AFTON, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – On this Monday, the first full day of fall, the Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch is in full bore. 10-year hawk watcher Betty Mooney was on her way to Afton Mountain, where the watchers gather in the grass behind the abandoned hotel and watch a migratory raptor flyway down north-to-south down the Blue Ridge. While Mooney has been going for a decade, this hawk watch is one of the oldest in the country going on nearly 50 years.
Mooney said they’re there August 15 through November 30, and right now is peak broad-winged hawk season where they fly through by the thousands. Later in October and November, there’ll be golden eagles, peregrine falcons, merlins, red-shouldered and redtail hawks. Click here for all the information.
