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!
- Bridgett
