Kiptopeke Hawkwatch
Tip of Virginia's Eastern Shore, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 22, 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 19 794 1953
Bald Eagle 21 136 254
Northern Harrier 14 229 367
Sharp-shinned Hawk 328 4579 8720
Cooper's Hawk 91 1098 1766
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 6 11 12
Broad-winged Hawk 6 1025 1321
Red-tailed Hawk 27 90 135
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 1
American Kestrel 12 1890 3942
Merlin 5 640 1347
Peregrine Falcon 6 409 722
Unknown Accipiter 0 4 18
Unknown Buteo 0 1 2
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Falcon 0 10 18
Unknown Raptor 1 27 46
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1
Total: 536 10943 20625
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Observation start time: 06:30:00
Observation end time: 16:30:00
Total observation time: 10 hours
Official Counter: Kyle Wright
Observers:
Weather:
High pressure across the entirety of the Eastern Seaboard. Locally mostly
clear skies with winds from the northeast in the morning and northwest for
the afternoon hours.
Raptor Observations:
Birds were flying right from the get go this morning, with 68 accipiters in
the first half hour alone. The birds got high quickly though, becoming
quite tricky to detect against a blue sky, with the ten to eleven hour
seeing only fourteen birds. A few clouds moved in for the next few hours,
with birds detected almost exclusivly as they moved below the sparse
patches of white and grey, and an average of about 100 birds per hour from
eleven to one. Afer that, the clouds again became sparse and the number of
counted birds again plummeted. With more clouds, could this have been a
four digit day?
Non-raptor Observations:
Non raptors counted between 6:30 and 11:00 (bird time) include 7 Common
Loons, 13 Great Blue Herons (though it was commented that at their
altitude, we could not rule out Grey Heron), 12 Red-bellied Woodpeckers, 4
Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, 190 Northern Flickers, 82 Cedar Waxwings, 9
Eastern Meadowlarks,23 Eastern Bluebirds, and 2370 American Robins, with
980 of the latter species counted in the first half hour alone. Other
species noted throughout the day included (Yellow) Plam, Blackpoll,
Black-throated Blue, Yellow-rumped, and (a late) Prairie Warblers,
Savannah, Swamp, Song, White-throated, and Chipping Sparrows, Indigo
Bunting, Blue-grey Gnatcatcher, Swainson's and Hermit Thrushes, a small
flight of American Goldfinches, a nuthatch species, and at least 14
American Pipits. Also 101 Monarch Butterflies... Sounds like a great Disney
movie, right? I can just see Glen Close in intricate patterns of haute
couture black and orange.
Predictions:
North winds and blue skies are again predicted, so likely a repeat of today
with the potential for decent numbers but a lot of eye strain to see them.
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Report submitted by Brian Taber (Taberzz@xxxxxxx)
Kiptopeke State Park information may be found at:
www.cvwo.org
