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