Sunday, Oct 9th 2011 - Children's Day Pass

In the last 30 years, over a quarter million birds have been banded at Kiptopeke State Park in order to increase our understanding of these migrants and their travels. This program begins at the Birding Staging Shelter and involves a short walk on a level grass trail. A volunteer from the Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observatory will take you on a tour of the banding facility and you will see a demonstration of the banding procedure. The 1-hour programs have a 30-person capacity.  A 15-minute personal vehicle trip 10 miles south of the  Festival grounds is required.

Explore the peninsula’s tip from the pine forest on the refuge to the beach near the Bridge-Tunnel. Wise Point is the area where many migrating neotropical species and monarch butterflies stop and refuel before crossing the Bay or flying to Central or South America. The 2-hour program has a 15-person capacity.  A 16 minute personal vehicle trip south of the Festival grounds is required

Glebe Farm, owned by Jack Wescoat, is a 900-acre bayside farm. This tour begins at a 25-acre old growth pine forest with a diverse understory and follows a natural trail to a sheltered riparian habitat of mixed bottomland hardwoods. Participants will travel past an inactive eagle’s nest to a site where tidal mud flats, freshwater pond habitats and the Chesapeake Bay can be viewed. The 3-hour programs have a 20-person capacity.  A 30- minute personal vehicle trip 20 miles from the Festival grounds is required.

Eyre Hall, a Bayside tract of over 600 acres on Cherrystone Creek, has impressive habitat diversity.  You will see open fields, mature forests, freshwater marshes and ponds, tidal mud flats, open saltwater and beaches.  Eyre Hall was built in 1760 by the 5 times great-grandfather of the present owners on land he acquired in 1750.  Birders are invited to tour the garden on their own after the hike.  The garden is open daily free of charge.  The 3-hour program has a 20-person capacity.  A 20-minute personal vehicle trip 12 miles north of the Festival grounds is required.

In the last 30 years, over a quarter million birds have been banded at Kiptopeke State Park in order to increase our understanding of these migrants and their travels. This program begins at the Birding Staging Shelter and involves a short walk on a level grass trail. A volunteer from the Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observatory will take you on a tour of the banding facility and you will see a demonstration of the banding procedure. The 1-hour programs have a 30-person capacity.  A 15-minute personal vehicle trip 10 miles south of the  Festival grounds is required.

Are you the adventurous type?  Join Capt. Buddy Vaughan for a boat tour of Cobb Bay and the surrounding marshes where you will be sure to see numerous shorebirds such as American Oystercatchers, Marbled Godwits, Whimbrels, various sandpipers, and many other species on their high tide roosts.  You also will get a glimpse of several nearby barrier island inlet beaches where you may encounter roosting flocks of Royal and Caspian Terns.  If the birds are acting skittish, look up and you may see a Peregrine Falcon overhead.  Be sure to bring a snack, a drink, sunscreen and a couple of layers of clothing just in case the wind picks up.   This three-hour trip, at $75 per person, leaves Oyster harbor and has a 5-person capacity. A 10-minute personal vehicle trip 5 miles east of the Festival grounds is required.

Bring your camera and binoculars and join us for a 3-hour birding adventure on this extraordinary barrier island. Program capacity is 25. Board the bus from the festival grounds. Important: Registration for this event will not be considered complete until CBBT Security Form has been completed and mailed to ESVAF Inc., P.O. Box 102, Cape Charles, VA 23310 or faxed to (651) 331-4882.

Search for the bright jewels of the invertebrate world.  Migrants like Black Saddlebags and Green Darners will be joined by other late season odonates.  Start to work on your odonate life list. Zoologists from the Virginia State DCR Natural Heritage program will lead this trip.  This 2.5-hour program will meet at the festival HQ (501 Mason Ave. Cape Charles, VA).  And will require a personal vehicle trip (locations to be determined).

Raptors, such as eagles, hawks and falcons, migrate down the Eastern Shore in great numbers. Since 1977, over 500,000 raptors have been recorded flying over Kiptopeke State Park. Join volunteers at Kiptopeke’s Birding Staging Shelter (wheelchair accessible) for a close-up visit with a newly banded raptor. The 1-hour program has a 30-person capacity.  A 15-minute personal vehicle trip 10 miles south of the Festival grounds is required.

Barbara and Phil Custis, owners and operators of this 100-acre farm, have gardens with thirty species of plants that are a working example of a butterfly’s paradise.  The hike crosses bridges spanning a freshwater stream that cuts through a pine and hardwood forest and leads to a large woodland pond. Ferns carpet the pine-needled floor as the trail follows the stream and wildlife darts for cover around dogwood, holly, and fallen trees. The 3-hour program has a 20-person capacity.  A 30-minute personal vehicle trip 25 miles north from the Festival grounds is required.