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History of the Candler Mountain Hawkwatch
Miriam Moore, a
leading member of the Lynchburg Bird Club in its formative years, was instrumental in catalyzing hawk migration counts in
central Virginia in the 1960s, 1970s, and beyond. In addition to stimulating
counts on the Blue Ridge, she and her daughter Gene occasionally did a little counting from the vicinity of Eagle Eyrie Baptist
Conference Center, on a foothill just east of the Blue Ridge, and even from their backyard in Lynchburg on at least one occasion,
when she noted a significant Broad-winged Hawk flight taking place there.
On Sunday September
14, 1997, Gene Sattler, who had moved to the Lynchburg area a year previously, returned home from church at 12:30 PM to the
sight of 18 Broad-winged Hawks kettling over his home in the Sandusky neighborhood of town.
Setting up a count on his backyard deck, which had fairly limited visibility, he none-the-less recorded a total of
534 Broadwings that afternoon in just under five hours, in addition to a few Osprey, Sharp-shinned Hawks, and American Kestrels. Appreciating the potential for a hawk count here on the Inner Piedmont of central
Virginia to complement counts being done on the Blue Ridge and on the coast, he continued to explore this potential over the
next couple of weeks as his teaching schedule allowed. Eighteen hours were spent
counting over the course of four days from September 19-22 at City Stadium, which offered a fairly good view of much of the
horizon, and over 1600 Broadwing were counted on the 22nd. Ultimately,
however, nearby Candler Mountain, or the “Bald Spot” as it is sometimes locally known, was settled on as a watch
location by the end of the month, because of its higher elevation at 1336 feet and 360o view.
Candler Mountain
is located on the southeast edge of Lynchburg. It is part of a minor ridge that
parallels the Blue Ridge Parkway, 16 miles to the NW. It is 45 miles SSE of Rockfish
Gap and 32 miles E of Harvey's Knob. Owned by Thomas Road Baptist Church and
Liberty University, access to the over 3400 acres of forested ridge is open to individuals for hiking and biking, although
motorized vehicles are not permitted. The lookout is found by taking Candler
Mountain Road up the mountain from the vicinity of the Candler Station shopping center.
A small gravel parking area will be found on the left side of the road 0.2 miles beyond the Wingate Inn. However, parking is currently allowed only if cars are greater than about 50 feet from the gate, to allow
access by fire trucks in an emergency. This leaves room for only five or so cars,
mainly along the gravel road berm. So parking below at the Wingate Inn is another
option. The walk from the gate up a rough jeep trail, without taking any turns
to either the left or right, takes about ten minutes.
Thus far coverage
has been focused on the last three weeks of September when the bulk of the Broad-winged Hawk migration takes place, because
of a shortage of counters. Viewing conditions of hawks passing this lookout are
generally not as good as that at lookouts on the Blue Ridge, because although the view is unobstructed in all directions,
the smaller elevation of this ridge relative to the Blue Ridge does not induce hawks to make as extensive use of ridge lift. Therefore in general the altitude of their flight is higher. The potential for counts from this site later in the migration season, in October and November, has yet
to be explored. GS
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