Broad-winged Hawk
I started this remarkable birding day at the trail. I had met a couple from Maryland the afternoon before at the Hawk Watch. They were experienced birders who had read my article in the current issue of Birder's World magazine about the Rockfish Valley Trail and the Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch, decided to make the trip here, and had taken my advice to go to the trail the next morning and then do the hawk watch in the afternoon.
They arrived at the trail at 8:30, about 40 minutes before I did, and had already seen Bobolinks, a Lincoln Sparow, and a Yellow-billed Cuckoo near the kiosk before I arrived. As soon as I parked my car I saw a Broad-winged Hawk over the field next to the kiosk - this was a good sign, perhaps a harbinger of things to come. I had told them, as well as a few others, that I thought Saturday afternoon would be a good day at the hawk watch because the winds were shifting to the north.
On the downstream trail I saw a Great Egret fly to and land in a tall tree near the picnic table, and then another Broad-winged Hawk appeared. There were three large kettles of Turkey and Black Vultures as well - the sky was getting very active - more good signs. I caught up with the couple at the first wooden bridge, and we hiked Glenthorne Loop, and then back to the kiosk. We saw a good number of birds, and they logged 43 species on the trail in 2-1/2 hours. The first year Baltimore Oriole was still there, and I could see some yellow-orange coloring starting to appear in its wing bars.
Broad-winged Hawk
Great Egret
Great Egret
Great Egret
Broad-winged Hawk
first year Baltimore Oriole
first year Baltimore Oriole
I arrived at the Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch around 11:30, and had already missed around 1200 Broad-winged Hawks, most of which had lifted off when the thermals started forming, after spending the night in nearby forests - about the same time as when I was seeing the large kettles of vultures over the trail. Between 11:00 and 2:00 we saw about another 500 Broad-winged Hawks, and a Red-headed Woodpecker flew quickly by.
Red-headed Woodpecker
Starting around 2:00, and continuing until 5:00, Broad-winged traffic control opened up the air space, and more than 5,000 Broad-winged Hawks were counted. Some were in distant kettles, some in nearby kettles, and most of them came close enough to be seen without binoculars - the sky was filled with them - streaming by, forming kettles, etc. At times the entire sky was filled with hawks. I had to leave at 5:00, and almost 800 more Broad-winged Hawks were counted after I left. Mixed in were a few Sharp-shinned, Red-tailed, and Cooper's Hawks, Bald Eagles, Osprey, and finally a Peregrine Falcon (after I left), but almost all of the raptors this day were Broad-wings - a total of 7,891 for the day out of 7,948 of species of raptors counted in the day's total. [9/19/10 update - another 2002 Broad-winged Hawks were counted this day, many of them during lift-off from nearby forests.]
Broad-winged Hawks
Broad-winged Hawk
Broad-winged Hawks
Broad-winged Hawk
Broad-winged Hawks
Broad-winged Hawks
Broad-winged Hawks
Broad-winged Hawks
Broad-winged Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk