2009.10.05
Autumn Traditions: Hawk watching on Rocky Knob
Photography and story by Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times.
See an audio slideshow of the hawk watchers.
The air is getting cooler and the sky is a deep blue.
You can feel autumn in the air.
The birds feel it, too. And a dramatic natural event is happening. Birds and insects are flying south along the Appalachian mountain chain to warmer climates and more abundant food sources.
Broad-wing Hawks are the most common winged migrant and can number into the thousands in a single day. Red-tail Hawks often fly overhead as well as migrating Sharp Shined and Cooper's hawks. Then there are the falcons, a rare peregrine, kestrel and merlin, some of the fastest flying birds in the world can sometimes be spotted. Of course it’s always a thrill to see an American bald eagle, majestically flying above the mountain tops.
Birdwatchers come to see the annual autumn bird migration pass through Southwest Virginia. That is what a group of about 20 birdwatchers from the New River Valley Bird Club and Ferrum Nature Society did on a Saturday in early September.
Local birdwatcher and mountaintop host Clyde Kessler has been watching the fall migration from atop Rocky Knob off the Blue Ridge Parkway at milepost 168 in Floyd County since the 1970s. He has the records to prove it. Not only does he watch and identify birds, he counts them, too.
It’s not only the hawks that catch the eye of birdwatchers at Rocky Knob. They are also watching migrating song birds, hummingbirds, butterflies and dragonflies. What ever flies by usually gets noticed. Hawks are cataloged and reported to the Hawk Migration Association of North America. Birdwatchers, experienced and beginners, are welcome to join in the fun most every weekend through October. Kessler recommends bringing binoculars, a chair, food and water -- and a warm jacket.
The air is getting cooler.
I spent the morning with Clyde and Matt as well as other avid birdwatchers. It was a rather slow day for the hawks. I have been at the summit several other times through the years and have been fortunate enough to see "kettles" of hawks which look like the bottom part of ice cream cones. Clyde definitely is the most avid birdwatcher that I know and it is a thrill to be around him. We both walk the Bisset Park Trail, the River Trail and the Dedmon Center Trail. He records all that he sees and has records going back for I don't know how long. So if you want to find out what, when and where about birds in Radford he is the person to see. my thing is photography and I have photos of more than one hundred species of birds in the Radford area. This hobby has made me want to get up and out every day. Digital photography is so much fun because with a camera and a computer you can shoot many pictures and can keep only those you want. I will continue to look forward to being with and hearing from Clyde.
Comment by Bob Abraham — October 16, 2009 @ 8:17 am