Rockfish Gap Hawkwatch in VA

Well, did you get out your Atlas or Google  Rockfish Gap, VA?  It is just west of Charlottesville, and up HWY81 from Roanoke, VA, due NE along a similar line we have already been zigzag drawing. It sits on Hwy64, W of where *SR 250 intersects and E of where SR 350 intersects.  *(state roads)

These are the Quick Facts given on the Google maps page, referenced to Wikipedia:

"Quick facts

Rockfish Gap is a wind gap located in the Blue Ridge Mountains between Charlottesville and Waynesboro, Virginia, United States, through Afton Mountain, which is frequently used to refer to the gap.

Wikipedia

• Elevation:
  • 1,903'
• Range:
  • Blue Ridge Mountains"

Comparing that to us, at 1400 feet, they are about 500' higher, but we are also located on a Gap. 

The map so far has taken us up 59 to 75 to 81, and if you look closely that is up the mountain range, and almost at a perfect NE or slightly E or N of that line all the way. 

Looking at bigger cities along the way,  the Hawkwatch sites are near: Birmingham, Chattanooga, Roanoke, and Charlottesville. - IN case the map, on which you are making dots, doesn't show the smaller towns or rural sites where the watches actually are. If you haven't already, find a Eastern US map and print one large enough to see the large cities, and start marking out the hawk sites. 

If you already see where we are going with this, and have looked at www.Hawkcount.org  then you might see if you can find some watches along our flyway too.  Who knows you might discover one we have not noticed, or a new one as the interest and expertise in counting hawks grows.
 

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 Although the skies have been wonderful, and the fronts probably opened up to some fabulous opportunities to see migrants, no one from our group had been able to make it up.  So we apologize for no numbers, even though there may have been some good flight days.

We are proud to see that hawks are flying through in great numbers still, all along the flight paths.  I am not sure if we will map out the Blue Ridge sites, or get to the coastal sites, but as we begin to see the paths, maybe you or someone you know may find a ridge or field where you can spend a little time watching them fly through, and maybe just begin a little notebook of your own. 

Because we always want you to -

KEEP LOOKING UP!!!!

Jimmy and Cynthia Wilkerson