Yesterday’s prediction of a slow day for reorienting
migrants was not born out this morning at Sunset Beach; by contrast it was a
great diverse morning for both forward and reverse migrants alike! The cold
front to our north clearly encouraged a number of migrants to initiate
migration last night, and light north-northwest winds just barely reaching the
region predawn was enough to drift a number of early migrants to the Eastern
Shore. Totals of 48 species and1083 individuals were counted this morning.
Today’s flight was variable as were the conditions
throughout the morning, though the count period was influenced by fairly heavy
cloud cover with the sun only occasionally breaking through. Brighter periods
of sunshine seemed to correlate with more movement early in the day, though
forward migrants picked up later on under heavier clouds. Migrants were
dominated by 270 Red-winged Blackbirds, 201 White Ibis, and a significant
southbound flight of 151 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, likely a new high count for the
state! Warblers had their best morning of the year so far with a good count of
36 American Redstarts along with three Northern Yellow Warblers, two Pine
Warblers, two Louisiana Waterthrushes, and one each of Northern Waterthrush and
Black-and-white Warbler, both first-of-seasons.
Southerly winds are forecasted overnight and into tomorrow morning which will likely stall most overnight migration. It seems plausible some birds will still be moving around following today’s heavier movement, especially forward migrants like swallows that may continue into lighter headwinds.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s daily migration update on the CVWO blog, and follow along with the count live every morning on Trektellen: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/3748/20260802
