Fantastic Golden Eagle show at Waggoner’s Gap

Posted on by

The PVAS raptor class held its forth and final field trip of the season by visiting Waggoner’s Gap hawk watch site just north of Carlise, PA. The conditions were perfect for movement with overcast conditions, snow showers, brisk NW winds 10-20 mph and temps in the low 40’s. The class was not disappointed. After an hour and half drive from Spring Mills, WV to the rocky out cropping overlooking the Cumberland Valley we were never without a bird in the sky for more than 45 seconds the rest of the day. Waggoner’s Gap is one of the premier hawk watching locations in the east having started in 1952. Today, they set a new single day record for Golden Eagles with 50 (We saw 36 during our time there). Upon first arrival the first birds seen were 4 Golden Eagles flying in concert. What a start! About 5 minutes after that our first Northern Goshawk came flying by. We stayed from 10am until 3:30pm and it will be a day to remember for all. Also of note were Pine Siskins, Common Loons (71) and a few gulls.

Raptor totals seen while we were there:

  Bald Eagle           12
  Northern Harrier      3
  Sharp-shinned Hawk   52
  Cooper's Hawk         4
  Northern Goshawk      6
  Red-shouldered Hawk  13
  Red-tailed Hawk     304
  Golden Eagle         36
  Peregrine Falcon      1

Complete day totals from Waggoner’s Gap: Waggoner’s Gap 11-03-2012

Golden Eagle


Northern Goshawk

Email, RSS Follow

2 thoughts on “Fantastic Golden Eagle show at Waggoner’s Gap”

  1. Certainly an amazing day. Being there on THE day that the all-time daily high record for Golden Eagles was set is a life experience that everyone will certain remember for a very long time.
    Awesome!
    Thanks to everyone for being wonderful students and instructors.
    Wil

  2. I don’t think we’ll see a Golden Eagle day like this again in our lifetimes, unless Hurricane Sandy becomes the new normal.

    Enjoyed the company of the Raptor Workshop participants.

    The other Sandy

Leave a Reply