Kiptopeke State Park
Virginia State Park At The Southern Tip Of The Delmarva Peninsula; Site Of Nine Sunken Second World War Concrete Ships Used As A Breakwater And Of A Long Running Atlantic Flyway Bird Banding Station · Cape Charles, Virginia
Five hundred acres at the very bottom of the Eastern Shore, where the Delmarva Peninsula runs out into the mouth of the Chesapeake, and two unrelated things make it worth the drive. The first is visible from the beach: nine concrete ships, built in a hurry during the Second World War when steel was scarce, towed here in the 1940s and deliberately sunk in a line offshore to shelter the old ferry terminal. They are still there, still above water, slowly going grey and green, and they make one of the strangest sea views in Virginia. The second is invisible unless you know to look up. The peninsula acts as a funnel: every autumn, migrating hawks, falcons and songbirds moving south down the Delmarva reach this point, find twenty miles of open water in front of them, and pile up waiting for the right wind. Kiptopeke runs a hawk observatory and one of the longest-running banding stations on the Atlantic flyway, and in late September and October the sky over this park does things that draw birders from several states.
3540 Kiptopeke Drive, Cape Charles, Virginia, 23310, United States
Park open daily, generally 8 AM to dusk with shorter winter gate hours. The hawk observatory and songbird banding station operate SEASONALLY, mainly in the autumn migration from late August into November - check the season before travelling for them. Bath house and beach services are seasonal. Camping, cabins and yurts by reservation and book out for the October birding festival. Parking fee per vehicle, separate launch fee per boat.
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