Things picked up a little with the cold front passing through yesterday.
We tallied 51 today, 47 Redtails, 1 Redshoulder, 1 Coop., 1 Sharpie and a
hawk that slipped by on the east side that had to go down as unidentified. It
was
extremely cold, temps. stayed in the low 30's and with the NW winds the wind
chill must have been near the teens.
Channel 7's weatherman, Brent Watts, came up to do a piece on
hawkwatching, he interviewed Tad and got some shots of Redtails passing the
lookout. I
saw the piece on the 5 o'clock news, it was done really well, I thought. Tad,
you did us proud!
We spotted a Redtail perched in a tree on the lower ridge, and it wasn't
long before a pair of Ravens took notice. They swooped down and one sat in the
same tree with the hawk, and they just sat there and eye-balled each other
for a few minutes. This gave us a good size comparison.....and they appeared to
be pretty much the same size. The Ravens made a few vocalizations but soon
became bored and left, apparently realizing the hawk was not interested in
playing with them. Bill James also braved the cold to help with the count.
Thursday 11/17/05 Season totals to date
Osprey 0 138
Bald Eagle 0 52
N. Harrier 0 44
Sharp-shinned 1 722
Cooper's 1 102
N. Goshawk 0 5
Red-shouldered 1 35
Broad-winged 0 2,564
Red-tailed 47 720
Golden Eagle 0 5
A. Kestrel 0 88
Merlin 0 17
Peregrine 0 12
Unidentified 1 73
Total 51 4,577
Mike Purdy
Roanoke, Va.
