Winds were much lighter today which provided ideal migratory conditions overnight. A strong nocturnal flight yielded a very busy morning of migration with high numbers of forward migrants counted. Our counters also had an exciting opportunity to join a survey on the seaside marshes and Cobb Island.
Sunset Beach had a very busy morning with a number of interesting highlights among 52 species and 13,611 individuals. There were several nice first-of-seasons for the count, including a Hooded Merganser early on, a Common Goldeneye sitting close off the beach, and a surprise flock of five American White Pelicans northbound out over the bay. Impressive migrant numbers included 675 Turkey Vultures streaming south in long lines.
The Kiptopeke Hawkwatch had a very busy flight this morning with the best raptor numbers in a while including 20 Red-tailed Hawks, 17 Red-shouldered Hawks, and 14 Bald Eagles. Passerines were moving south in very strong numbers including 33,319 American Robins, 169 Purple Finches, 408 American Goldfinches, 11,306 Red-winged Blackbirds, as well as the season’s first two Evening Grosbeaks. There will hopefully be more of these irruptive finches moving into the area in the coming weeks.
Our counters joined The Nature Conservancy’s Migratory Bird Specialist Mario Balitbit for seaside shorebird surveys out of Oyster. A visit to Cobb Island was very productive with a Short-eared Owl flushed out of the dunes, numerous Ipswich Savannah Sparrows, and nice groups of Bonaparte’s Gulls, Red-throated Loons, and Surf Scoters.
Tomorrow marks the last official day of the Sunset Beach Morning Flight Count. The Kiptopeke Hawkwatch will continue through November 30th. We are excited to see what is migrating on the last day to the season with light westerly winds!
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/3748/20251114
Kiptopeke Hawkwatch: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/4022/20251114
