North-northwest winds overnight associated with a cold front passing through in the wake of Hurricane Erin provided favorable conditions for migration last night. The good overnight movement produced a nice morning flight this morning, heavily featuring warblers and other nocturnal passerine migrants. We had a full roster of counters on hand to help out with the count today as well including returning CVWO Hawk Counter Sage Church and Monarch Biologist Audrey Anderson! A total of 43 species and 590 individuals were counted this morning.
The stars of the show this morning were American Redstarts, which were a near constant presence in the airspace above Sunset Beach as they came over northbound in singles, pairs, and small groups. A total of 134 redstarts were counted this morning, marking the first day with an individual warbler species in triple-digit numbers. It is likely a significant number of the mostly distant and backlit 132 warbler sp. on the eastern flightline were also redstarts. At least three birds this morning were adult males, seldom seen on the coast in the fall.
The day also saw several first-of-season species for the count including Traill's (Alder/Willow) Flycatcher, Baltimore Oriole, Chestnut-sided, Black-throated Green, and Cape May Warblers, or as they are colloquially known by some in these parts, Cape Charles Warblers. Bird taxonomy and common names have seen a fair bit of upheaval and confusion lately, so what's one more name change at the end of the day? Whatever we call them, it is an early arrival for the species on the Shore, and possibly the earliest documented record for Northampton County.
Several of the 11 counted Black-and-white Warblers allowed for nice in-flight views as they passed over moving north.
As happy as we were with the birds we caught views of as they zipped overhead, the real catch of the day was a large Atlantic needlefish snagged by an Osprey out in the bay.
Winds shift back to the east and southeast temporarily over the weekend before the next cold front arrives late Monday. If the forecast holds, Tuesday is looking like the next good possibility for a big flight. Weather should stay quite pleasant through the weekend after this most recent cold front, and we look forward to seeing what birds pass by at a more leisurely pace over the next few days!
Stay tuned for daily Eastern Shore Migration Updates right here on the CVWO Blog, and stay current with our live Trektellen page for real-time updates every morning: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/3748/20250822
