Today was a similarly slow day to yesterday at Sunset Beach with continued WSW winds. In these conditions, there is typically little to speak for in terms of reverse migration and visible migration on the bayside of the Eastern Shore. The highlights were 16 Blue-winged Teal and three Black Terns moving south out in the bay as well as a single Eurasian Collared-Dove shooting south over Route 13.
Several shorebird groups passed over including five Pectoral and 38 Semipalmated Sandpipers. Later in the morning a Peregrine Falcon was moving north on the seaside of the peninsula which I imagine is the main culprit of the shorebirds moving overhead of sunset as it patrolled the potato fields to the north flushing migrant shorebirds and pushing them south.
Though not rare by any means, five Indigo Buntings passed high overhead this morning. To me this felt notable that, despite unconducive winds, several small groups of Indigo Buntings were still moving.
Despite similar conditions to yesterday, Eastern Kingbird and Barn Swallow numbers were down (for Kingbirds 202 to 57 and for Barn Swallows 269 to 48). To me the migrants that came from the shift to WSW winds are drying up. Tomorrow the winds are going the be coming more directly from the south which will likely lead to a quite morning but maybe a slight mix up in the swallow diversity.
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The Psychology of a Counter: South Winds
In a new release from this popular column, we discuss life and decisions of a counter on south winds. Building upon past releases from this column, we explored the challenges of counters taking adequate time off from their migration post. This time we will discuss the blessing of south winds.
The golden ticket when selecting a day off as a counter is south winds. South winds are typically poor all around for migration in the fall. Sure, there can be an oddball southern bird here and there, but overall there is little migration on a south wind. This means that a counter can typically take a peaceful day birding away from their post or relaxing without the constant fear of what they may miss at their site. Today the head morning flight counter took an appropriate day off from Sunset Beach and didn't set foot on the property for the first time in over a month. Woohoo! Healthy counters out here! We did have the first of season Blue-winged Teal and Eurasian Collared-Dove but overall Baxter selected a safe day off with no megas or impressive flights missed.
Unfortunately for the rest of Virginia birders, Baxter and Max Nootbaar struck gold on the hook at Chincoteague NWR today and found a second state record Snowy Plover! Many unfortunate souls will likely be taking the eight mile round trip hike down and back for this great bird.
Keep up with the daily Eastern Shore Migration Update right 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
-Andrew
