Kiptopeke Hawkwatch
Tip of Virginia's Eastern Shore, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 29, 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 6 824 1983
Bald Eagle 0 146 264
Northern Harrier 5 309 447
Sharp-shinned Hawk 32 5109 9250
Cooper's Hawk 4 1212 1880
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 16 17
Broad-winged Hawk 0 1040 1336
Red-tailed Hawk 2 137 182
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 1
American Kestrel 0 1991 4043
Merlin 1 693 1400
Peregrine Falcon 1 438 751
Unknown Accipiter 0 4 18
Unknown Buteo 0 1 2
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Falcon 0 12 20
Unknown Raptor 0 29 48
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1
Total: 51 11961 21643
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Observation start time: 07:00:00
Observation end time: 12:15:00
Total observation time: 2.5 hours
Official Counter: Kyle Wright
Observers:
Weather:
Much precipitation moving in a northeast direction through the area today.
The first major band of rain hit at about 8:15 bird time, with surface
level winds ahead of it out of the east and gusting to about 30mph. Bands
of drizzle and light rain thereafter, with variable winds still gusting to
above 15mph, eventually shifting to westerly and northwesterly origins.
Raptor Observations:
Official counting from 7:00-8:30 and 11:15-12:15 (all bird/standard time of
course). Many raptors observed hunting in the first hour and a half,
including multiple Harriers, Merlins, small and mid sized Accipiters and
Red-taileds, though only two birds were counted as migrants in this period.
During the midday hour of counting, many birds were high enough to be in
and out of the low ceiling of clouds, making this counter wonder (a) how
many birds were missed in this period and (b) how many birds were flying
right through the drizzle and light rain when it was simply too miserable
for the human(s) to be on the platform counting. This does bode well for a
decent cleanup flight tommorrow, and we'll just have to hope that none of
today's missed birds were the first Gos of the season, or one of Cape May's
recent scores of Swainson's Hawks.
Non-raptor Observations:
Three Monarchs noted (either braving the weather or fleeing the snow to the
north in a hurry or both, depending on your perspective). About 140 Snow
Geese, 390ish Tree Swallows, and about 70 American Robins flying over
today. Also flying over were two Great Blue Herons and sixteen Common
Loons.
Predictions:
As stated above, I have hopes of a decent clean up flight tomorrow, that
is, birds put down just to the north by this weather system, but now
realizing it is time to head south (past Kiptopeke) in large masses. Winds
should be agreeable for migration, out of the north that is, with cooler
fall temperatures also continuing for the foreseeable future.
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Report submitted by Brian Taber (Taberzz@xxxxxxx)
Kiptopeke State Park information may be found at:
www.cvwo.org
