Snickers Gap Hawkwatch
20 Miles West of Leesburg, VA, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 30, 2002
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 0 2 254
Bald Eagle 0 23 152
Northern Harrier 0 28 163
Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 131 1387
Cooper's Hawk 0 33 206
Northern Goshawk 0 4 6
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 57 119
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 3365
Red-tailed Hawk 5 998 1557
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 14 28
American Kestrel 0 0 152
Merlin 0 0 29
Peregrine Falcon 0 3 58
Unknown 0 9 95
Total: 5 1302 7571
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 09:00:00
Observation end time: 13:00:00
Total observation time: 4 hours
Site Coordinator: Ian Topolsky
Observers:
Visitors:
Weather:
Started the morning off with a slight breeze out of the SW, 90%
Cloudcover and temps in the mid to upper 40s. At noon the wind wrapped
around to the NW and rapidly began increasing as the first few drops of
rain began to fall. By 1:00 the temp had dropped by 5 degrees+ and rain
had become steady.
Observations:
Birds were scarce.
1 Common Loon flew over just before the rain started.
Predictions:
========================================================================
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.
You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply send email
to va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe, send email to
va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
