Hey birders…
Steve Dougill here. I'm the 2021 Hawkwatcher at Kiptopeke State Park for CVWO!
After a week at Kiptopeke, I can't think of a place I would rather be right now. Each day has been different, the winds have changed, a cold front passed …. and I have visited with a fantastic group of local birders who are so welcoming and entertaining; fun tourists with story after story; and inquisitive kids with sharp eyes that are able to pick out tiny bird specks in a cloudless sky.
The main transient this week was the Osprey, with 448 being counted. Their characteristic long drooping wings in a "M" shape as they settle in for a long glide from the horizon to the far distance. Many birds were super high, probably close to 3,000 ft up, and only visible with bins as a speck…. now is that a floater, or some dirt on my lens, or a close dragonfly …. or an Osprey? Take your eyes off them and they are lost.
I felt like I passed my first test this week: I called out a distant broad-wing hawk. Although very high I could see the tight circles this bird was making as it rose up, up, up (small raptors make tighter circles than larger ones) and the long broad wings with the wrestlers’ lack of neck and big head … no colors as it was a black speck. Steve, a regular on the hawk watch platform, maneuvered his ten pound lens into position and after some rapid fire caught some amazing details on this adult bird with the banded tail and distinctive under wing pattern. Phew, got that one right!
With the tail end of the hurricane that hit New Orleans, we saw some impressive diurnal song bird movements. Eastern Kingbirds were in a hurry to miss the cold front and I counted more than 5,000 in loose flocks streaming over one morning with about a thousand Bobolinks and 400 Purple Martins. In the middle of one flock were 3 Dickcissels giving their characteristic sharp electric buzz calls. An early Common Loon flew over very high, 2 American Avocets passed over high, and the most unusual visitor was a bird from the west: a young Rufous / Allen's hummer briefly at the hummingbird feeder. Thank you to Martina for keeping it stocked and clean! I promise I didn't pack it all the way from Oregon.
I have two requests. First, please come and visit the hawk watch. It's where the cool kids hang out (or at least the border geeks), it's fun and the birds are moving. Second, do you have an old pair of bins you can donate? I would love to have some optics to share with the kids / public so they can experience the birds. I've been handing over mine then snatching them back to quickly ID a rapidly vanishing bird … and then wiping off thumb prints from my nice Zeiss lenses … oh well… what we do for birds huh?
Tally so far at end of week 1:
Osprey 448
Bald Eagle 63
Northern Harrier 13
Cooper's Hawk 20
Broad-wing Hawk 38
Red-tailed Hawk 25
American Kestrel 49
Merlin 9
Peregrine Falcon 3
Many more to come.
Happy birding,
Steve Dougill
2021 Kiptopeke Hawkwatcher
