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| The Cumberland Gap hawk watch view |
A one person hawk watch is a tough thing to keep up. Especially when it takes over an hour to get there. For the past several years in both spring and fall I've spent time observing and counting raptors here. Artmor Plastics is no longer in business and the red gate is always locked. This makes it a trek to get up to the watch.
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One of my favorite hawk watching buddies "Big Ed" Gowarty,
enjoying some great looks after surviving the hike up.
A great fall day at Cumberland Gap hawk watch 2011. |
Once again I assure you that when the views present themselves, you'll be glad you made the hike. Some old friends of mine emailed me stating that they were going to spending more time down towards Cumberland due to a newly discovered campground. They were wondering if I'd like them to forward their counts. I figured I'd do one better and make them official counters at CGHW. So I'm pleased to announce that Brian, Jeanine, Meadow and Theo Ging-Wargo will be familiar faces at the watch. This adventurous family of 4 will be happy to share some conversation with you up at the watch. Stop by on the weekends and say hello to the new faces at CGHW.
After the Ging-Wargo's first weekend as counters, I decided to spend Monday, November 4th at the watch. The day started out with nearly calm SW winds. The first raptor of the day was a Red-Tailed hawk at 8:32. The morning hours went by with a fair number of birds per hour. The wind would periodically pick up to a blustery 6mph. Several juvenile Bald Eagles flew by during the morning and 1 subadult BE coming through for the 1:00-2:00 hour. The highlight of the day was the shift in winds from NE to SW to SE by Noon. The wind speed increased a little and seemed to start the Golden Eagles coming through. We had a total of 19 Golden Eagles, with the last bird of the day being a Golden at 4:38 (not long before dark). RT's proved to be the predominant flyers for the day. Here are some photos from the day...
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| Juv Bald Eagle |
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| Sharp Shinned Hawk |
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| Where's Waldo? There's a Juv Bald Eagle in the center of this photo |
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| Dark-eyed Junco |
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| Black-capped Chickadee |
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| American Goldfinch |
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| Golden Eagle |
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| Golden Eagle |
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| Golden Eagle |
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| Golden Eagle |
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| Golden Eagle.. Wait what's this below? Hmmmm |
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a possible double Double-crested Cormorant dinner. He doubled back,
took a look, but gave up easily. He then continued back on his way south |
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| Golden Eagle |
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| Golden Eagle, the last bird of the day... |
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