Quality over quantity was the theme of the day, and sometimes a single bird can make up for an otherwise slow day. This was exemplified by a distant dove that appeared flying fast over the campground entrance with bold white wing patches... a White-winged Dove! Thankfully this bird turned around and made a fast loop around the campground, passing right overhead allowing for great views before it disappeared behind the bathhouse to parts unknown. White-winged Doves are a rare visitor from the southern United States and the Neotropics, and only a small handful are ever found in Virginia in a given year. A very exciting bird to wrap up the first week of the count!
White-winged Dove
Even with a slower overall flight, some species are still slowly increasing in numbers, such as the 5 Eastern Kingbirds and 8 Yellow Warblers. Barn Swallows had another good day with 116 counted, and the season's first Lesser Yellowlegs made a distant pass to the south. Bay watching produced a small sandpiper movement and three more Wilson's Storm-Petrels, and today two of the petrels were feeding in a slick behind a small fishing boat not too far offshore. This was a great opportunity to observe the distinctive "pattering" feeding behavior of this species, as they hover along the water gently touching off the surface with their feet while picking small tidbits from the surface. A spotting scope was definitely needed to fully appreciate these birds, as evidenced by the very distant storm-petrel in the heavily cropped image below.
A lot of squinting and a little faith may be required to see the Wilson's Storm-Petrel in this image
Juvenile American Herring Gull
A juvenile Sandwich Tern was one of 10 that made their way past the beach today as well, fairly common in the area but not a daily sighting at Sunset Beach. Most of today's birds consisted of an adult with a closely following juvenile in tow, a typical behavior of juvenile large terns.
Juvenile Sandwich Tern
East-northeast winds continue to hold steady tomorrow, and with a chance of rain a big songbird migration day is probably out of the question. Windy days with inclement weather can be good days to put eyes out on the water, so we'll see what the Chesapeake has in store in the morning. There's no telling what might fly by, and as today showed, suboptimal conditions are hardly a predictor of a dull day at Sunset Beach!
Be on the lookout for tomorrow's daily Eastern Shore Migration Update here on the CVWO Blog, and be sure to follow along with the Sunset Beach Morning Flight Count live every morning on Trektellen here: https://trektellen.nl/site/info/3748
