped off at 68F. Humidity was quite low.
Observations:
Some decent numbers of BWs must've camped out for the night just north of
us. The bulk of our totals for the day came from an early flight between
8:30 & 10:30 (EST) that slowly tapered off. And while in the end it left
us scouring the skies for 2's and 3's, that seemed to be coming from every
direction, it was one of those very satisfying days- the birds had a nice,
solid tail wind and were just whipping across the site; flight styles get
modified to really use the wind without relying on the thermals to keep
altitude. Even the highest birds were almost always a glass ahead of
anyone's directions. The breakdown of eagles was 2- juv, 2- 3rd year and 5
adults.
Predictions:
Any BWs left for us?... The eightball is dodgy tonight.
It reads "BETTER NOT TELL YOU NOW". That's helpful.......
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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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