Blasting west winds arrived on the Eastern Shore on the final day of October. Blackbirds, robins, and Yellow-rumped Warblers continue to dominate the Sunset Beach flight, and 39 species and 5332 individuals were counted. Waterbirds were also on the move pushed up against the bay shore by the strong winds and the roaring surf. Highlights included a nice push of 90 Northern Gannets and a group of four Brown Boobies with one gannet! Brown Boobies are now a regular summer presence in the upper Chesapeake. Though still a rare sight on the Eastern Shore, Brown Boobies seem to pass by Sunset Beach with some regularity once gannets move into the bay.
Ducks were also on the moving with 33 American Wigeons being the most numerous species. A late Chimney Swift was also nice to see. At the Kiptopeke Hawkwatch the Swainson’s Hawk was seen kiting on the bayside of the platform before drifting north again. Other raptors were fairly slow other than a handful of 22 Sharp-shinned Hawks moving south. Two Caspian Terns and a Baltimore Oriole were on the late side for both species. The continuing Say's Phoebe also put in its final appearance up at Custis Tomb Drive just north of Kiptopeke.
Winds November 1st were lighter and out of the west-northwest. A fair number of waterfowl were still moving around, and two first-of-season Red-throated Loons were counted. Two late Black-throated Blue Warblers were also nice to see, a southbound female and a northbound male. Chipping Sparrows had their biggest day so far with 68 northbound individuals counted.
Raptors continue to trickle through at the Kiptopeke Hawkwatch. The celebrity Swainson’s Hawk appeared for its third day in a row, and after drifting around on the bayside it eventually cruised south. It will be very interesting to see if this long-staying individual reappears, or if it has finally moved on to make the bay crossing. Other nice birds were a southbound Lesser Yellowlegs, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird at the feeder, and a strong blackbird flight consisting of 3095 Red-winged Blackbirds and 1532 Brown-headed Cowbirds.
Winds shift to the southwest overnight and will be lighter and variable tomorrow before shifting around to the east. Northeast winds build Monday before switching around to another northwest blast Monday night into Tuesday.
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/3748/20251101
Kiptopeke Hawkwatch: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/4022/20251101
