THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 7, 1995 TAG: 9510060051
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Maddry
LENGTH: Long : 120 lines
HAWKS.
Thousands of them flap their way down the Atlantic Flyway headed south at this time of year, migrating down Virginia's Eastern Shore for the long crossing of Chesapeake Bay.
Binoculars in hand, bird watchers at Kiptopeke State Park gathered on a long platform rising about 10 feet above a sprawling, wind-swept clearing of broom sedge where clumps of dog fennel and fountains of goldenrod sprouted in the distance.
The bird watchers take their cues from Merlin Man, the 24-year-old keeper of the count for birds of prey passing through Chesapeake Bay, some from as far north as Canada.
Brian Sullivan is no magician. His nickname has nothing to do with the legends of King Arthur. The merlin he is named for is a small hawk, formerly dubbed the pigeon hawk.
Sullivan, 24, is a tall, blond, young man with the vision of a raptor. He can scan a sky that seems to be as empty as an inverted blue bowl and see the birds of prey with his naked eye.
For closer identification, he uses the high-powered binoculars hung around his neck. ``I've never seen anyone better,'' chief park ranger Gary Williamson said. ``Things that simply look like dots of pepper up there to me he recognizes as hawk shapes immediately.''
On the high wooden platform near Sullivan were visitors from several states, all bird lovers who have learned that Kiptopeke State Park may be the best site to observe bird migrations in the U.S.
``The largest kittle (flock) so far has been of 110 hawks, mostly sharp-shinned, harriers and Cooper's hawks.'' he said.
Sullivan is so good at what he does that a newcomer has the impression he is faking it, or making fun.
The sky seems empty in all directions, just a blue haze up there. ``There are some sharpies,'' Sullivan says, reaching for his binoculars. But it's no joke. If you point your glasses in the same direction as the Merlin Man, the birds will appear in your lenses. Soaring, diving or beating their way south with determined flaps of long wings.
Way up there. Sometimes a thousand feet up.
Sullivan logs each one onto his raptor count sheet. He has been busy. He began his count in mid-August and has tallied 48,259 raptors as of Monday. The figures include 17,607 American kestrels, 17,089 sharp-shinned hawks, 1,556 merlin, 3,511 osprey, 4,965 broad-winged hawks, 466 peregrine falcons, 795 northern harriers and 106 bald eagles.
``On a good day I've spotted about 1,000 hawks,'' Sullivan said.
The most spectacular days are when a northeast wind brings the hawks right over the treetops, particularly kestrels and sharp-shinneds, the most commonly sighted raptors in the park.
``They pass within a few feet of your head, then,'' Sullivan said.
In and around the park the raptors feed on a variety of things. Merlins like dragon flies (some species of dragon flies also migrate in the fall). The raptors, including peregrines, feed on blue jays and other small birds. On a single day Sullivan may see 20 eagles and even more osprey. The eagles are fish bandits. They chase the ospreys hoping they will drop the fish clutched in their talons.
When a hawk is sighted, Sullivan uses a hand-held two-way radio to tell the hawk-banding folks what is happening in the sky above, in a blind about 200 yards away.
The banding blind where the banders sit looks like an ``Our Gang'' clubhouse, a makeshift structure with boards missing on the front so that eyes can be trained on three tall poles with lines attached to small birds.
Nets have been strung around the poles and a pigeon and two other smaller birds wear harnesses tied to the pole lines and lines running into small holes in the blind.
``There's a Cooper's hawk coming in low,'' Sullivan says into the radio.
The banders get ready, pulling their lines, causing the birds - equipped with leather vests - to rise and flap in the air.
Minutes later a Cooper's hawk flies toward the sparrow. He is about to pounce when a spring trap of netting enfolds him. The sparrow is still alive, unharmed. Bare-handed, Tony Quezon removes the hawk, grasping its legs to escape the powerful talons.
Quezon, of the Cape Charles Raptor Research Station, carries the bird, its eyes flaring, wings flapping, to the blind. He inserts the bird in a metal can, made by joining two small coffee cans together, end to end.
The hawk is immediately tranquilized by the new environment. Motionless, oddly secure in the dark confines of the canister, four or five inches of its brown and black tail sprouting from the can, like a feathered fan.
After weighing the hawk, measuring its wingspan and banding the bird, it is taken to the wooden platform where the bird watchers with binoculars are given a look.
Then the banded bird - one of about 300 banded this season - is released. A swift fluttering of feathers and the Cooper's hawk is released, disappearing on string wingbeats as it clears a distant line of pine trees.
Roger Grimshaw and his wife, Janet, came all the way from Orlando, Fla. just to see the migration. ``We've been seeing birds from the minute our car parked at the motel,'' he said. ``It's wonderful. I've never seen anything like it.''
``What is that, way up there?'' a birder asked Merlin Man before I left.
``A long-nosed F-15,'' Sullivan replied without cracking a smile. MEMO: If you'd like to watch raptors, or songbirds, during their migrations,
this is the best time. The Third Annual Eastern Shore Birding Festival
is under way at Kiptopeke today and Sunday at the Sunset Beach Inn near
the bridge-tunnel plaza. There will be art exhibits, birding workshops,
expert speakers and food and beverage tents.
ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]
HUY NGUYEN
Staff photos
Raptors are kept in tubes to calm them down until they are weighed,
measured, tagged and released.
As of Monday, bird watcher Brian Sullivan had tallied 48,259 raptors
migrating down the Eastern Shore.
HUY NGUYEN
Staff
Suzanne Miller of Herndon, Va., shows off her raptor before
releasing it at Kiptopeke State Park.
by CNB