ANNOUNCEMENT!
Michael will be giving a talk on Monarch butterflies this coming Monday, 10/15. It will be at 5:30 pm at picnic shelter 2 (the one across from the Kiptopeke Hawkwatch Platform).
I will have an additional Early Bird Nature walk this Sunday, 10/13, at 9:00 am. We will meet at the Hawkwatch Platform. All you need is proper outdoor attire and a desire to enjoy the beautiful trails of Kiptopeke (although binoculars and coffee are helpful too)!
Now on to our regular updates:
Tuesday 10/8:
While the day started and ended with pouring rain, we were able to spend a good chunk of the day on the platform. Thankfully even with the poor conditions, we saw several Northern Harriers, Peregrine Falcons, Ospreys, and a handful of other raptors. We also saw a flight of 10 Marbled Godwits! There was also a lone Wilson’s Snipe and a very unfortunate Great Blue Heron that a peregrine stooped on several times. There were several low flying Ospreys, one of which showed off it's lunch. We believe it was a very large and unlucky fish. We are not quite as good at “flying” fish identification as we are at hawk ID. If you recognize this species of fish, please comment and let us know what you think it is!
Marbled Godwits (Megan Murante)
Osprey (Megan Murante)
Osprey (Megan Murante)
Wilson's Snipe (Megan Murante)
Wednesday 10/9:
What a day for warblers! Just from the platform we were able to see several dozen Palm Warblers, a few Northern Parulas, Pine Warblers, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and one Tennessee Warbler. We had a few birds that were the first of season for their species, such as a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, a Swamp Sparrow, and a White-throated Sparrow.
Four vultures were perched on the t-pole by the platform together, two of each species. While there are several different species that have perched on the t-pole this season, it was pretty exciting that there were two Black Vultures and two Turkey Vultures at one time.
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Megan Murante)
Tennessee Warbler (Megan Murante)
Pine Warbler (Megan Murante)
Palm Warbler (Megan Murante)
Pair of Palm Warblers taking off (Megan Murante)
Northern Parula (Megan Murante)
Two American Crows chasing a Cooper's Hawk (Megan Murante)
Thursday 10/10:
We made up for the two slow days this week with several hundred raptors on Thursday. There were 812 birds, with good numbers of Sharp-shinned Hawks, Cooper’s Hawks, American Kestrels, and Merlins. The majority of the raptors were flying above us at great heights and distances. It was a challenging day for spotting them, since they were so high up and there were thousands of Tree Swallows swooping around the platform throughout the day.
One of the best parts of the day occurred right as we were about to leave (thank goodness we didn’t miss it)! A flock of 29 Great Egrets and seven Snowy Egrets flew over the platform. We also saw four American Goldfinches and two Tennessee Warblers.
Swarm of Tree Swallows (Megan Murante)
Chipping Sparrows enjoying our bird bath (Megan Murante)
American Crow in front of the moon (Megan Murante)
(Anna owes me more ice cream from Brown Dog now)
Flock of Great and Snowy Egrets (Megan Murante)
Friday 10/11:
Today we had another good accipiter flight, with 125 Sharp-shinned Hawks and 177 Cooper’s Hawks. There were high numbers of swallows again, but amongst the Tree Swallows there was at least one Bank Swallow.
One of the main highlights of today was a very low immature Red-shouldered Hawk that circled around right in front of the platform. This beauty let us have a very good look while basking in our admiration, and then promptly moved on. We also had some very nice views of Northern Harriers.
Red-shouldered Hawk (Megan Murante)
Adult Male Northern Harrier (Megan Murante)
Bald Eagle (Megan Murante)
Cooper's Hawk (Megan Murante)
-Megan
