A bit of Kiptopeke banding station history

The Kiptopeke songbird banding station was first opened in 1963 and has banded every year since making it one of the longest-running stations of its kind in North America. Because the station is found near the southern tip of the large Delmarva Peninsula, fall migrants are funneled to the south tip, producing high concentrations of birds in the area. Every year thousands of birds of roughly 100 species are banded here. A lot has changed here over the last 44 years, but one things has stayed the same, this area is still highly important to migrating birds. Since 1963, over 300,000 birds of 160+ species have been banded here.
In recent times, the banding station has opened for the fall on the 15th of August and runs seven days a week, weather permitting, until the 22nd of November. The banding station is located inside the Kiptopeke State Park.

Welcome!

Howdy all,

And Welcome!

Over the next few months, I will be updating this blog site with news, events, history, and activities about the Kiptopeke bird banding station located here on the southern tip of the beautiful Delmarva Peninsula.
I will be updating this site frequently, so please check this site often! I plan to give you a little bit of everything that occurs here at Kiptopeke. My main goal is to give you weekly updates of the birds we are catching this fall including numbers, species, and even a few pictures. But since I am a jack of all trades and a master of none, I will also be putting other info on this site about just life in general here, weighting heavily on the natural and scientific side of life.
This pretty much explains a lot about what goes on here at Kiptopeke.
I work for Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observatory, which is a non-profit organization. CVWO was formed in 1994 to study and oversees a few of the research projects here on the south tip of Virginia's eastern shore, including songbird and raptor banding, a hawk count, and Monarch tagging to name a few. To learn more about CVWO, please visit their website at www.cvwo.org.

Cheers,
Jethro Runco
Head songbird bander
Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observatory

Golden-Winged Warbler 10/3/03