Kiptopeke Hawkwatch
Tip of Virginia's Eastern Shore, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 08, 2011
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 3 16 2010
Bald Eagle 5 18 287
Northern Harrier 4 43 499
Sharp-shinned Hawk 18 270 9669
Cooper's Hawk 10 69 1979
Northern Goshawk 0 2 2
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 23 43
Broad-winged Hawk 0 1 1338
Red-tailed Hawk 9 120 338
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 1 4 5
American Kestrel 1 21 4077
Merlin 2 14 1414
Peregrine Falcon 1 8 762
Unknown Accipiter 0 1 19
Unknown Buteo 0 0 3
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Falcon 1 2 22
Unknown Raptor 1 1 49
Swainson's Hawk 0 1 2
Total: 56 614 22518
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 07:15:00
Observation end time: 15:45:00
Total observation time: 8.5 hours
Official Counter: Kyle Wright
Observers:
Weather:
Continued high pressure, light east winds, and clear blue skies.
Raptor Observations:
Is there some new fad all the media is endorisng to end raptor migration at
two? Seems like the last few days there have only been one or two or zero
birds after two, and I didn't get any memo as to why. If this is the latest
craze, I might have to say it is as bad an idea as capri pants were in the
1990s, not that I'm old enough to remember any such thing of course. At
least today's Golden Eagle was a nice surprise; a sub adult one bird
(hatched summer 2010 that is) with enough white in the wing to see two
started molt fronts of one or two replaced dark feathers each in the
secondaries, though the outer rectricies were still retained juvenile
types(the inner rects were never seen well on the bird high above our
heads).
Non-raptor Observations:
About the only thing of note other than the eagle was a proable adult-ish
Lesser Black-backed Gull out towards the bay.
Predictions:
About the same weather as today will likely produce a simmilar flight to
today's; a nice day to hang out on the platform to enjoy the above average
temperatures, but not the best day to take off from work if you hope to see
birds. Maybe/hopefully Thursday's cold front will make for a new batch of
birds and a decent flight on Friday?
========================================================================
Report submitted by Brian Taber (Taberzz@xxxxxxx)
Kiptopeke State Park information may be found at:
www.cvwo.org
