Couch's Kingbird

This Couch's Kingbird, a first Virginia record, was found at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and was seen by many. This photo from November 24th is by Steve Thornhill.

Gray Heron

This Gray Heron, not a North American species, was found on Nov 9th by CVWO Kiptopeke Hawkwatcher Karl Bardon, at the landfill pond near Oyster, now called Northampton County Preserve. Amazingly, the same bird was apparently photographed at Chincoteague on Oct 31. class="separator" style="clear: both;">

A Farewell to Hawkwatch

My, how time has flown by this migration season (pun most certainly intended). We find ourselves in mid-November, and though Karl will be staying through November 30th, tomorrow marks my last day with the fine folks of Kiptopeke Hawkwatch. 

It has truly been a joy to work here. I want to thank the amazing CVWO team and their supporters as well as all of the wonderful visitors to the platform - both first-time and long-time - who made my time here so enjoyable. Thank you for a wonderful season!

Below, you'll find a few photos from the past week that show a bit of what we've been seeing recently. I hope you enjoy, and happy birding! 

- Bridgett 

Around November 8th, Karl and I started noticing far more 

American Goldfinches hanging out at the feeders; a flock of 

more than 100 circulated around the platform the entire day, 

much as the Pine Siskins before them had done. It was interesting

because as soon as the goldfinches arrived, the siskins - who had

also been hanging around the feeders in a group of 100 or so

for many weeks - disappeared right away. There are still a few

stragglers around, but nothing like the constant group

we had been seeing! It's also interesting to note that 

on November 9th, we broke our platform record for American 

Goldfinches; the previous record was 2,500, and on the 9th we 

counted 3,508! (Karl Bardon)

Speaking of birds who've been hanging around the platform,

this juvenile Cooper's Hawk mentioned a few posts ago has

continued to make his presence known at the feeders. One morning

last week, Karl and I noticed that (s)he was repeatedly calling 

back and forth throughout the morning with an adult female 

Cooper's who had also been hanging around the platform. We 

speculated that perhaps this was Mom checking in with Junior

as the youngster learned its way around hunting. (Karl Bardon)

Our lovely friends the Pine Siskins making their way elsewhere. 

(I must admit, I'm a little jealous of whoever is getting these little

fellows at their feeders now that we aren't!) (Karl Bardon)

Large flocks of Common Grackles have become commonplace 

in the last week-and-a-half, with 6,892 having been counted 

since the 8th! Our highest-count day was the 9th, in which we 

counted 2,855. (Karl Bardon)

There have been a few straggling Osprey making their way past

recently. Such a common raptor early in the season, it is now a 

treat to see them flying by. (Karl Bardon)

On slow migration days, vultures (both Turkey and Black) provide 

us with much-longed-for visual relief from the endless 

blue of the sky, forming long, flowing flightlines. 

Though vultures are much-maligned, they are essential 

parts of our ecosystems and - though rarely 

given credit for this - are also just as much a raptor

as their more attractive raptor compatriots. So, three cheers

for these unloved birds! (Karl Bardon) 

And when very few other raptors are flying, I've learned it's the 

Sharp-shinned Hawk we can rely upon to fly over, 

bringing joy to the hawk-obsessed among us. (Karl Bardon)

Three Long-Awaited Birds

The past two days were highlighted by three birds we've been waiting to see for weeks: a group of Evening Grosbeaks, a Golden Eagle, and a Rough-legged Hawk!

We have been getting increasing reports of Evening Grosbeaks to the north of us, and on November 4th, we finally got 8 of our own for a brief and beautiful few minutes at the platform feeder. They didn't stay much more than 5 minutes, but it was wonderful getting to see them! As is the case with several other species we've seen this year, they are an irruptive bird and are not seen here every year. In fact, they are even more rare to see than many of the other irruptive species, not coming to this region on as regular of a basis. 

While Golden Eagles are seen every year at Kiptopeke (in small numbers, usually no more than 5 or 6 and generally not 'til November), they seem to incite a kind of fervor in people. I've been hearing mutterings of "When will the first Golden Eagle arrive?" almost since my first day of work on September 1st! I must admit that I haven't been immune to Golden Eagle fever; when we spotted it today, there may or may not have been some gleeful jumping up and down occurring...

The Rough-legged we saw on November 4th might be considered even more of a special guest. As many of you may know, several hawkwatches to the north and west have been getting record numbers of Rough-legs this year, which caused us to wonder if we would indeed see our own. The last time a Rough-legged was spotted at Kiptopeke was 2017 (a year in which 4 were seen); prior to that, the last sighting was 2013, then 2008...in other words, this is definitely not an every year bird here! However, according to our records, when Rough-legs do show up, they often bring friends; many of the years they've been sighted here, there has been more than one counted. So, keep your fingers crossed - perhaps we'll see a few more! 

The juvenile Golden Eagle we spotted today. We 

were glad to have Wayne Valentine - a faithful

visitor to this year's hawkwatch - there with us to

see this magnificent bird flying over! Much to our

delight, it actually came back a second time! 

(Karl Bardon)

The stunning group of Evening Grosbeaks, which 

included 4 males and 4 females. (Karl Bardon)

The Rough-legged Hawk (a juvenile dark-morph) 

spotted on the 4th. (Karl Bardon)

I suppose this makes the blog post title into false

advertising...but here's a fourth cool species we

saw on the 4th - American White Pelicans! While

we've had one other flock of them (50 on October 13th),

this is not at all a common bird for this part of the 

Southeast, so it was a delight to see them after

everything else we saw yesterday! (Karl Bardon)

Until next time,

Bridgett

Migration Highlights Reel

The past week has been full of changes in the world of migrating birds!

A cold front swept in on October 28th, and that morning there was a veritable rain of American Robins, with 21,353 counted! The winds were such that Karl and I were lucky enough to have robins streaming by the hundreds directly overhead, creating a magical-feeling morning! We saw our first Snow Geese on the 28th as well - 124, to be exact - 105 of which were dark-morph (Blue Geese). The dark-morph is generally much less common than the white, so this caused some excitement for those watching from the platform. The following day brought our first flock of Tundra Swans, with 36 spotted on the eastern horizon, as well as a continued robin invasion, with 23,337 counted! At the pace the robins are migrating, as well as their tendency to continue migrating far into November, it seems likely that they will soon overtake their nearest contender - Blue Jays - as our highest-count species for the season.

We also had our season daily high record for Northern Harriers on October 27th - 51 harriers were counted that day, with a number of them being adult males, which many of us find to be a particularly beautiful form of harrier! We also saw 1,027 Surf/Black Scoters (which can be difficult to discern at a far distance, so these two species are often lumped together when this is the case). Interestingly, we've noted many of these scoters cutting across the peninsula to go toward the bay - something of an unexpected behavior for these ducks, who are most often noted staying over the water. 

On Halloween, we had our season daily high count for both Red-shouldered and Red-tailed Hawks - 31 and 71 respectively. There was a period of an hour or so where the sky seemed to be filled with numerous birds of both species, certainly making for some enjoyable hawkwatching! 

One of the 67,511 American Robins we've counted 

as of November 3rd (Karl Bardon). 

Tundra Swans - such a beautiful bird to 

see in flight! (Karl Bardon).

One of two Cooper's Hawks who've been 

hanging around the platform in the past 

week. We watched this juvenile make numerous

false starts at birds until he was finally successful - 

I suppose it takes a while to learn these things!

(Karl Bardon.)

Surf Scoters (Karl Bardon). 

We have seen several Yellow Palm Warblers 

throughout the past week, adding to our 

late-season warbler diversity! 

(Karl Bardon).

Red-shouldered Hawk (Karl Bardon). 

It has been a truly enjoyable week in the world of Kiptopeke Hawkwatch. Here's hoping that we'll continue to get days as good as this past week has brought!

Until next time,

Bridgett