Today also had a drizzly start to the Sunset Beach Morning Flight Count, but conditions improved and a nice morning flight of 44 species and 683 species.
Things got off to an interesting start when a Sora crash landed in the parking lot early on before continuing off to the north through the campground! Rails sometimes become disoriented during migration and this bird may have been confused by the lights in the parking lot or flushed out of the wastewater treatment area of the campground.
Passerines had a good flight with a nice diversity of warblers and other migratory songbirds. American Redstarts dominated as is typical with 186 counted. What was highly atypical was the high proportion of redstarts that were nice black and orange adult males. Nearly half the birds today were adult males, highly unusual for the Eastern Shore where the vast majority of birds are typically first year birds. Maybe a higher number than typical were disoriented by the low cloud ceiling and misty weather for the past few days creating fallout-like conditions.
Yellow Warblers also had a good day with 53 counted, as did Northern Waterthrushes with 42. Red-eyed Vireos had a noticeable arrival with 46 northbound individuals counted, often low in the shrubs bordering the parking lot. Other highlights included 22 southbound Great Blue Herons and the season’s second Dickcissel.
The Kiptopeke Hawkwatch had a great day after the mist cleared, counting a total of 235 raptors including the first big Osprey day with 140. Migrants kept coming over through the evening with a smashing county high count of 106 Common Nighthawks as well as a surprise flyover Barn Owl close to dark!
Tomorrow will likely be a decent songbird flight after northeast winds. Raptors will hopefully be taking advantage of the clearer skies and favorable winds, and it should be a nice day at both of our migration counts.
Stay tuned for more daily Eastern Shore Migration Updates right here on the CVWO Blog, and follow along with both of our counts live on Trektellen for real-time migration updates:
Sunset Beach Morning Flight Count:
https://trektellen.nl/count/view/3748/20250911
Kiptopeke Hawkwatch:
