Kiptopeke State Park, Virginia, September 27 - October 12, 2003.
Part 3.
Sun., Oct. 12. I spend 12 hours on the platform. Liz spends part of the
afternoon on Fisherman's Island with Larry Brindza attending to the
Monarchs and sees 6 Sandwich Terns there. The day of the Big Sit. We
record 75 species from within a circle of c. 18 feet, including c. 50
sapsuckers. Matt and Sarah Sharp show up, expecting their first child
soon. I see the first 2 Long-tailed Skippers I have ever found on my own
nectaring on the Abelia grandiflora at K.S.P. Peregrine Falcon 10.
Merlin 41. American Kestrel 130. Osprey 68. Bald Eagle 4. Northern
Harrier 12. Cooper's Hawk 30. Sharp-shinned Hawk 171. Red-tailed Hawk 6.
Broad-winged Hawk 58. TOTAL: 530. Monarch c. 185. Jethro banded 2
Connecticut Warblers. Bob Anderson and I visit Ramp Lane for a perfect
sunset in a clear sky, where 6 Merlins are patrolling, one of which
harasses a splendid adult peregrine, also doing its own patrolling. We
also hear 6 Clapper Rails I have dinner with 12 others at Sting-Ray's,
including the Akes, Bob Anderson and Thuy Tran, Jethro, Jen, Eric, Hal &
Lynn and others. Then head to Rigby to spend Columbus Day there.
K.S.P. notes. During my camp here I heard Great Horned Owls most nights
and less often Great Blue and Black-crowned Night herons flying over plus
thrushes overhead at night. I only encountered Gray Squirrels in the SW
sector of the area of the park N of Rt. 704. Saw cottontails and deer
several times. I did not hear of anyone finding Brown-headed Nuthatches
anywhere in the Kiptopeke area. A few half-hearted calls of Spring Peeper,
Fowler's Toads, and Green Tree Frogs were heard.
Miscellaneous: Don Schwab described the great White Cedar forest in Dismal
Swamp N.W.R. as resembling a "log pile" following Hurricane Isabel. In
spite of their great decline in Dismal Swamp, Bart Paxton says Wayne's
Black-throated Green Warblers are still very common in nearby Alligator
River N.W.R., NC.
Opinion and Commentary section of my "diary":
1. An excellent new book: "Cobb's Island, Virginia: the last sentinel" by
Ron M. Kagawa & J. Richard Kellam (Donning Co. Publ., 184 Business Park
Dr., Suite 206, Virginia Beach, VA 23462), 2003, 128pp., hardbound, ISBN
1-57864-211-6. Forget what I paid for it, c. $25, I think. Loaded with
excellent photographs, old journal entries, blueprints, and other lore,
mostly concerning the old 1880-era and 1936-era life saving stations of
that storied, marvelous island. Especially interesting to me is
information about the hurricane of August 1933 and the epic move of the
1936-era station to the mainland at Oyster and its marvelous restoration.
2. Another important document is "Eastern Shore of Virginia and Fisherman
Island National Wildlife refuges: draft comprehensive plan and
environmental assessment." March 2003. several 100 unnumbered pages.
There is also an Executive Summary of this which lacks the 11 detailed
appendices of the principal publication. Small numbers of either are
available at ESVNWR. Issues and subjects addressed include history of the
areas, hunting, other public uses, consequences of these, several different
plans for managing the refuges, and a richness of other materials, species
lists, cultural resources, and much more. There are many useful maps and a
list of references and participants and their titles. I will always regret
not commenting on this during the review period but will do so here for
what it is worth.
A. Deer hunting on Fisherman's Island. I oppose this. This island should
be a true refuge, kept peaceful for wildlife. I realize deer overbrowsing
can be a big problem. I am a former deer hunter and am actually
pro-hunting in most contexts. I WOULD like to see predator control (esp.
Raccoons & foxes) so that perhaps herons and ibis will return as breeders
here as they had been for decades until recently. I live in dread that
refuge (deer) hunting at either or both refuges will someday conflict with
the Cape Charles Christmas Bird Count, which must always either be on
December 27 or December 30 each year because of long-standing traditions of
sequencing with other Christmas counts, almost all of which center on NWRs.
Such conflict has existed at Chincoteague and been very detrimental to
that count. In such conflicts the refuges almost always seem to NOT take
into consideration the Christmas Bird Counts, which only need to be
conducted on ONE hunt-free day each year.
B. Public use of Ramp Lane. If this becomes a public boat ramp there will
be that much more disturbance of wildlife in the entire area. This is
going to happen anyway and there IS a big need for more launching areas. I
have launched from Ramp Lane myself and realize its present limitations.
The watermen who have always used Ramp Lane should be given carte blanche.
Public use of Ramp Lane is inevitable and highly needed and necessary. But
I will regret it.
C. Land Acquisition. I would like to see ESVNWR aggressively acquire
adjacent and nearby critical habitat, thickets and woodlands on the
bayside, marshes, forest, and wetlands on the seaside. Lacking such
acquisitions cooperative agreements with landowners would be highly
desirable, including entering into agreements on property easements
benefitting wildlife.
3. At the festival the most impressive items I saw were framed
black-and-white photographs of marshes, shorelines, oyster watch houses,
docks, and old buildings on the Virginia Eastern Shore seaside. Ansel
Adams would have loved these, I am sure. This splendid art will be
available soon in book form. I didn't feel like paying $150 each for some
of the photographs, but only because I collect books, not art. These
beautifully captured scenes are by Tom Mayers of Onancock, Virginia
(e-tcmayers3@xxxxxxx). phone: 757-787-7898. fax: 757-787-9179. I think I
like them even better than Thelma Jarvis Peterson's soft paintings of
similar themes. I can't wait to get a copy of the book.
4. Virginia Birding and Wildlife Trail. The Coastal Area book of the
VB&WT was issued recently. Now there is one for the Mountains region of
the state. I have not seen it but if it is anything like the Coastal Area
one it should be useful. I can't for the life of me find the phone number
to request one but the address is: Virginia Birding and Wildlife Trail,
c/o Virginia Dept. of Game and Inland Fisheries, 4010 W. Broad St.,
Richmond, VA 23230-1104. David Whitehurst and others who worked so much on
these trails guides should be commended.
5. Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observatory, P. O. Box 912, Eastville,
Virginia 23347. www.cvwo.org. basic membership is $25/year. Another
important document is CVWO's "2002 annual field research report", a 16 page
summary of research and field work done by CVWO including the hawk count,
landbird banding in spring and fall, hawk trapping, the butterfly count,
Monarch butterfly research, the College Creek hawkwatch in the spring, and
other activities. The observations in my journal this fall would not be
possible without the talented and hard-working naturalists CVWO hires each
fall. Please support CVWO.
Best to all.-Harry Armistead, 523 E. Durham St., Philadelphia, PA
19119-1225. 215-248-4120. Please, any off-list replies to:
harryarmistead at hotmail dot com
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.
