Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge,
Kiptopeke State Park, and Oyster, Virginia

Early Sunday morning brought us back to the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge where we were greeted by another spectacular sky.

As we walked through the refuge, we saw yellow-shafted flickers pass overhead and several raptors including Cooper's and broad-winged hawks. We paused to watch an osprey attempting to catch a fish in a small pond. It was successful on its third attempt and we watched it dine on its meal. We passed double-crested cormorants and egrets while we were making our way to a World War II era bunker. This was one of two that had once held 16 inch guns for the protection of the Hamptons Road area. Now, the top of the tower had been converted to a viewing area and we climbed to the top. From this vantage point, we heard the rattle of a belted kingfisher as we watched it pass us. We also saw several small songbirds, but were unable to identify most.

Huge flocks of swallows swirled around us. One was not so fortunate, as we watched a Cooper's hawk fly over the flock and then swoop down and grab one in its talons. It was a truly thrilling to watch this raptor in action.

Later that morning, we went on one of the Festival's habitat hikes at Kiptopeke State Park. Once again, the scenery was magnificent. Instead of birds, we started out with insects and other bugs. We saw butterflies, dragonflies, and a brown praying mantis. I noticed a long thread that was holding a spider web across the trail. Someone traced the thread back to the web and then found a tiny spider in the center of the web. I had never seen anything like it. The spider had a hard center with six little spikes or spines projecting from it. The naturalist said that this was a rare tropical species that he had discovered in Virginia. It had only been found at four sites previously, and this was now the fifth. A little later, we came across another one.

And then there were the swallows. I had seen large flocks of tree swallows at previously at Cape May, New Jersey and the day before at Fisherman Island National Wildlife Refuge. But I had never seen anything like this. Huge flocks swirling overhead, then a mass of seeming synchronized confusion swooping and rising, again and again. Suddenly, they formed a vortex and descended upon some bayberries. Unbelievable! The swirling around the bayberries was repeated several times. I was puzzled by this behavior, but Peterson's Field Guide stated that in addition to insects, tree swallows ate bayberries. The size of the flocks amazed us. Later on, we heard reports that the hawk counters (reliably) estimated that there were more than one million tree swallows in the Cape Charles area staging for migration.

Although we did not stay at the hawk watch platform at Kiptopeke State Park, we did observe several species of birds of prey including broad-winged, Cooper's, and red-tailed hawks; turkey vulture, merlin, and northern harrier. A flock of four soaring black vultures was a nice addition to the raptor sightings. Again songbirds were in short supply, but we were able to locate a Carolina wren after hearing it sing for a while. The shore brought us brown pelicans, great blue heron, Forster's terns, and willets. After the park, we returned to the hotel where we grabbed a quick lunch at the refreshment stands and were fortunate enough to sight a peregrine falcon.

In the afternoon, we did not go on one of the Festival's scheduled events, but drove north on our own for a little while and stepped back into the past in the small town of Oyster. The piles of crushed shells attested to how aptly the town was named. The slowdown in the fishing industry has apparently brought economic hardship to Oyster and, hopefully, it will gain from the benefits of ecotourism that the Festival is promoting. One of our Prodigy friends had mentioned, to our surprise, that there was cotton growing in the area. We had not thought that it could be grown commercially so far north, but saw many cotton fields in the area.

As we drove down a narrow street, we stopped to watch some ruddy turnstones in a parking lot. At the end of the road, we came upon two birders who were intently studying a mixed flock of birds. These included more turnstones and willets, greater yellowlegs, and a single black-bellied plover. But the best birds in the group were the marbled godwits. Later, we chuckled as a snowy egret tried to stake out a claim on a sunken boat.

For dinner that night, we tried Sting Rays Restaurant. It had been recommended by several local people as the best restaurant in the area. We were warned not to be turned off by the looks of the place since it looked like a truck stop (and indeed it was). We tried an assortment of dishes and found them all to be good. Not the hautest of cuisine, but good, solid, honest cooking. From then on, I ate every meal at this restaurant. Highly recommended.