Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch
Waynesboro, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Dec 07, 2017
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 0 0 227
Bald Eagle 8 15 329
Northern Harrier 0 0 53
Sharp-shinned Hawk 2 2 996
Cooper's Hawk 2 2 253
Northern Goshawk 0 1 10
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 3 110
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 22341
Red-tailed Hawk 2 10 510
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 2
Golden Eagle 0 2 30
American Kestrel 0 0 120
Merlin 0 0 53
Peregrine Falcon 0 0 34
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 22
Unknown Buteo 0 0 14
Unknown Falcon 0 0 2
Unknown Eagle 0 0 1
Unknown Raptor 0 0 29
Mississippi Kite 0 0 3
Total: 14 35 25139
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Observation start time: 10:00:00
Observation end time: 15:30:00
Total observation time: 5.5 hours
Official Counter: Gabriel Mapel
Observers:
Visitors:
Jennifer Jowdy
Weather:
Chilly with moderate WSW Winds and 4.0-6.5C temps. A great sky (85-55%
cloud cover), very clear visibility.
Raptor Observations:
The highlight of the day was a group of five Bald Eagles (two 1st-YR, two
4th-YR, one adult) that flew southward directly overhead at 1:16pm. Three
additional BE for a day total of eight: 1:20 adult, 2:09 3rd-YR, 3:17
2nd-YR. This afternoon a very large immature Cooper's Hawk (presumably a
female) appeared over the ridge to our north and flew straight towards us
fairly low. It then dove straight down towards a group of five crows in
the parking lot of the old Howard Johnson's right below us and actually
caught one of the crows in its talons! The other crows all started dive
bombing the CH which prompted the CH to let go of the crow. The CH then
gained height in a thermal and headed south, and all crows survived. First
Raptor: 11:08 SS, Last Raptor: 3:17 BE.
Non-raptor Observations:
175 Fish Crows, and an adult male Common Merganser seen flying south down
the west side of the gap this morning.
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Report submitted by Gabriel Mapel (birdmangabriel@xxxxxxxxx)
Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch information may be found at:
http://www.rockfishgaphawkwatch.org
More site information at hawkcount.org:
http://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=491
