Blue Jays Galore

Blue Jays have been storming the hawkwatch recently, with over 13,000 jays having been counted in the past week! The flight began to really pick up for these birds around the 24th, dazzling the many visitors we've been getting since then. 

                               (All photos Karl Bardon.) 

It's an amazing thing to watch a group of Blue Jays fly over; they have a way of cascading through the sky that is unlike any other group of birds I have witnessed. In particular, I've noticed that when they fly over the pines north of the platform, they often seem to explode from some invisible central point into the sky and scatter in numerous directions as they're overhead. It's a beautiful thing to see! The more I study these familiar backyard birds, the more appreciation I have for how truly stunning and intelligent they are. Steve Thornhill mentioned last weekend that they are his favorite bird, and I'm beginning to see why.

 

As is the way in the natural world, we aren't the only ones who have noticed the jay flight - Cooper's Hawks have taken notice as well. Today, we had a Cooper's (or perhaps several) ambush the feeders - where the jays have been hanging out en masse - no less than seven times! One of those times, I thought I noticed that it was a Sharp-shinned Hawk doing the ambushing, which surprised me slightly given their more diminutive size. Interestingly, when I mentioned this to Harry Armistead and Karl, both described that they've seen Sharpies "playing" with the jays, almost as if both parties know that this smaller accipiter is unlikely to actually get a Blue Jay, but hey, it sure is fun trying (well, at least for the Sharpie…). 

One reason we could be seeing high numbers of jays this year has to do - as migration always does - with food. The Winter Finch Forecast for this season notes that several varieties of nut crops - upon which Blue Jays partially depend - are not doing so well in parts of the east. Blue Jays can be irruptive migrators if their food supply is lacking, which may be what we are now witnessing.

 

At least for the hungry Cooper's and the guests who have been repeatedly wowed by the huge groups of Blue Jays flying over, this appears to be a good thing!

Until next time, 

Bridgett 

Peregrines and Orioles

Today marked the first real wave of Peregrine Falcons we've seen since beginning our count on September 1st. Until this point, the highest daily count we've had for Peregrines was 5, with most daily tallies being more like 0-2. Today, we totaled 32! While this is only the beginning, of course, we're now looking forward to seeing more Peregrines as they continue migrating south.

In other news from this week, Wednesday the 23rd marked our first notable morning flight of the season. We arrived at the platform just before sunrise to a number of birds moving through the air. Among others, we had 182 Northern Flickers, 120 Cedar Waxwings, 400+ warblers of various species, and a surprising 362 Baltimore Orioles! As long-time followers of this hawkwatch might know, this is far and away the highest single-day count for Orioles that has ever been recorded at Kiptopeke, with the previous daily high being 80 individuals recorded all the way back in 2005. 

For Karl, a morning like this was not a new sight, but for me - being new to hawkwatching - seeing this many birds moving through the pre-dawn sky was something I had never seen before; I was totally taken with the experience. Hopefully, it will be only the first of many such mornings to come!

- Bridgett

Karl on his railing perch on Wednesday morning (Bridgett Brunea).

Peregrine Falcons are on the move! (Karl Bardon.)

The winds were favorable on Wednesday for these Baltimore Orioles (Karl Bardon).

One of the first American Kestrels of the season to sit on top of the T-pole behind the platform (Steve Thornhill).

Swainson's Hawk!

This morning we had a very unexpected visitor flying over the platform: a juvenile Swainson's Hawk! 

I saw an unfamiliar (to me) hawk flying just over the treetops this morning and was about to say, "Wow, Karl, what the heck is this bird?" when I heard a shout of "Swainson's Hawk!" and the subsequent sounds of Karl scrambling for his camera!

He was able to get several shots before the bird - who was moving relatively rapidly to the south - disappeared behind the treeline. Needless to say, this was the bird of the day for both of us!

- Bridgett

A Black-whiskered Vireo at Kiptopeke!

By now, many of you have probably heard of the incredible find that Matt Anthony - birder extraordinaire from Cape Charles - had not far from the hawkwatch platform at Kiptopeke State Park on September 15th - a Black-whiskered Vireo! 

This caused much joyful mayhem among area and regional birders, as people scrambled from as far away as Richmond, Northern Virginia, and beyond to attempt to find what is, for Virginia, a very rare bird. Some folks spent all day searching for the bird, which was first sighted in the morning and then re-sighted later in the afternoon. CVWO board member Nancy Barnhart was one of the lucky folks who was there for the afternoon re-sighting, and CVWO President Brian Taber drove over the bridge-tunnel first thing yesterday morning, also gaining a re-sighting! This is only the second time that this bird has been spotted in the state, with the first time having been almost three decades ago. 

You can juuuust make out the black "whisker" in this photo (Nancy Barnhart). 

Nesting in Southern Florida (and rarely seen north of there), Black-whiskered Vireos can be discerned from their very similar cousins - the far more common Red-eyed Vireo - by the tell-tale "whisker" (a dark lateral throat-stripe), subtleties of color variation, and their longer, thicker bills. As Matt said to me yesterday morning, "This is a birder's bird." While it may lack some of the showier field marks that would attract the average non-birder, there is certainly no doubt: this bird is an exceptional find not only for our state, but for the entire region. 

Matt said he discovered the bird amidst a group of other vireos, including Red-eyed and Philadelphia (Nancy Barnhart). 

With a number of excellent, devoted birders frequently walking Kiptopeke's trails, who knows what might be found here next? If ever there was an incentive to wake up early and go birding, this is it! For those interested in seeing if they can track this bird down for themselves, check out eBird for more info.

One last view of this delightful vireo (Nancy Barnhart). 

Happy birding!

Bridgett

High Counts, Kestrel Corridor, and the Making of New Birders

Greetings, everyone! Hope your week has been moving along well. Ours started off with a bang, with Labor Day Weekend proving to be very full. We had more than 80 visitors to the platform over the course of three days, and birds were also in abundance!

 

Saturday the 5th marked an excellent beginning to the weekend, with cooler temperatures than we'd seen all week. We began the day hopeful that we'd have a good flight day and were not disappointed: Karl counted a total of 898 birds, 242 of which were raptors! This was our best raptor day of the season thus far. Osprey definitely came in the lead for raptors, with 152 birds seen flying south. Additionally, this was also our best day so far for Broad-winged Hawks (23), Bald Eagles (14), and Northern Harriers (7), as well as for American Kestrels (32), Merlins (4), and Peregrine Falcons (2). A Saturday highlight for me was watching a flock of White and Glossy Ibis, totaling 41 birds, flying in a lovely arcing pattern on the western horizon.

 

Yesterday, we (un)officially dubbed the bit of sky just to the west of the main platform "Kestrel Corridor". For whatever reason, we've noticed a lot of the low-flying kestrels choose to move through this one very particular zone. Ah, the mysteries of wind currents and migration! We also noticed, particularly on September 8th, that there were increasing numbers of kestrels flying in groups of three or more - hopefully a taste of what's to come! We were also lucky on this day to have most birds flying exceptionally low; the dense, low-hanging clouds we experienced throughout the day were likely responsible for this, as birds - like any of us - usually prefer to avoid navigating through fog banks, where visibility is low.

 

We have been delighted throughout this week to have so many visitors, both those who have been coming here for decades and those who had never even heard of a hawkwatch! As the educator, I was excited to see how many people who simply wandered over to see what was going on actually ended up being fascinated by what we were doing. There were at least a dozen people of different ages and backgrounds who even said they wanted to take up birdwatching after speaking with us. It is truly exciting to see that having such a visible research and education program actually does make an impact on how people see and interact with the natural world. Encouraging folks of all different ages, ethnicities, and backgrounds to get out and bird seems to me to be one of the best tools we have in protecting these vulnerable species.

 

My sources (i.e., Karl :) inform me that the wind should be changing direction tomorrow (we've had steady East/Northeast winds for most of the season thus far), so hopefully this shift will bring our flying friends straight over the platform and our next update will include even more birds!

 

Until next time!

Bridgett 

Saturday morning began with Karl scanning the skies while our first group of visitors - led by Roberta Kellam of Birding Eastern Shore - watched for raptors from the back of the platform (Bridgett Brunea).

A beautiful photo of one of Saturday's 152 migrating Osprey (Steve Thornhill).

A migrating female Baltimore Oriole (Karl Bardon). 

A Halloween Pennant dragonfly spotted by Karl on an early-morning walk near Taylor Pond, which is located a little less than a mile behind the hawkwatch platform. (Karl Bardon.) 

Friday Update

Happy end of the week, everyone! Over here at Kiptopeke, we've been faithfully scanning the skies since our last update. In the last several days, we've been experiencing northeast winds and very hot and humid temperatures, which are at least partially responsible for our having lower numbers of migrating birds over the past few days. We are hopeful that things will pick up in the next few days - keep your fingers crossed!

Purple Martins and Eastern Kingbirds continue to be the majority of songbird flyovers, with a few others such as Northern Flickers, Brown Thrashers, Blue Grosbeaks, and Semipalmated and Black-bellied Plovers making appearances. In the world of raptors, Osprey, Bald Eagles, Broad-winged Hawks, and Cooper's Hawks have been our most frequent visitors, with most being visible only at a very far distance on the Eastern horizon (which, though challenging, is great practice for a novice hawkwatcher like myself!). 

 

Despite this week's hot temperatures and lower overall numbers, we have had a great highlight: this year already marks our best kite season yet! Monday and Tuesday's kite kick-off were not to be the last, as Karl counted three more Mississippi Kites on September 3rd. (We had the pleasure of a visit today from Bob Ake, who mentioned that kites are steadily expanding their range, and so reports of their presence is going up in many locations.) One juvenile surprised us by flying so low over the platform that you could clearly see its markings with the naked eye, which had Karl hurriedly scrambling for his camera. 

 

I have also been keeping a daily tally of monarchs that move past the platform, with a high of twelve monarchs seen on September 2nd. We have also noticed a number of dragonflies around the platform, at least some of which may be migrating. Karl knows the names of a few dragonfly species, and together we're going to start learning to identify more - hopefully we'll have some pictures to share with you in upcoming posts! We've also both been doing early morning bird walks around the platform area, with Karl capturing some lovely warbler shots that you'll see below. 

 

In other news, I wanted to let you folks know that you can see a live update of our non-raptor bird numbers by going to Dunkadoo.org, clicking the "Explore" tab, then selecting the CVWO icon on the map that appears. Though it doesn't quite equal making it up to the platform, this is still a great way to keep up with what we're seeing in real time.

 

Until next time!

 

-Bridgett

A lovely Yellow-throated Warbler seen close to the platform this week (Karl Bardon). 

A rather shabby-looking molting Pine Warbler! All the Pine Warblers we've both seen this week have looked similar to this (Karl Bardon). 

The juvenile Mississippi Kite that flew extremely close over the platform. Such a beautiful bird to see at close range! (Karl Bardon.)

First Day of Hawkwatch

Welcome to Kiptopeke Hawkwatch 2020! Today marked a solid beginning for Karl and I, with Karl recording 34 species and a total of 1,577 individual birds, 48 of which were raptors. The day began early - not long after sunrise - counting flocks of migrating songbirds, with Purple Martins, Eastern Kingbirds, and Red-winged Blackbirds accounting for the largest numbers. The first raptor of the day was a Kestrel, followed not long after by a beautiful juvenile Northern Harrier flying quite low over the platform. 

There were a few exciting surprises today. To begin with, today marked the highest number of kites seen on any individual day at Kiptopeke - certainly an exciting first! On that note, we also had an unexpected visitor fly over…

 

When Karl and I arrived yesterday, we met Brian Taber on the platform, who delightedly informed us that he had seen not one, but two Swallow-tailed Kites just hours before we arrived! It was a good thing he was there to add them to the official count, but you can imagine our jealousy that we hadn't gotten to see them, too. It appears, however, that the bird-gods were smiling down upon us today: just as Karl and I were about to wrap up our first day of hawkwatch, he spotted a Swallow-tailed flying south toward the platform! It was certainly a memorable end to the day.

 

We also had a number of (human) visitors to the platform today, proving that hawkwatch can still be enjoyed even with public health guidelines in mind. All-in-all, this was an excellent first day. We are excited to see what the rest of the season will bring!

Mississippi Kite, juvenile. In total, five of these were seen today (Karl Bardon).

One of the 268 Eastern Kingbirds counted today (Karl Bardon).

A flock of Dowitcher sp. seen flying in early afternoon (Karl Bardon).

Our star of the day - the Swallow-tailed Kite! (Karl Bardon). 

- Bridgett