This year was the 47th season of fall raptor migration counting at Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch; one of the longest running hawk watch sites in North America! Our small group of volunteer counters were able to cover 91 out of a possible 108 days this season (10-year avg = 90 days) totaling 528 hours of effort (avg = 590). Poor weather canceled the count on 8 days, and 8 days went uncounted due to unavailability of counters. In total, we recorded 32,647 migrating raptors this season, which is above our 10-year average of 27,930 raptors.
We had a mixed bag regarding raptor species numbers this year (some high, average, or low). The biggest highlight this year was the record Bald Eagle count. We counted 480 BALD EAGLE, which is a new season record: surpassing the previous record of 426 in 2020 (the 12-year avg = 316). OSPREY numbers were quite lower than average with only 145 (avg = 259). Our NORTHERN HARRIER count of 57 was also below average (avg = 67). Our count of 2,064 SHARP-SHINNED HAWK was above average (avg = 1,828), however our count of 255 COOPER’S HAWK was below average (avg = 325). Of the buteos, our count of 792 RED-TAILED HAWK was a little less than average (avg = 917), and our count of 104 RED-SHOULDERED HAWK was a little above average (avg = 97). Our BROAD-WINGED HAWK count of 28,462 this year was fabulous (avg = 23,729)! We had eight count-days in a row (Sep 16-24) with over 1,000 Broad-winged hawks, with the three biggest days being 5,518 on Sep. 16, 4,068 on Sep. 18, and 8,497 on Sep. 21; bringing us many kettles and rivers of raptors to admire! Of the falcons, our counts of 139 AMERICAN KESTREL (avg = 199) and 30 PEREGRINE FALCON (avg = 42) were below average, but the MERLIN count of 56 was above average (avg = 51).
Among the uncommon raptors, we did not see a single AMERICAN GOSHAWK this year (avg = 7), and I heard that several other sights up north were also low on goshawks. Our count of 9 GOLDEN EAGLE was notably below average (avg = 22). Our MISSISSIPPI KITE count of 5 was one more than average (avg = 4). Unfortunately, we were not visited by any ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK or SWAINSON’S HAWK this year.
In terms of non-raptors, we had a fair number of waterfowl including a flock of 15 Snow Geese on Nov. 27 and 18 Tundra Swan on Nov. 26. A total of 324 Double-crested Cormorants were counted in 12 different sightings: with the largest group containing 100 birds. A few Herring Gull, Ring-billed Gull and Common Loon flew through heading southeast. An exciting, rare sighting was a pair of Sandhill Cranes that flew through the Gap on Nov. 22. A single group of 12 Great Egret flew over on Oct. 15. We counted 46 Red-headed Woodpeckers migrating through as well as many Northern Flicker and numerous Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Migrating warblers included only 6 species (Magnolia, Cape May, Black-throated Blue, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-rumped, Palm). Other notable sightings included a group of Short-billed Dowitcher, Rusty Blackbirds, American Pipit, Horned Lark, Eastern Meadowlark, Kingfisher, Killdeer, and Winter Wren. Other notable migrants counted this fall included 154 Ruby-throated Hummingbird as well as 1,568 Monarch Butterflies (with the last 2 spotted on Nov. 4). Finally, this is the first year that we had to deal with the nasty, invasive Spotted Lanternfly, native to China, which is a threat to many fruit crops and trees. Many days in September contained hundreds of Lanternflies all over the sky and ground, often landing on hawkwatchers and equipment. We stomped on as many as we could!
We decided not to host our annual Open House event this year due to the poor conditions of the Inn, parking lot and access. The Inn closed a number of years ago and has rapidly deteriorated since then, and all electricity, water, and sewer has now been cut off. The future of this site remains unknown.
I want to give a huge thanks to the following volunteer counters who contributed this season: Brenda Tekin, Rose Thomas, David Hunter, Gabriel Mapel, Cecily Fritz, Nelson Lewis, Diane Lepskowski, Kristin Fuoco, Rich Wood, Allen Hale, and Matt Hosmer. Another huge thanks goes to all the Observers who assisted counters throughout the season including Jennifer Jowdy, Allen Larner, Shannon and Chris Updike, Huck Hutchens, Betty Mooney, Mark Johnson, Mary Smith, Dave Fischer, Josh Laubach, Laura Harris, Bill Benish, Greg Moyers, William Leigh, Justin Cober-Lake, Peter Wynnyk, and Mark Kosiewski. Finally, we are so gracious for all the visitors made it up to keep us company and to witness the great fall raptor migration with us this season. We sincerely thank all those who helped support our hawk watch this year with your generous donations!
– Vic Laubach, Coordinator
