KIPTOPEKE STATE PARK, Va — Those at Kiptopeke State Park on the Eastern Shore are tracking some of the highest numbers of migrating falcons in North America, as well as other birds of prey. The event is called Hawkwatch.
With eyes to the skies, Sage Church spots a bird of interest, "Here's a high one going right over us, sharp-shinned hawk heading into the sun." Sage is joined by another bird enthusiast, Audrey Anderson, "So we have red-tailed hawks red-shouldered hawks. Red-shouldered are smaller...they're kinda the same size as a Cooper's Hawk and like a Peregrin Falcon."
They were hired by the non-profit Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observatory and both are all about tracking birds—-birds of prey or raptors in particular. Sage's favorite is the Merlin, "Yeah sometimes you'll see a Merlin cruising by with a dragonfly in its talon, like a snack for the road." And in the middle of that statement during our interview, he grabs his binoculars, looking upward, "There's another sharp-shinned hawk out in front of us going to the left just, kind of decently high over the parking lot."
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From sun up to sun down, Sage and Audrey are out counting birds at Kiptopeke State Park. Sage enters the data to hawkcount.orgusing his cellphone, "We just build up this data set year to year and it allows us to see if these birds numbers are like going down, going up, information Sage says will be shared with researchers, "If certain species are decreasing they would want to figure out why and what they could do to help that. The main thing with this data is, it's telling us how these birds are doing."
And Sage says they're in a great location to gather that info, "This spot is especially good in the fall because we're at the southern tip of the south-facing peninsula, so when all these birds are migrating south for the winter they get funneled down the peninsula to especially with right winds they get pushed down the peninsula and they all just kinda get bottled up down here."
Audrey adds, they've been busy, "So this is a great year—this is the best year since the 90's. So it's been pretty extraordinary, we've had over 30-thousand birds this season. Last season total we had 21-thousand. So hawks, falcons—best site in the country for falcon flights."
They've been getting shots of northern harriers, broad-winged hawks, red-shouldered hawks and sharp-shinned hawk, which have a distinct fluttering flying pattern, Sage points out, "That's just how they flap. They have short round wings—-they're kinda weak fliers."
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And while they're counting, park-goers like Bill Leonard of Virginia Beach stop by---and talk birds with Sage and Audrey and share pictures he's taken, "But I've seen several different types of birds or raptors around there."
Kai Dickson also of Virginia Beach, is out here with his dad--he visits the Hawkwatch platform weekly, "And we look up for the birds, I mean it's a huge hobby of mine and I'm trying to get my parents into it. Its' definitely something I love to do, it's a big passion of mine."
A big passion for Audrey too, "Being able to be out here and see the things change with the seasons, seeing the remarkable movements of these birds you don't get to see anywhere else." And Sage shares that sentiment, "It's a great place—it's hard to pull yourself away from here—you can't beat the Eastern Shore in the fall bird-wise."
