Winds were strong out of the southwest this morning on the Eastern Shore. A massive movement of forward migrants heavily dominated by robins took place in the morning, with the largest volume of birds so far the entire season counted. A total of 35 species and 27,083 individuals were counted at the Sunset Beach Morning Flight Count.
The air was thick with American Robins this morning at Sunset Beach. Overwhelming rivers crisscrossed the sky as wave after wave poured south, with many of the initial high groups making a 180 turn back to the north after reaching the tip of the peninsula. Totals of 18,461 southbound and 2,609 northbound individuals were counted after nearly three hours of frenzied clicking. Red-winged Blackbirds also contributed significant volume to the day with 2,261 southbound and 442 northbound. Though lesser in number but still very notable, Cedar Waxwings had their largest migration flight so far with 857 southbound and 73 northbound.
Though the bay was necessarily neglected during the hectic first hour of the flight, a few waterfowl were spotted throughout the remainder of the count including the season's first White-winged Scoter in a nice southbound mixed flock with five Black and two Surf Scoters.
The Kiptopeke Hawkwatch also recorded a remarkable American Robin and Cedar Waxwing flight, totaling 31,236 southbound and 1,699 northbound robins and 1,345 southbound and 71 northbound waxwings. One of the American Robins was a leucistic individual showing white patchies in the wings and head, and what was possibly the same individual was possibly seen later at Magothy Bay. Rusty Blackbirds also put in a good showing with 113 counted southbound. Raptors were very slow after a trickle in the morning before strong southwest winds shut down the flight. Evening flight yielded a nice flight of 173 southbound Wood Ducks.
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/3748/20251105
Kiptopeke Hawkwatch: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/4022/20251105
