Today (Oct 11) returning from the Kiptopeke, VA Hawk Watch - while crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, I had 6! Peregrine Falcons flying along (over & beside) the bridge part (plus a 7th along the hwy maybe a mile before the CBBT. Two of them even landed (momentarily) on the roadway in front of my car. In over 5 decades of birding (including hawk-watching), I've never seen anything like this. The birds seemed to be hugging the bridge to minimize the impact of the wind and rain from the remnants of Hurricane Isaisis. However, I've long wondered if migratory hawks use the bridge to cross the Chesapeake Bay. While this is but a single data point, some observations can be made: On the one hand, the storm was unusual compared with usual weather conditions. On the other hand, Peregrine is the one raptor probably least "concerned" about flying across open water. None-the-less, I think demonstrates that even a bird as tough as a Peregrine Falcon will seek to follow a less risky path (near a solid structure such as a bridge) as opposed to striking out across open water with no possible landing point until reaching the opposite side. All seven of the birds I saw today were in juvenile plumage. By point of reference, yesterday, at the hawk-watch, there were roughly 70 peregrines; the vast majority young birds (usually the majority of birds I see there are adults), and the previous day, some 160 birds.
Yes I understand I'm talking about Virginia, not the Carolinas, but in fall migration, most if not all the Virginia migrant birds wind up in, or transiting North Carolina. Moreover, I suspect that vast majority, perhaps all of the Peregrines on the Outer Banks come from these Virginia migrants. However, the numbers seen at Kiptopeke every fall, dwarfs the numbers seen anywhere in NC (much less the OBX). Where the birds go after Kiptopeke is unknown - including they theory that they "cycle" back around without crossing the water. After today, the evidence is they do cross and are simply missed. Accordingly, after crossing (reaching the urban sprawl of Norfolk and Virginia Beach), where do they go?
