Winds were up blowing strong out of the north northeast with the offshore passage of Hurricane Erin, and the effects of the storm on bird migration were noticeable across several species. Rain held off, and the sheltered position at Sunset Beach made for a nice morning of seeing what birds were flying by. A total of 27 species and 312 individuals were counted this morning.
Passerine movement was fairly slow today overall, but there was an interesting early morning liftoff of American Redstarts where 22 birds were counted northbound in a fairly short window before the flight tapered off. A moderate northbound Purple Martin movement started up later on in the morning, with 179 counted in total.
As predicted, Erin passed too far offshore to bring in a significant movement of pelagic birds. There were certainly a few more terns than usual feeding out over the bay as many birds slowly moved north into the wind. Despite the lack of true storm-blown waifs, it was nice to see two Wilson's Storm-Petrels out over the bay. This fits the pattern of this species showing up on the count on days with a northeasterly wind component, and these tiny seabirds may have used the strong winds of Hurricane Erin to move up into the bay.
Another nice bird for the count was a close flyby first-of-season White-rumped Sandpiper a little later in the morning. White-rumped Sandpipers migrate over the Atlantic Ocean from the northeast and Canada as they make their way to South America for the winter, and they may often appear onshore in greater numbers after periods of strong northeast winds. These large peeps are especially long-winged, and are well-adapted to incredibly long migration flights.
