Saturday's weather made the Kiptopeke Challenge all the more
challenging. We got out at 4 as planned, and heard migrating
Swainson's thrush and veery and barred owl right on schedule.
But heavy rain and wind attacked us at 5AM in Williamsburg
where we worked Bill Williams' favorite woods behind
Jamestown high School for what's left of the dawn chorus, a
few lingering territorial birds such as red-headed
woodpecker, Acadian flycatchers, indigo bunting, blue
grosbeak and wood duck. Our first sign that the storm
crushing down on us would bring interesting birds was a
short-billed dowitcher that circled the high school football
field calling persistantly at a flock of killdeer...a
fortuitous sighting as we never got close to a dowitcher for
the rest of the day. We headed to Craney, but not before
stopping at a parking lot to pick up house sparrow and
bumping into two rose-brested grosbeaks in the small trees at
the edge of the lot. By then we knew the nasty weather had a
silver lining. Next stop was Craney, where the relatively
clear skies instantly turned to a heavy gale before we could
even get out of the car. Shorebirds have thinned out
considerably over the last two weeks, but a Hudsonian godwit
and Wilson's phalarope are still around (middle of the
eastern side near the heaviest construction work where the
same species were three weeks ago), along with a half-dozen
white-rumped sandpipers. Two golden with three black-bellied
plover were a treat at the grassy verge in the northeast
corner. Four lesser-black-backed gulls (3 adults) were
another bonus. But, the biggest thrill came at noon when a
nicely marked adult long-tailed jaeger flew lazily up the
eastern edge of the dike while we searched the peeps, and
headed up the James after giving us a quick glance. The
observation was brief but spectacular, and almost made up for
the pelting horizontal rain and gale force winds hitting our
backs. With new enthusiasm we headed for the eastern Shore,
and managed to put together a decent raptor list, add
tricolored and little blue heron, and even pick up a collared
dove near the usual spot as it blasted off the road shoulder,
at the only angle that would have allowed out third teammate
(Ariel White, W&M grad student) to witness the event, before
the soaked alien disappeared into the pelting rain and wind
that had followed us to the Shore. After realizing that our
competitors had enjoyed a lovely rain free day on the Shore
as the storm tracked our movement like a shadow, we were
pleased to snag a marbled godwit and whimbrel at Oyster to
round out the shorebird list. The day ended with our 124th
species, a fleeting but spectacular peregrine winging after
some poor shorebird at Custis Tomb. Number 125, a yellow
warbler propelled sideways by the wind between Bill and I as
we walked single file, could not be relocated to be counted
by the other team members, perhaps because it had been blown
to pieces. It was a fun day and I eagerly await word of
other's Challenege adventures.
Daniel A. Cristol
Associate Professor
Department of Biology
College of William & Mary,
P.O. Box 8795
Williamsburg VA 23187-8795, USA
PHONE: 757 221-2405
FAX: 757 221-6483
You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply send email
to va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe, send email to
va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.