September 25th and 26th were two wonderful days for bird watching at Kiptopeke. While we had plenty of raptors, the small birds were the real stars yesterday and today.
On Wednesday, 9/25 there were 1,101 Northern Flickers counted, most of which flew by in the early morning. Also, there was a large group of diverse passerines spotted in the area, the majority of which were Northern Parulas, American Redstarts, Black-and-white Warblers, and Red-eyed Vireos. Some of the highlights of the group that we saw from the platform were 2 Brown Thrashers, 1 Eastern Phoebe, and 1 Traill's Flycatcher. But the raptors weren’t going to sit back and be outdone… we had our first Red-shouldered Hawk of the season! There were 436 raptors total on this date.
Northern Parula (Megan Murante)
American Redstart (Megan Murante)
Black and White Warbler (Megan Murante)
Brown Thrasher (Megan Murante)
Northern Flicker before flying directly over the platform (Megan Murante)
Merlin scratching it's head before a meal (Megan Murante)
Today, September 26th, we had 320 raptors migrate through, 22 of which were Peregrine Falcons. It was a relatively slow day, but we had some nice views of the peregrines as they flew by. The highlight and a lifer for many of the individuals who went to see it (myself included) was a Northern Wheatear that was spotted by the pier at Kiptopeke. It was thrilling to see it here since it is uncommon in Virginia. We were very lucky that it decided to linger around at the same jetty for the entire afternoon!
Sharp-shinned Hawk with a full crop (Megan Murante)
Peregrine Falcon (Megan Murante)
Northern Wheatear (Megan Murante)
Northern Wheatear trying to catch a snack (Michael Ferrara)
Hopefully we have a similarly amazing day this Saturday for the Kiptopeke Challenge and Outdoor Exploration day!
-Megan
