Kiptopeke Hawkwatch
Tip of Virginia's Eastern Shore, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 31, 2011
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 8 835 1994
Bald Eagle 2 151 269
Northern Harrier 4 318 456
Sharp-shinned Hawk 80 5258 9399
Cooper's Hawk 12 1242 1910
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 19 20
Broad-winged Hawk 0 1041 1337
Red-tailed Hawk 2 173 218
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 1
American Kestrel 1 2004 4056
Merlin 0 693 1400
Peregrine Falcon 2 441 754
Unknown Accipiter 0 4 18
Unknown Buteo 0 2 3
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Falcon 0 12 20
Unknown Raptor 0 29 48
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1
Total: 111 12222 21904
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 07:00:00
Observation end time: 15:30:00
Total observation time: 8.5 hours
Official Counter: Kyle Wright
Observers:
Weather:
High clouds most of the day with temperatures between 9.3c and 15.6c and
winds from the east in the morning shifting to southeast by the end of the
count.
Raptor Observations:
I would venture that twenty plus individual red-taileds were seen from the
platform today, despite only two of them being deemed worthy of migratroy
status with some combination of the site's protocol and my best judgement.
(On the other hand, and I'm sure it's blasphemous to write this here, a
highly respected ornithologist and long time friend to CVWO and the
Kiptopeke Count commented after a recent visit that Red-taileds and Bald
Eagles are counted "a bit too conservativly" at this site by his judgment.)
Non-raptor Observations:
Hourly counts of American Robins from seven to ten bird time yielded totals
of 10,080, 4,680, and 580, making for a total of 15,340 birds seen by
Microsoft Excel's math. Seven Common Loons were noted, as were five Great
Blue Herons, ten Great Egrets, and one Snowy Egret. Thirteen Snow Geese
were also seen today, and a single Rusty Blackbird was heard (but not seen,
so how many were there really?). A Red-breasted Nuthatch was heard, and the
first few Purple Finches of the season were seen and heard flying over. A
few Pine Siskins and American Pipits were seen and heard overhead, and
perhaps the peak flights to date for the season for Eastern Bluebirds and
Cedar Waxwings were noted, though no actuall numbers were tallied. (Them
Robins and the real birds, raptors that is, were keeping me a bit busy for
counting other things!)
Predictions:
A (weak) low pushing north off the coast with high pressure up and down
most of the Atlantic states and cool winds from the north could make for a
good flight, but see yesterday's prediction (for today) to know how I
really feel.
========================================================================
Report submitted by Brian Taber (Taberzz@xxxxxxx)
Kiptopeke State Park information may be found at:
www.cvwo.org
