The tenth annual Birding Festival here on the southern Eastern Shore was
remarkable both for its good birding and for milestones such as the
ribbon-cutting of the Coastal portion of the Virginia Birding Trail, the
presentation of the Founders Award, recognizing the achievements of Walter
Smith, Dorothy Mitchell, and their colleagues in beginning the bird-banding
operation at Kiptopeke, the fifth annual Run for the Birds, and so much else.
I'll report mostly on the birds and birding below.
Friday was breezy but pleasant, with just a trickle of birds migrating, but a
very nice push of Peregrines in the afternoon, mostly very low migrants, and
one of these at Kiptopeke sported a cherry throat, indicating a dye-marked
bird from Assateague Island; this bird later flew over the ribbon-cutting
ceremony at 5:45! Three Eastern Screech-Owls were seen on the owl hoot led
by Tom Gwynn and Don Schwab, while small numbers of Common Nighthawks were
seen over the beach at Cape Charles in the evening.
Saturday was quite hot, in the low 90s, with hardly a breeze and few birds
stirring at all. Harry Armistead found Willets, Marbled Godwits, and other
shorebirds off Willis Wharf, and Bill Akers located a Western Kingbird over
the house at Glebe Farm. At Eyre Hall, David Hughes and group found a Common
Moorhen on the pond, plus a number of Neotropical migrants, including a
Northern Waterthrush in the formal garden. Hudsonian Godwit was reported
without location or observer, probably intended to refer to Marbled Godwit.
The Eurasian Collared-Doves continued to be found along Rte 600 east of
Kiptopeke.
Sunday's cold front brought untold thousands of birds through the area,
including counts of over 100 Peregrines and 250+ Merlins past Kiptopeke,
according to veteran observers there. Good numbers of Broad-winged Hawks,
the first appreciable push of Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks, both
Cooper's and Sharp-shinned, as well as plenty of American Kestrels and Osprey
were seen moving southward; reverse-migrating Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers
numbered at least 8 here that day. Peggy Spiegel found a Mississippi Kite at
Wise Point, right over the birding festival tents on Sunday morning!! New
arrivals on this front were Brown Creeper, Golden-crowned Kinglet,
White-throated Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow (3 or 4
found by Fenton Day and party on the CBBT, along with about 10 Saltmarsh
Sharp-tailed Sparrows), Sedge Wren (also at the CBBT), Snow Goose (flock at
Chincoteague found by Todd Day and party), Brant (found by Harry Armistead
and party), Blue-headed Vireo (2 at Kiptopeke), Rusty Blackbird (at
Kiptopeke); a Pine Siskin here at the house today was the only other new
arrival noted. American Pipits were seen as single flyovers both Thursday at
Eastern Shore of Virginia NWR and today at Sunset Beach (Todd Day), but not
over the weekend. Surprisingly, no Hermit Thrush was reported, but a
late-ish Wood Thrush, several Swainson's, and a Gray-cheeked were noted by
Hal Wierenga and Lynn Davidson in the morning. The numbers of Tree Swallows,
Blue Jays, Eastern Phoebes, and other mid- to late-season migrants were
healthy. The banding operation at Kiptopeke caught a late male Hooded
Warbler on Sunday morning.
At Sunset Beach on Sunday, huge counts were made of Gray Catbird, Brown
Thrasher, Northern Parula, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Northern Flicker
(over 300), Myrtle Warbler, Indigo Buntings, Swamp Sparrows, and both Palm
Warblers; a few Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Yellow-billed Cuckoos, House Wrens,
and Eastern Towhees, two Dickcissels, Eastern Phoebes, Bobolinks, Cedar
Waxwings, a Philadelphia Vireo, and a Baltimore Oriole were likewise seen
here. (Todd Day will probably post tallies for this site later on.) Black
Scoters were seen over the weekend but had been reported already on 21
September. A Virginia Rail was noted in the road at the Eastern Shore
refuge, remarkable!
Ned Brinkley
Cape Charles, VA
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