CVWO News from Kiptopeke

Townsend's Solitaire in Williamsburg 1/1/08

2008-01-03T00:32:00.000-05:00

The start of the new year brought in the start for all of us to start are new year list, but geez, with this beauty, you can add this one to your state list, or even your life list as well!!
This Townsend's Solitaire was first seen on 1 Jan and was reported to the VA-BIRD listserve by Shirley Devan.
The first state record Solitaire came earlier this past fall and was photographed as well. A long over due species for Virginia. And as it always seems to go, the first one is the hardest to find, then the second almost always seems to come a bit easier! BUT, glad they both made it here!
Here is a picture that Brian Taber took of this beautiful bird!

Season Totals (15 Aug-22 Nov)

2007-12-11T19:21:00.000-05:00

SHARP-SHINNED HAWK...................17
AMERICAN WOODCOCK.....................5
MOURNING DOVE.........................2
YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO..................2
EASTERN SCREECH-OWL...................1
NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL.................2
YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER..............1
DOWNY WOODPECKER......................5
NORTHERN FLICKER......................7
EASTERN WOOD-PEWEE....................1
YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER.............3
ACADIAN FLYCATCHER....................1
TRAILL'S FLYCATCHER..................45
LEAST FLYCATCHER......................5
EASTERN PHOEBE.......................26
GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHER..............1
WHITE-EYED VIREO.....................16
BLUE-HEADED VIREO.....................4
PHILADELPHIA VIREO....................1
RED-EYED VIREO.......................43
CAROLINA CHICKADEE...................10
TUFTED TITMOUSE.......................3
RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH................17
BROWN CREEPER........................12
CAROLINA WREN........................42
HOUSE WREN...........................51
WINTER WREN..........................18
GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET...............21
RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET.................16
BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER.................1
EASTERN BLUEBIRD......................2
VEERY................................41
GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH..................23
GRAY-CHEEKED or BICKNELL'S THRUSH.....1
SWAINSON'S THRUSH....................14
HERMIT THRUSH........................68
WOOD THRUSH...........................5
AMERICAN ROBIN.......................27
GRAY CATBIRD........................405
NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD.................41
BROWN THRASHER.......................19
BLUE-WINGED WARBLER...................1
TENNESSEE WARBLER.....................2
NORTHERN PARULA......................27
YELLOW WARBLER........................3
CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER................1
MAGNOLIA WARBLER.....................41
CAPE MAY WARBLER......................2
BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER.........164
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER..............2585
BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER..........2
PINE WARBLER..........................6
PRAIRIE WARBLER.......................5
PALM WARBLER........................293
BLACKPOLL WARBLER.....................2
BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER..............50
AMERICAN REDSTART...................238
PROTHONOTARY WARBLER..................1
WORM-EATING WARBLER...................1
OVENBIRD.............................39
NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH.................22
LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH.................1
CONNECTICUT WARBLER...................1
MOURNING WARBLER......................1
COMMON YELLOWTHROAT.................200
HOODED WARBLER........................1
CANADA WARBLER........................1
YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT..................9
SUMMER TANAGER........................3
SCARLET TANAGER.......................1
EASTERN TOWHEE.......................20
CHIPPING SPARROW....................105
CLAY-COLORED SPARROW..................1
FIELD SPARROW........................76
SAVANNAH SPARROW......................9
GRASSHOPPER SPARROW...................1
SONG SPARROW........................183
LINCOLN'S SPARROW.....................7
SWAMP SPARROW.......................101
WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW (EASTERN).......1
WHITE-THROATED SPARROW..............100
DARK-EYED JUNCO (SLATE-COLORED)......27
NORTHERN CARDINAL....................27
BLUE GROSBEAK.........................3
INDIGO BUNTING.......................25
RUSTY BLACKBIRD.......................6
COMMON GRACKLE........................5
BALTIMORE ORIOLE......................1
PURPLE FINCH..........................1
HOUSE FINCH...........................1
PINE SISKIN...........................1
AMERICAN GOLDFINCH...................78

COOPER'S HAWK.........................1, recapture only
RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD.............2, released unbanded
NORTHERN BOBWHITE.....................6, released unbanded

TOTAL INDIVIDUALS.....................5507
NET HOURS.............................11,866
TOTAL SPECIES BANDED..................92

Harlequin Ducks on the CBBT

2007-12-10T14:01:00.000-05:00

Howdy all,

Here are a few "not all that hot" pictures of two male Harlequin Ducks that were on island 1 of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (CBBT) Sunday 9 Dec. An annual bird here on the CBBT but they are usually found on one of the other three islands (which have limited birding access). So it is always nice to see them on island 1. Along with these fellas were 6 Purple Snadpipers, 200+ Bonaparte's Gulls, 75+ Forester's Terns, 6 Long-tailed Ducks and Northern Gannets. Surprisingly, NO Scoters of any kind.
Cheers,
Jethro

Hawk Season Totals

2007-12-09T10:18:00.000-05:00

Hey Folks!

Joe Medley and I want to thank all of you for helping us make the 2007 season a great one. We had a wonderful time out on the Shore and hope to make it back soon. We are currently driving across the US headed back to our homes in California. We are in South Texas right now. I put a photo up of the only Aplomado Falcon we found near Laguna Atascosa NWR (an unbanded juvenile). Just wanted to share our season totals with you:

Hawkwatch 2007 (bold entries are 5-year highs)

Black Vulture 159
Turkey Vulture 2,399
Osprey 2,200
Bald Eagle 242
Northern Harrier 796
Sharp-shinned Hawk 8,750
Cooper's Hawk 2,074
Northern Goshawk 16
Red-shouldered Hawk 40
Broad-winged Hawk 492
Red-tailed Hawk 372
Golden Eagle 8
American Kestrel 3,584
Merlin 1,300
Peregrine Falcon 816
Swallow-tailed Kite 1
Total 23,337

Hawk Banding 2007 (bold entries are 7-year highs)

Northern Harrier 7
Sharp-shinned Hawk 318
Cooper's Hawk 163
Northern Goshawk 3
Red-tailed Hawk 49
Red-shouldered Hawk 2
Broad-winged Hawk 1
American Kestrel 11
Merlin 145
Peregrine Falcon 26
Total 725

Good birds to you all!

Jeff Birek

Clay-colored Sparrow! Yippee!

2007-11-21T19:45:00.000-05:00

Amazing how one bird can really make your day! Like this beautiful sparrow here. This is a Clay-colored Sparrow, a rare bird to the Eastern Shore. Although I would suspect that this species shows up here on the shore every fall, they are always in very, very low numbers. And so catching one is even more unlikely. But it does happen. Since 1996, only one other Clay-colored has been banded here. And historically, only 19 have been banded here since 1963. And since I just love sparrows, you know I was extremely excited! I know some people have problems identifying this species from Chipping sparrows, but here are a few helpful hints (you can use the picture of the Chipping Sparrow a few posts below to have a comparison). Clay-coloreds lack the black line that is in front of the eye. They also have brown rumps, whereas, Chipping have gray. Also, note the back color. More tan color in Clay-coloreds, rusty-brown in Chipping. Catching this one gave us 92 species for the season!

A few more Ibis pictures!

2007-11-21T19:22:00.000-05:00

I received a few more ibis pictures from John Fox and I just loved them, so I just had to put them on the blog here! One of the pictures is the White-faced Ibis that was seen at the Ramp pond on the Eastern Shore of Virginia NWR a few weeks back but in a sweet flying pic! Makes you want to drool! Great picture!
The other picture is one of the White Ibis that was hanging around at that time as well, and once again, a great flying shot!

Makes me sick just thinking about how bad my camera is! I could never get a shot like either one of these, BUT as long as friends send me the great pictures they take, I guess I can save the money! ;-)
I would like to thank John Fox for the pics!

Finally, a Purple Finch!

2007-11-21T19:20:00.000-05:00

After reading about how common Purple Finches were out in western Virginia, I have been going crazy waiting for them to show up here on the shore. Over the last week or so, there have been an increase in Purple Finch numbers here on the shore, but most of them have just been flyovers. But I have been somewhat hopeful. Finally, we caught one today. This beautiful bird came early in the morning and was somewhat associated with a group of American Goldfinches. Although this bird looks like a female, we cannot determine the sex of this bird because it is a hatch year bird (a bird that was hatched out this summer). When it comes to first fall birds, males and females look identical. Now, if we can only catch a “purple” Purple Finch!!

Northern Goshawk Banded

2007-11-21T16:57:00.000-05:00

I hear Joe say over the radio... "The season is complete". I'm not really sure what he means and then I hear "Female Northern Goshawk".... are you kidding me?... he wasn't. A big congratulations to Joe for getting this bird today. This is the largest accipiter in North America. What a thrill! It weighed over 1 kg (the size of a hefty Red-tailed Hawk). You can see the light supercilium (line above the eye), thick dark breast streaking, broad wings and wavy tail bars that are good ID points for Goshawks. Good birds to you all. Jeff

Chipping Sparrow with half a bill

2007-11-20T20:22:00.000-05:00

We see a few deformities every now and then and many times it is part of the bill that shows the deformity. Like this Chipping Sparrow we caught today (20th Nov). The bill was mostly there but the end of it was...well...just missing. The bird was rather healthy however so it seems it has learned to overcome the deformity and live a fairly decent life. It appeared that the sides of the bill were formed well enough that it could crack and peel seeds like a normal bill would, which might be the reason this bird was doing well.

Red November?

2007-11-20T19:42:00.000-05:00

Well, the month is Red-tailed at least. We've been having pretty slow flights overall. But, the Red-tailed Hawks are flying in pretty good numbers (such as this juvenile on the left). There were five more travelling with this one in a tight kettle. Good birds to you all! -Jeff-

White-faced Ibis near Kiptopeke!

2007-11-15T15:48:00.000-05:00

Here is a picture that was take by Steve Thornhill on the 12th November at the boat ramp pond (on Ramp Lane) on the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge. A very rare visitor to Virginia, this White-faced Ibis is easily confused with the much more expected Glossy Ibis mostly this time of year. But with close examination, you will notice that this bird has the nice red eye, pink skin around the eye, and no pale blue line from above the eye to the top of the bill and the leg color shows a reddish color. This bird was one of the excellent finds over the weekend by the many birders that come here for a "rarities round". Other good birds seen in the area include, Western Kingbird, Cave Swallow, Black-and-white Warbler, Dickcissel, Baltimore Oriole, Blue Grosbeak, and a Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Nice finds over the last few days include Golden Eagle, Northern Goshawk, and Sora.

The one that didn't get away

2007-11-07T22:14:00.000-05:00

So here is the story. A few days ago, while checking the nets, we had a small flock of House Finches fly into our brush pile. While watching the flock, they busted out of the brush pile, with one bird flying into one of the nets. Of course watching nets is like watching a pot of water to boil, the bird hit the net and bounced out and flew off with the rest of the flock. Just seems to be that kind of season here this year. Well, as luck would have it, we got a second chance. On the 5th Nov., we finally caught our first House Finch of the season. This time, we were not watching the net! ;-) I know, most of you are pretty use to seeing House Finches at your feeders, and yes, they are fairly common here, but here at the banding station, they are not a species we catch many of. Since 1963, only 24 have been banded here before this season. Ironically, 16 of them have come since 1995. So for the last 10 years, we have been averaging one a season here. So this bird might be all we get this fall.

We can tell this is a House Finch by it's large slightly down curved bill and the lack of a large white supercilium (stripe over the eye).

Rusty Blackbirds!!!!!

2007-11-07T21:58:00.000-05:00

You are looking at a few pictures of some of the Rusty Blackbirds we caught here on the 5th Nov! And the exciting thing about it, is that only three have been banded here since 1963! And only one since 1993 (one was banded in 2005). On the 5th we banded SIX!!!!!! These pictures are of 3 different individuals. As most of you might know, I was stoked about catching them! They are just super cool birds!
Although they are fairly common birds here in the fall, just like other blackbirds, we don't catch them here. Once again, like the Common Grackle, our net locations don't really give us a chance to catch them. Sometimes things just work out right for us!
On this particular day, there were lots of Grackles, Rustys, and Robins that descended into the banding station. We caught 5 of 6 of each species, and were very happy with that! Every fall, blackbirds pile into the park for a day or two, then leave. The 5th was our lucky day! I would love to see this become an annual thing here, but I am afraid I am just dreaming. I guess I will just have to live with the memories and the pics of the day that we actually caught blackbirds!

One beautiful grackle??

2007-11-06T16:51:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I know that most people don't care much for Common Grackles, but I do. They are just beautiful! And you really can't see all the colors in them unless you are very close to them, or in my case, in the hand. And truthfully, this picture does not do the colors justice.
Of an interesting note, we don't catch grackles here at Kiptopeke very often. In fact, the five we caught on the 5 Nov, were the first grackles I have seen banded here since my first year here in 2001. And in fact, there has only been one other grackle banded here since 1991! Although they are common migrants through the area, we don't catch them here, mainly because of the locations of our nets. So it was a real treat to catch five beautiful males Monday!

Northern Saw-whet Owl banded 11/5

2007-11-06T16:41:00.000-05:00

It appears that this year is going to be a big year for Northern Saw-whet Owls here in the Kiptopeke area, as well as, most of Virginia. There are several Saw-whet Owl banding stations located through out Virginia and they are all reporting record or near record numbers for this season already. Northern banding sites have been catching large number of Saw-whets and it is predicted that more are on their way south. So it is hopeful that this is just the start here. We have caught two Saw-whets so far this season with the first being a recapture from the nearby owl banding effort here (run by the Center for Conservation Biology) and the other this little cutie, an unbanded adult. A species we rarely catch here (only one since 1994), I am hopeful that we will catch a few more before the end of the banding season (which ends 11/22).

Second Golden Eagle!

2007-10-31T16:15:00.000-04:00

Today we had our second Golden Eagle for the season. The photo is the first bird which flew by on October 22nd. The last two days have been painfully slow with fewer than fifty birds passing in both days combined. Hoping that tomorrow's cold front brings a ton of raptors with it! Happy Hawk-o-Ween to you all!!!

Jeff Birek - CVWO Hawkwatcher

Beautifully Captured!

2007-10-31T16:03:00.000-04:00

This depiction of the Kiptopeke Hawk platform was made by second grader Jack Hoyt of Kegotank Elementary. That's me in the middle (with blonde beard and all!!!) Thanks to all the kids for their wonderful drawings. It made a slow day on the hawkwatch much better! Jeff Birek - CVWO Hawkwatcher

The banding station at its best

2007-10-31T14:51:00.000-04:00

I wanted to add this picture to the blog to give a new prospective of the banding station. This picture was drawn by Nygeria Marshall from the Kegotank Elementary School. The schools second grade class came to visit the banding station and the hawk platform here at Kiptopeke over the past week and wanted to say thanks for the demonstrations, so all the kids said thanks by drawing us beautiful pictures! What a way to lighten up ones life! I loved all the pictures they sent along, including this one, which very accurately describes the banding station! Note the picnic tables full of smiling faces, the banding station itself, and the bird in the box! One fantastic picture!
I would like to say thanks to the Kegotank school for their continuing support of the banding station and the raptor projects! I look forward to seeing you again next fall!
Cheers,
Jethro

Gulf Fritillary

2007-10-30T21:43:00.000-04:00

Gulf Fritillary, like this one here, is pretty rare here in the Eastern Shore, coming up from the south usually in late August through early October. This Gulf was seen at the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge on the 6th October, and is the only one that was seen this fall that I know of. They are reported almost annually here, but always in very low numbers. A quite large butterfly with an orange, bat wing appearance and silver spots separate them from all other butterflies one would expect in this area.

Timber Doodler!!

2007-10-30T21:05:00.000-04:00

With a name like Timber Doodler, what's not to love about American Woodcocks?!

Check out that bill! And the eyes that have rotated to the top and back of the head! What a crazy looking bird!
Again, not a bird we catch every year here, but fortunately for us this year, we caught one. A bird that we catch only on the first net run of the morning (usually about sunrise), these birds are pretty big birds, so they tend not to get stuck in our nets very often.
Notice the tip of the bill. They have the ability to move just the tip of the bill to grab worms while they probe their bills in the ground.
Although they nest here in Virginia, we see a large push of woodcocks into the area about the first part of November.

Pine Siskin banded 10/30

2007-10-30T20:32:00.000-04:00

Today ended with a bit of a surprise at the banding station. We caught this little fella on the closing net run. Out of the seven years I have been banding here at Kiptopeke, this is only the second Pine Siskin we have caught here. So what a treat!
An irruptive species that, in some years, are fairly common, this species is just not caught often here at Kiptopeke. Since 1963, only 16 have been banded here. So not very common.

Snow Bunting on the Eastern Shore

2007-10-30T20:10:00.000-04:00

Here is a beautiful picture of a first year male Snow Bunting that Sharna Tolfree (CVWO Monarch tagger) found on Wise Point this afternoon. The area that she found the bird is located on the extreme tip of the Eastern Shore near the Chesapeake Bay-Bridge Tunnel (CBBT) where the road turns into a bridge as you are leaving the Eastern Shore heading towards Fisherman's Island. This area has restricted access and is not open to the public.
The bird was seen in the area for a few hours and remained near night fall.
With the amount of white on the bird especially on the primary covert, this bird appears to be a young male in winter plumage. Although not the rarest bird here on the shore, just a harder one to find. They are reported almost annually somewhere on the shore.

One sweet looking bird!!!

The photo was taken by Joe Medley (CVWO hawk trapper).

Jeff the hawkcounter

2007-10-27T21:34:00.000-04:00

Here is a picture of California native Jeff Birek, the CVWO hawkcounter for the fall and a beautiful adult male Northern Harrier. Jeff spends the whole day staring at the sky, counting migrating raptors from the hawk platform here inside Kiptopeke State Park. Some days its pretty easy, when their are clouds and/or the hawk flight is low, but then there are days when the sky is endless and the hawks are dots, even in a pair of binoculars. But Jeff is up to it. He is excellent at identifying raptors even if they are but just five mile away! Also, Jeff is great at doing hawk demonstrations (as he is here) informing visitors of hawk identifications and the need for conservation. And for those of you that are interested, yes, he has seen a few Bald Eagles this fall. ;-)

Worm-eating Warbler 10/22!!!!!

2007-10-27T21:18:00.000-04:00

According to the "Virginia's Birdlife an annotated checklist" by Rottenborn and Brinkley (some of you know this book as the "Gold Book") the latest known date for Worm-eating Warbler in Virginia was the 14th October, well the one pictured here is now the latest known Worm-eating to have occurred in the state. We caught and banded this one on the 22nd of October. Although not crushing the late date, its still of note.
This is a species we use to catch quite a few of here at Kiptopeke, with an average of about 15 to 20 a season and we normally catch them very early in the season with most of them occurring in August or the first half of September. But things have changed some over recent years. Last year, we only caught 3 total for the season, but at least we caught them when we were suppose to catch them. This year, we have only caught one: this one. Pretty sad. Worm-eating's are one of my favorite warblers. They are just so full of feistiness ! And they are just beautiful!

Guess it just goes to show you that you can never predict what you might find if you go out birding!

Dung Beetles amoung us

2007-10-27T21:04:00.000-04:00

Who said that Dung Beetles are ugly? Check out this beautiful little fella! This is a Rainbow Dung Beetle (a scarab beetle) and we can tell by the long "horn" on the head of this individual that this is, indeed, a male. This, by chance, is the longest horn I have seen on one of these however, hence why I took a picture of it! We normally catch quite a few of these every year here at the banding station. Some days we will catch up to ten. We also catch another kind of scarab beetle here as well. That one is much bigger and is entirely brown. And as a weird side note, those give off an odor that resembles molasses! Sick I know, but that's what it reminds me of. We catch those in our nets as well, but usually in lower numbers. But as cute(?) as they are, I would prefer we not caught them at all. They tend to make a mess out of the nets, but lucky for them, we can usually get them out with out killing them or pulling legs off of them.