Today's flight at Sunset Beach featured a fair diversity of species but lower numbers as expected without a significant overnight migration movement. Gentle winds shifted around to the northeast overnight, and the morning was fairly calm overall with a variably cloudy sky and warm temperatures. A total of 26 species and 190 individuals in total were counted.
Red-headed Woodpeckers had their best showing so far with three counted, and two juveniles gave very nice flyby views later in the morning. Note the differing stages of molt with one already showing some red feathering coming in on the head, while the other fully retains the streaky brown juvenile plumage.
Red-headed Woodpeckers
The flight was fairly slow otherwise, with very little passerine movement noted aside from a few Red-winged Blackbird flocks totaling 73 individuals. Warblers were essentially absent throughout the morning aside from a very brief movement in the third hour, with five American Redstarts, two Yellow Warblers and the season's second Yellow-throated Warbler counted. Purple Martins were present but in a fraction of yesterday's numbers, with only 18 individuals counted.
Purple Martin
Shorebird numbers were likewise slow, though it is always nice to see Least Sandpipers flying by.
Least Sandpiper
And as always on a slower day, the local birds get their due appreciation, including a pair of Carolina Chickadees that hung out for some time in the wax myrtle. By contrast to the multitude of highly migratory species that we see at Sunset Beach, Carolina Chickadees are among the most sedentary of our local birds, and many likely live their entire lives within a very small area from which they hatch.
Carolina Chickadee
Tomorrow sees the arrival of Hurricane Erin to Virginia's distant offshore waters, and the effects of the storm will certainly be felt with sustained 25-30 mph northeast to north winds tomorrow with gusts reaching 40 mph. Rain impacts will likely be marginal, but a chance of showers is possible later in the morning and midday. It will certainly be an interesting experience at Sunset Beach tomorrow regardless of what birds may be blown by on the blasting winds.
Regarding storm birding, given the offshore passage of this storm it seems unlikely that tropical seabirds will be deposited in the area. That being said, the storm is very likely to displace local seabirds as well as over-water migrants with its massive wind field and very strong onshore winds throughout the day tomorrow. Nearby land-based sea watching efforts in Virginia Beach and the Outer Banks have already detected a few seabirds today.
It seems very plausible that significant movements of terns, shorebirds and possibly even jaegers, shearwaters, phalaropes, and storm-petrels could be seen from coastal Virginia tomorrow as they are pushed inshore by the winds on the western edge of Erin. Long-distance migrant shorebirds that fly over open ocean including Hudsonian Godwit also seem like likely candidates for displacement during this storm. It will be an interesting day to watch any body of water in Coastal Virginia, and flooded fields and other open areas that could serve as storm roosting sites may be productive as well.
We will be keeping a close eye on the Chesapeake Bay tomorrow at Sunset Beach; be sure to follow long live on Trektellen to see what's being seen! Click August 21 at the top of the screen tomorrow for real-time updates on our Trektellen page: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/3748/20250820
And as always, a full writeup of the morning's migration will be posted tomorrow night right here on the CVWO Blog!