Mendota Fire Tower
Mendota, VA, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 18, 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 2 2
Bald Eagle 2 3 3
Northern Harrier 0 0 0
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 1 1
Cooper's Hawk 1 3 3
Northern Goshawk 0 1 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0
Broad-winged Hawk 2399 3379 3379
Red-tailed Hawk 1 1 1
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 0 1 1
Merlin 1 1 1
Peregrine Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0
Unknown Buteo 1 1 1
Unknown Falcon 0 1 1
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 0 0
Total: 2406 3394 3394
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Observation start time: 08:30:00
Observation end time: 17:45:00
Total observation time: 8 hours
Official Counter: Ron Harrington
Observers: John Clonce, Matt Fleenor, Ronnie Vickers, Sam Evans
Visitors:
Judy Vickers accompanied her husband, Ronnie. Both were good at spotting
hawks.
Weather:
It was another warm day with mostly sunny skies in the morning. Low valley
fog early but good visibility all day. Increasing clouds by 11:00 with
variable cloud cover to 50% the rest of the day until late when it cleared
up. Wind was calm in the morning to very light out of the west during the
afternoon.
Raptor Observations:
Another great day for hawk watching with just enough cloud cover to aid in
spotting the high flying hawks. The usual array of local Turkey and Black
Vultures was seen. The Broad-winged hawks first started coming by at 8:42,
and we had a steady stream most of the day with some nice kettles of 200 or
more. The biggest hour was 4:00-5:00 with 672. The second biggest was the
10:00-11:00 hour with 460. Both American Bald Eagles appeared to be
immature. Saw a Sharp-shinned hawk diving on one of them. Some hawks came
by very high, while others, especially early and late were easy to spot.
Non-raptor Observations:
About 50 Chimney Swifts were swirling around the tower. We saw 4 Ravens
flying in formation. Heard crows, Carolina Wrens, and watched an Eastern
Pewee and a Phoebe catching insects. Counted 16 Monarch Butterflies.
Predictions:
Weather will be about the same. Should continue to have good flying
conditions!
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Report submitted by Ronald Eugene Harrington (roneharrin@xxxxxxx)
More site information at hawkcount.org:
http://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=706