Southerly winds and blue skies continued today at Sunset Beach. There were some stirrings in the air today and a comparable number of birds were moving compared to yesterday with 369 individuals and 25 species counted.
Most of the birds counted today were Eastern Kingbirds (98) and Barn Swallows (81). There was some decent action out over the bay, with 21 Blue-winged Teal and four Black Terns showing nicely out over the water.
Reverse migration was once again off the menu, but a couple southbound passerines included one each of Black-throated Blue and Cape May Warblers, as well as a heard only first-of-season Dickcissel.
White Ibis are often seen moving north in the early morning, including 44 this morning. Some of these birds likely represent local birds departing roosts near Wise Point, but others may also be engaging in some sort of migratory movement. An immature made a nice close pass directly overhead this morning.
The Kiptopeke Hawkwatch was notably slow today, with only Broad-winged Hawks and no other raptors counted. Thankfully the main crew were spared the blinding blue skies and paucity of raptors as they were tooling around on the beach at Chincoteague looking at the Snowy Plover!
Tomorrow is looking like an interesting day with the passage of an overnight cold front. Rain to our north may stall out passerines, though it’s still possible a number make it down for a flight tomorrow morning. It could be an interesting day to look out over the water and to look for migrating shorebirds. Monday is currently looking like the more interesting day for migratory land birds after things dry out and north winds continue.
Stay up-to-date with the migratory happenings on the Eastern Shore here on the CVWO Blog, and be sure to check out our Trektellen pages for real-time updates:
Sunset Beach Morning Flight: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/3748/20250903
Kiptopeke Hawkwatch: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/4022/20250903
