Eastern Shore Migration Update: September 18, 2025

Today’s Sunset Beach Morning Flight Count featured light west northwest winds and heavy overcast skies with some periods of mist. Though again slow overall, there was clearly more overnight migration and generally more on the move than yesterday, with 37 species and 225 individuals were counted.

Though numbers were very low without a significant overnight push, there was a little bit of diversity including the season’s first Nashville Warbler which dropped into the pines and offered some decent views. Cape May Warblers continue to trickle through including one brighter male that made a low pass.

Cape May (Charles) Warbler

Six Common Nighthawks were nice to see northbound mid-morning, generally uncommon on the Shore and on the trailing end of their window of occurrence. Merlins were once again on the move with 13 counted moving south, including two out over the bay. A Dickcissel was heard giving its distinctive flight call several times as it circled and moved north over the count site. 

The light west-northwest and mist made for a more moderate day at the hawkwatch overall, though perhaps more seasonable for the date compared to the huge early movements over the weekend. Nice totals of 68 Osprey and 44 Sharp-shinned Hawk were still tallied, as well as 35 American Kestrels and 20 Merlins. The Hawkwatch crew also nabbed a flyover Dickcissel later on the afternoon.

The coming days see a warm up and returning sunshine. West winds shifting around to south tonight will likely slow down overnight migration, though a weak cold front moving over the northeast Friday night may bring a wave of migrants that reaches us. Winds then switch back to northeast for the rest of the weekend, which should bring us some more good raptor migration.

Keep up with both of CVWO’s counts right here on the blog with our daily Eastern Shore Migration Update, and follow along live every morning on our Trektellen pages for live updates:

Sunset Beach Morning Flight: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/3748/20250918

Kiptopeke Hawkwatch: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/4022/20250918

Eastern Shore Migration Update: September 17, 2025

After taking a rain day yesterday, it was great to back resume counting at both of our migration counts today! There was little overnight migration with lots of heavy rain still moving through the area combined with steady southwest winds, and a little drizzle was still coming down early this morning during the Sunset Beach Morning Flight Count. It was an overall slow morning with 27 species and 158 individuals counted.

Merlins were one of the only species that had a good morning, with a couple marauding around the count site early on and a total of 16 counted in southbound migration, most zipping by just overhead. Some stopped briefly to take swipes at flying songbirds, but none appeared successful. 

Merlin 

Other migrant birds were very slow this morning, though a couple shorebirds were on the move including a flock of five Black-bellied Plovers out over the bay. It was nice to see the season’s first Common Loon moving south not too far out as well.

The Kiptopeke Hawkwatch also had a slow day without favorable winds for raptor migration. Merlins were also one of the most numerous migrant species there, with 15 counted alongside 17 Sharp-shinned Hawks.

Conditions clear tomorrow and winds will fall out and slowly switch to northerly aspects, which should be much better for migration over the next few days. A weak cold front comes in from the north over the weekend which should bring another batch of migrants down.

Keep up with both of CVWO’s counts right here on the blog with our daily Eastern Shore Migration Update, and follow along live every morning on our Trektellen pages:

Sunset Beach Morning Flight: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/3748/20250917

Kiptopeke Hawkwatch:

https://trektellen.nl/count/view/4022/20250917

Eastern Shore Migration Update: September 15, 2025

Strong winds out of the northeast and drizzly conditions made for an interesting morning at the Sunset Beach Morning Flight Count. A total of 37 species and 2224 individuals were counted.

There were more birds moving last night and a few warblers were on the move in northbound morning flight. For the first time so far this season, Northern Parulas were the most numerous species of warbler with 79 counted. A Tennessee Warbler was also nice to see, a fairly uncommon species on the Eastern Shore generally.

Rain over the bay appeared to be influencing northbound migration of typically diurnal forward migrants. A significant northbound movement of American Kestrels took place, with 27 out of 32 individuals counted moving north past the count area. Other species of raptor were southbound by contrast, with four Osprey, nine Sharp-shinned Hawks, Northern Harrier, and five Merlins counted moving south. Tree Swallows have arrived to the Eastern Shore en masse, and 203 southbound and 1592 northbound birds were counted. 

American Kestrel

The Kiptopeke Hawkwatch had a decent morning before rain eventually crept in and ended the count for the rest of the day. Nice tallies of 55 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 16 Northern Harriers, 61 American Kestrels and 44 Merlins were counted before the end of the count at 2:30 pm. Tree Swallows were also out in force with 1052 southbound and 300 northbound birds counted.

Tomorrow is looking like the first day both of our counts will be entirely rained out due to steady rain forecasted the entire day accompanied by howling northeasterlies with gusts approaching 50 mph. The otherwise miserable conditions seem favorable for grounding migrants such as shorebirds, and our crew will certainly be taking to the fields tomorrow look for anything knocked down by the weather system. Wednesday is looking wet but much less intense, and we should be back to counting by then.

Keep up with both of CVWO’s counts right here on the blog with our daily Eastern Shore Migration Update, and follow along live every morning on our Trektellen pages:

Sunset Beach Morning Flight: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/3748/20250915

Kiptopeke Hawkwatch: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/4022/20250915

Eastern Shore Migration Update: September 14th, 2025

Cloudy skies and light northeast winds were the conditions for this morning’s Sunset Beach Morning Flight Count. Not much was moving overnight and the morning was fairly slow overall, but we still had some good diversity and tallied 40 species and 242 individuals.

The passerine flight today was certainly more of a trickle than a flood, though highlights included the season’s second Scarlet Tanager and nine warbler species. A few raptors were moving including eight Sharp-shinned Hawks and a nice American Kestrel that touched down in the snags by the count area for a short time.

American Kestrel

The Kiptopeke Hawkwatch continued its spree today with even more raptors than the previous two days, including 254 Sharp-shinned Hawks and 181 American Kestrels. The flight was nice and varied through the day with birds coming in from various parts of the sky and some fairly low down offering great views from the platform, and overcast skies provided a great backdrop for scanning for distant birds.

Interesting changes in the weather are coming over the next few days, namely a tropical low pressure system that will bring much needed and significant rainfall Monday night through early Wednesday. Northeast winds continue to intensify tonight, and a decent number of migrants should be able to move in tonight and tomorrow. Rainfall moving up from the south Monday night and lasting over 24 hours could be an interesting setup for knocking down migrating birds on the peninsula including shorebirds and other long-distance migrants. 

Following the wet weather, winds are forecasted to switch around to the northwest and west by Thursday and Friday, likely allowing migration to resume. Hopefully we will see some significant migration leading into the weekend, though it will be just as interesting to see what drops in with the rainfall over the next few days.

Keep up with the happenings on the Eastern Shore here on the CVWO Blog, and make sure to check out our live Trektellen pages for real-time updates for our two counts:

Sunset Beach Morning Flight Count:

https://trektellen.nl/count/view/3748/20250913

Kiptopeke Hawkwatch:

https://trektellen.nl/count/view/4022/20250913

 

Eastern Shore Migration Update: September 13, 2025

Today’s sunset beach morning flight count featured clam winds and sunny skies and a light migratory flight. A total of 47 species and 340 individuals were counted.

Northbound reorienting migrants started out to the east as is typical, but the flight shifted west as the morning went on and a steady trickle of birds came by in nice lighting throughout the early morning. Highlights included the season’s first Rose-breasted Grosbeak, the season’s second Bay-breasted Warbler, and a surprise White-rumped Sandpiper that flew off the beach with three Least Sandpipers.

Lighter flight days are generally a little more laid back and enjoyable for actually enjoying good views and taking photos of birds in flight. Today was a great day to kick back and take a moment to the flybys without having to stress about clicking warblers all over the sky.

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Northern Flicker

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

The Kiptopeke Hawkwatch had another fantastic early season flight, with even more impressive numbers than yesterday. With the clam winds and blue sky, many birds were way up and hard to spot. Despite the speck birds, impressive totals of 206 Sharp-shinned, 56 Cooper’s Hawks, 204 American Kestrels and 85 Merlins were counted.

Sharp-shinned Hawk

The strong trend of northeast winds continue for the next few days, and clouds roll in tomorrow with chances of rain early next week. The favorable winds combined with cloud cover and arriving rain could create a similar setup to this week’s fallout-like conditions with many migrants concentrated and grounded at the tip of the peninsula. Migration will likely slow down before the next front comes in. Every day has the possibility to be very different and interesting, and we’ll see what the changing conditions bring down the shore!

Keep up with the happenings on the Eastern Shore here on the CVWO Blog, and make sure to check out our live Trektellen pages for real-time updates for our two counts:

Sunset Beach Morning Flight Count:

https://trektellen.nl/count/view/3748/20250913

Kiptopeke Hawkwatch:

https://trektellen.nl/count/view/4022/20250913

Eastern Shore Migration Update: September 12, 2025

Clear conditions overnight with light northeast winds following a couple days of drizzle provided ideal conditions for overnight migration. A large liftoff last night over northeast states led a significant arrival of overnight migrants on the shore, and a nice diversity of species were moving this morning in decent volume. A total of 58 species and 1033 individuals were counted in active migration.

Songbirds were taxonomically diverse, and warblers had a strong showing with 15 species counted. Though many birds were lost to backlighting out in the eastern sky early morning, the flight gradually shifted west and many warblers appeared in nice lighting as the morning wore on. A big surprise was a close northbound Louisiana Waterthrush, notably late for this rare and very early season migrant on the Eastern Shore. Visiting photographer Max Nootbaar secured excellent flight shots of the bird. Notably, another Louisiana Waterthrush was found down “across the pond” at Back Bay in Virginia Beach today, suggesting more of these stream-side denizens were on the move today.

Louisiana Waterthrush

Other passerines were on the move including the first decent thrush flight of the fall, with 8 Veery and 9 Swainson’s Thrush counted. Irrupting Red-breasted Nuthatches also turned up with a solid dozen northbound individuals counted, hopefully hinting of more on the way. 

Northern Flicker

The Kiptopeke Hawkwatch had a truly banner mid-September day with over 500 raptors counted, including very notable early season appearances of multiple species. The raptor floodgates were wide open all day, with seasonally remarkable tallies of 94 Sharp-shinned, 34 Cooper’s, 24 Northern Harrier, 244 American Kestrel, and 90 Merlin counted. Birds were ripping over all across the sky, and impressive scenes including seven falcons in one binocular field delighted counters and guests alike. A late Mississippi Kite added further diversity to the abundance of raptor migrants. Not to be totally overshadowed by the raptors, swallows also kept counters busy with 596 Tree and 247 Barn Swallows tallied.

Merlin by Will Burgoyne

Continued northeast winds in the coming days will hopefully continue running up the raptor scoreboard. Songbird migrants are likely to trail off slightly without a significant front or northwesterly wind in the forecast, but arrivals should continue to steadily stream in as we approach the celebrated peak warbler diversity in late September.

Keep up with the action right here on the CVWO Blog, and be sure to catch our counts live every day on Trektellen for real-time migration updates:

Sunset Beach Morning Flight Count: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/3748/20250912

Kiptopeke Hawkwatch: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/4022/20250912

Eastern Shore Migration Update: September 11, 2025

Today also had a drizzly start to the Sunset Beach Morning Flight Count, but conditions improved and a nice morning flight of 44 species and 683 individuals.

Things got off to an interesting start when a Sora crash landed in the parking lot early on before continuing off to the north through the campground! Rails sometimes become disoriented during migration and this bird may have been confused by the lights in the parking lot or flushed out of the wastewater treatment area of the campground.

Passerines had a good flight with a nice diversity of warblers and other migratory songbirds. American Redstarts dominated as is typical with 186 counted. What was highly atypical was the high proportion of redstarts that were nice black and orange adult males. Nearly half the birds today were adult males, highly unusual for the Eastern Shore where the vast majority of birds are typically first year birds. Maybe a higher number than typical were disoriented by the low cloud ceiling and misty weather for the past few days creating fallout-like conditions.  

American Redstart

Yellow Warblers also had a good day with 53 counted, as did Northern Waterthrushes with 42. Red-eyed Vireos had a noticeable arrival with 46 northbound individuals counted, often low in the shrubs bordering the parking lot. Other highlights included 22 southbound Great Blue Herons and the season’s second Dickcissel.

Red-eyed Vireo

Great Blue Herons with Bobolink flock

The Kiptopeke Hawkwatch had a great day after the mist cleared, counting a total of 235 raptors including the first big Osprey day with 140. Migrants kept coming over through the evening with a smashing county high count of  106 Common Nighthawks as well as a surprise flyover Barn Owl close to dark!

Tomorrow will likely be a decent songbird flight after northeast winds. Raptors will hopefully be taking advantage of the clearer skies and favorable winds, and it should be a nice day at both of our migration counts.

Stay tuned for more daily Eastern Shore Migration Updates right here on the CVWO Blog, and follow along with both of our counts live on Trektellen for real-time migration updates:

Sunset Beach Morning Flight Count:

https://trektellen.nl/count/view/3748/20250911

Kiptopeke Hawkwatch:

https://trektellen.nl/count/view/4022/20250911

Eastern Shore Migration Update: September 10, 2025

It was a dreary and drizzly morning at the Sunset Beach Morning Flight Count, but birds were still on the move on the northeast wind. A total of 30 species and 174 individuals were counted today.

Most of the birds moving today were warblers coming in low through the bushes lining the east side of the parking lot. A fair number went unidentified with very brief views, but reasonable tallies including 36 American Redstart, 18 Northern Waterthrush, and 18 Common Yellowthroat. Two Brown Thrashers also worked their way north, an apparent arrival at the count site.

Photography was a challenge today given the dark and wet conditions, so in lieu of a warbler flight shot a northbound Solitary Sandpiper that took off after the drizzle subsided late morning will do nicely.

Solitary Sandpiper 

The Kiptopeke Hawkwatch was all but rained out this morning, with the count terminating by 10:45 am with only a single southbound Osprey counted. Counter Sage Church found other ways to occupy the rest of the day however, and pulled off a fantastic roster of rare migrants over at the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge including Yellow-throated Vireo, Mourning and Golden-winged Warblers, and Clay-colored Sparrow.

Tomorrow looks promising with north winds overnight and somewhat clearer skies by the morning. Conditions dry out for the foreseeable future, and consistent northerlies going into the weekend should yield some very nice flights in the coming days.

Stay tuned for more daily Eastern Shore Migration Updates right here on the CVWO Blog, and follow along with both of our counts live on Trektellen for real-time migration updates:

Sunset Beach Morning Flight Count:

https://trektellen.nl/count/view/3748/20250910

Kiptopeke Hawkwatch:

https://trektellen.nl/count/view/4022/20250910