Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch 10/31/10


It was cold and windy at the higher elevations when I left my house, but was getting warm by the time I got to the hawk watch around 10:30. However, the winds had settled down and shifted to the west, and there were not very many raptors until early afternoon. I saw several Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks, a fair number of Red-tailed Hawks, and just before I left around 2:45, there were 3 Bald Eagles. Two of them were an adult and a juvenile, and they were practicing aerobatics. The only close approach was by a Red-tailed Hawk.


Red-tailed Hawk

A large flock of waterfowl were spotted to the east - they were not flying in a well-formed V-shape, characteristic of Canada Geese, and observers looking at them through spotting scopes said that they were all black - most likely Double-crested Cormorants. I got a couple of photos of the flock, and counted 58 birds.


Double-crested Cormorants (?)



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