Today’s Sunset Beach Morning Flight Count had still air and sunny skies. The lack of wind made for a slower migration day, but there were still a few birds moving. Totals of 33 species and 238 individuals were counted.
Tern and gull numbers were up over the bay early this morning, and Common Terns made a reappearance with 15 counted southbound along with two Sandwich Terns. A very distant jaeger sp. was seen harassing gulls early on, a nice reminder that one need not necessarily go out to sea to see these seabirds.
Reorienting passerines were very slow overall with no blackbirds and only a handful of warblers. Fifteen Northern Parulas led the pack in warbler numbers. Two Chimney Swifts were the first seen this month.
The Kiptopeke Hawkwatch stole the show today with multiple encounters of the dark juvenile Swainson’s Hawk from yesterday! The hawk was spotted in the late morning from Eastern Shore of Virginia NWR where it turned around and moved north over the hawkwatch, where it was seen briefly by the counters. Later on in the afternoon the Swainson’s was picked up moving high directly over the platform offering amazing views to all present! Peregrines had another good day as well, with many coming in just over the treetops later on in the afternoon.
Winds remain very light and variable tomorrow which may lead to another slow morning flight tomorrow. Enough raptors are around that any day could have a really nice flight this time of year: Winds will eventually switch around to the southeast by early next week before the next cold front arrives later on.
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/3748/20251005
Kiptopeke Hawkwatch: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/4022/20251005
