THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 8, 1995 TAG: 9510080135
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN JOLLY DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: KIPTOPEKE LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
Clouds obscured the sunrise while dozens of bird-watchers milled around the parking lot of the Sunset Beach Inn.
Loaded with binoculars and backpacks, they climbed onto waiting school buses and tooled off to hot birding locations scattered around the southern tip of Northampton County.
When it was light enough to see, they were in position, watching.
``All these migrants move at night,'' said Tom Gwynn, tour guide for a short walk through Mockhorn Wildlife Management Area, as he watched the bushes for birds. ``They start feeding in the morning.''
About 2,000 bird-watchers are expected to participate in the third annual Eastern Shore Birding Festival this weekend. They have 16 venues for observing water birds, raptors and the migratory songbirds that concentrate on the peninsula's tip at this time of year.
Festival-goers could take canoe trips through seaside marshes, hike sandy beaches, count raptors at the Kiptopeke State Park hawk observatory, and even take tours through two of the Eastern Shore's most stunning waterfront farms.
The festival was staffed by a flock of volunteers. Some worked for Northampton County offices and the school system. Others were state park and game department employees, regional planners, Chamber of Commerce members, and Citizens for a Better Eastern Shore.
Gwynn, who led the Mockhorn tour, is a Norfolk resident who works for the city of Suffolk and volunteers for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. He's an encyclopedia of information about birds and bird habitats. As the hike progresses, he tells the bird-watchers about the local plants - using their Latin names - identifies bird calls, and watches closely for anything that flies, cheeps or rustles.
On Saturday morning's brief Mockhorn hike, watchers saw an osprey, marsh hawk, cormorant, Carolina wren, a flicker and possibly a kestrel. Then there was the one lonely blue jay.
``Sometimes we'll get flocks of 600 or 700 of them down at the point,'' said Gwynn. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
HUY NGUYEN/Staff
Lynn Chandler of Williamsburg and other bird enthusiasts keep a
lookout for migrating birds during an early-morning outing on
Mockhorn Island under the guidance of volunteer Tom Gwynn, who
points out anything that flies, cheeps or rustles.
by CNB