Kiptopeke Hawkwatch
Tip of Virginia's Eastern Shore, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 10, 2011
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 19 660 1819
Bald Eagle 7 50 168
Northern Harrier 13 171 309
Sharp-shinned Hawk 529 2112 6253
Cooper's Hawk 82 609 1277
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 3 4
Broad-winged Hawk 14 992 1288
Red-tailed Hawk 5 48 93
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 1
American Kestrel 134 1311 3363
Merlin 20 308 1015
Peregrine Falcon 10 177 490
Unknown Accipiter 1 2 16
Unknown Buteo 1 1 2
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Falcon 0 6 14
Unknown Raptor 0 9 28
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1
Total: 835 6459 16141
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Observation start time: 06:45:00
Observation end time: 16:45:00
Total observation time: 10 hours
Official Counter: Kyle Wright
Observers:
Weather:
A strong high still over New England a few hundred miles to the north. High
clouds most of the day, with temperatures starting out at about 15.7c, but
quickly rising to the lower 20s for the late morning and afternoon. Light
winds mostly out of the east plus or minus a few degrees.
Raptor Observations:
Two of today's counted Bald Eagles had active molt fronts in the
secondaries in patterns indicating to this counter that they were
Florida/winter hatched/pseudo austral migrating birds. (One individual was
a worn juvenile bird just starting its first molt while the other was
transitioning from subadult one to subadult two plumage.) Don't know how
much data are out there on the timing of the movements of northern summer
breeding and Florida winter breeding type birds, but most juveniles I am
seeing at this point in October seem to be fresh plumaged northern birds no
more than a few months out of the nest.
Non-raptor Observations:
First, an addendum to yesterday's report. The gang of regulars took part in
the anual big sit, tallying 89 species from the platform, with a Common
Nighthawk tying the previous high count for the event at the site of 88
species, and Wood Duck making for the new record high count for the event.
Back to today, October 10th, 321 Monarchs were noted from the platform, and
two Great Blue Herrons were noted headed south and one Common Loon was seen
flying norhwest. Despite the late start to the count, a steady stream of a
few hundred Yellow-rumped Warblers could be seen comming in off the Bay and
up from the south for the first two hours or so of counting, with "Yellow"
Palm, Black-throated Green, Black-throated Blue, Blackpoll, and Common
Yellowthroat also picked out from the group. 325 Tree Swallows were
estimated to have passed the site headed south between nine and ten bird
time, and 170 were estimated to have passed between ten and eleven. One
Barn Swallow was also noted. Brown-headed Cowbirds, Red-winged Blackbirds,
and a few Common Grackles were seen overhead in flocks of 20 to a few
hundred throughout the day, a House Wren was seen on the platform (on the
railing to be exact), and White-throated and Chipping Sparrows were noted
in increasing numbers, with at least a half dozen Indigo Buntings still
hanging around. Blue Grey Gnatcatcher and Brown Thrasher were also heard
today. (Don't ask me why I thought those two were noteworthy, I'm just a
hawkcounter.)
Predictions:
A low comming up the Atlantic Coast will likely slow southbound diurnal
avian migration for the next few days, with rain predicted for the Eastern
Shore of Virginia starting tomorrow afternoon and continuing through at
least Wednesday.
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Report submitted by Brian Taber (Taberzz@xxxxxxx)
Kiptopeke State Park information may be found at:
www.cvwo.org
