Cool, cloudy, and calm are three adjectives that continue to describe conditions here on the Eastern Shore for the past couple days. While not so cool as at the beginning of the count last weekend, temperatures have been below average for about six days now, keeping morning temperatures quite enjoyable. The light east-northeast wind stayed around 10 mph this morning and kept the flight pretty quiet overall, though there were still a few highlights. This morning 27 species and 371 individuals were counted.
The bulk of the flight in these early days is still swallows, and today Barn Swallows had their highest numbers yet. Decisive Barn Swallow movements so far have been lacking with many birds milling around in both directions throughout the mornings, so it came as a little bit of a surprise to see tighter flocks of several dozen forming up and flying high southbound. Of the 135 Barn Swallows counted, 102 were southbound, as were 39 of 46 Purple Martins, both Tree Swallows, and the day's only Bank Swallow.
Other passerines were slow as expected with the easterly component to the winds, and only five warblers in total were counted. One of them was the season's third Louisiana Waterthrush, which passed silently to the north mid-morning. Generally considered a rarity on Virginia's coast, this season it seems to be a regular but low density migrant out here at the very beginning of fall.
East-northeast winds build in strength tomorrow, and combined with overnight and early morning rain no noticeable overnight migration is anticipated. Friday looks similarly breezy and damp. Skies are forecasted to clear by Saturday, so there are early signs of a pleasant weekend of counting and birding ahead!
Stay tuned for tomorrow's daily Eastern Shore Migration Update here on the CVWO Blog, and follow along with the Sunset Beach Morning Flight count live on Trektellen every morning here: https://trektellen.nl/site/info/3748
