Today’s Sunset Beach Morning Flight Count featured northeast winds and high varied overcast skies. Warblers were a bit slower this morning, but Northern Flickers and American Kestrels had a nice morning. Totals of 47 species and 1020 individuals were counted.
Northern Flickers put on a nice show this morning with their first larger movement of the season of 222 individuals, with 190 southbound. A steady trickle of birds continued throughout the morning with several nice longer lines interspersed, along with the season’s first Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in the mix. American Kestrels had a great morning liftoff as well with 177 counted. The only notable warbler movement was Northern Parulas, totaling 122.
The Clay-colored Sparrow was still present this morning, moving around the parking lot a bit and roosting in the shrubs for extended durations when it was detectable by its call and by carefully peering into the bushes. While looking for the sparrow at the end of the count, the count’s first rough green snake was found slithering through the grass. An eastern box turtle crossing the road on the way out made for a record two reptile species on the day.
Steady northeast winds throughout the day made for yet another excellent day at the Kiptopeke Hawkwatch. In addition to a lingering Mississippi Kite that made multiple appearances throughout the day, totals of 66 Osprey, 449 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 200 Cooper’s Hawks, 18 Northern Harriers, seven Bald Eagles, one Red-shouldered Hawk, 159 Broad-winged Hawks, 708 American Kestrels, 107 Merlins and 29 Peregrine Falcons were counted.
Other hawkwatch highlights included a late southbound Olive-sided Flycatcher, an eleventh hour first-of-season for the hawkwatch. Gulf Fritillary and Long-tailed Skipper were nice butterflies to see along with a long-awaited uptick in Monarch numbers, including several individuals netted and tagged.
Northeast winds continue for the rest of the week which should continue bringing new arrivals to the shore as well as more excellent raptor flights. Peak fall migration has arrived and this week should have great conditions to witness it!
Keep up with both of CVWO’s counts with our daily migration update on Facebook, Instagram, and the CVWO Blog:
https://vawildliferesearch.org/cvwo-blog-1
Follow along with our counts live every morning on our Trektellen pages:
Sunset Beach Morning Flight: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/3748/20250929
Kiptopeke Hawkwatch: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/4022/20250929
