Eastern Shore Migration Update: October 21, 2025

Clear conditions this morning following the cold front with westerly winds overnight and into the morning provided a strong flight at both of our migration sites. At Sunset Beach Morning Flight, totals of 34 species and 17,509 individuals were counted. 

Yellow-rumped Warblers are in full force right now on the Eastern Shore, and 15,752 were counted southbound at Sunset Beach. The massive Yellow-rump flightline at times extended from the Chesapeake Bay shoreline all the way east to Eastern Shore of Virginia NWR. A handful of other species could be picked out from the close flightline, including 24 Cape May, 17 Palm, three Black-throated Blue, and one each Blackpoll, Northern Parula, and Tennessee Warbler. Five Red-breasted Nuthatches and three Dickcissels were also picked out of the fray.

The Kiptopeke Hawkwatch had a slower day for raptors but a great day for songbirds. Ten species of sparrow and 14 species of warbler were detected from the platform throughout the day! Highlights included an individual of the western Gambel's subspecies of White-crowned Sparrow, a Vesper Sparrow landing on the platform, a Dickcissel touching down, and two late Prairie Warblers.

White-crowned Sparrow (photo by Sage Church)

The hawkwatch also had a great spread of blackbirds with two Bobolink, 21 Eastern Meadowlark, a Baltimore Oriole, 467 Red-winged Blackbird, 931 Brown-headed Cowbird, 12 Rusty Blackbird, and 162 Common Grackle.  the transmitter-tagged Monarch from yesterday was also seen hanging around today.

South winds shift around to southwest overnight. Anything with a westerly component has potential to be interesting on the Eastern Shore, and if there are many birds left in the pipeline after today it could be another busy flight.

Follow along with our counts live every morning on our Trektellen pages:

Sunset Beach Morning Flight: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/3748/20251021

Kiptopeke Hawkwatch: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/4022/20251021

Eastern Shore Migration Update: October 19-20, 2025

It has been a busy couple days on the Eastern Shore! Tonight’s double feature Eastern Shore Migration Update will include summaries for the past two days of our counts as well as some more exciting rarity news elsewhere on the shore.

South-southwest winds on Sunday Oct 19 did not yield a major reverse morning flight at Sunset Beach, but a significant southbound movement of Yellow-rumped Warblers tallied 16,762 in three hours of nonstop clicking! Thirteen first-of-season Brant were another highlight. The Kiptopeke Hawkwatch had a solid flight led by 51 Sharp-shinned Hawks and 16 American Kestrels.

A cold front moved through overnight and brought blasting west winds over the Chesapeake Bay to Sunset Beach this morning, suppressing activity and moving the Yellow-rumped Warblers far to the east, though a total of 2,716 were still counted moving south. There was some action at the Kiptopeke Hawkwatch with a few more falcons on the move today including 25 American Kestrels and 12 Merlins. A couple nice surprises were a late immature male Ruby-throated Hummingbird and 22 American White Pelicans way out to the east.

Monarch butterflies also had big news today, with two Monarchs at Kiptopeke receiving Bluetooth transmitters from Cellular Tracking Technologies to track their migratory movements! We will be eager to see where CVWO’s first two Monarchs, Nancy and Brian, flutter past on their migratory journeys this fall.

Nancy the Monarch with transmitter

Now for some rarity action! The biggest news of the weekend was the confirmation of Virginia’s first European Golden-Plover on Arbuckle Neck Road up in Accomack! Present since October 14, this plover was rediscovered and identified on the 19th and showed well for many today including many flashes of the diagnostic white underwing. This is only the seventh record of this species in the lower 48 United States. (Photo by Mario Balitbit)

European Golden-Plover

Just a couple days after the shore’s second Swainson’s Hawk of the fall, a third was discovered yesterday along Seaside Road near Machipongo! This bird, an intermediate juvenile, entertained a crowd of birders this afternoon as it hunted praying mantises along the edge of a woodlot. (Photo by Mario Balitbit)

Swainson’s Hawk

South winds return tomorrow, followed by a switch back to west later in the week. There’s no telling what might happen at this point in the season on the Eastern Shore, and there’s bound to be more surprises in the coming days!

Keep up with both of CVWO’s counts with our daily migration update on Facebook, Instagram, and the CVWO Blog: 

https://vawildliferesearch.org/cvwo-blog-1

Follow along with our counts live every morning on our Trektellen pages:

Sunset Beach Morning Flight: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/3748/20251021

Kiptopeke Hawkwatch: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/4022/20251021

Eastern Shore Migration Uodate: October 17, 2025

Eastern Shore Migration Update: October 14, 2025

North winds continued last night and allowed for ideal migratory conditions. Unlike last night, nocturnal migration was more moderate following the massive push the night before, but there were still lots of birds moving around today. The Sunset Beach Morning Flight Count totaled 54 species and 1834 individuals.

Highlights at Sunset Beach included more flocks of Fish Crows totaling 160, 28 Ring-necked Ducks, the season’s first three Pine Siskins, and a solid diversity of winter passerine movement. Birds today were a little more disorganized with notably southbound and northbound movements. A Chimney Swift on the late side hung around for most of the morning, readily recognizable as the same individual due to a distinctive bent primary on its right wing.

Chimney Swift

Cooper’s Hawk

The Kiptopeke Hawkwatch also had a diverse overall flight with 4500 individuals and 56 species. A nice total of 24 Northern Harriers continue a good streak for that species lately as our counters steadily approach 1000 harriers for the season. Other highlights included a nice blackbird flight, a couple Purple Finches, and a Dickcissel.

The biggest surprise of the day came when an adult Swainson’s Hawk was spotted circling low over the town of Cheriton in the early afternoon! Already a significant rarity, it is especially unusual that multiple Swainson’s are detected on the Eastern Shore in a given fall, and an adult bird is even more exceptional! Hopefully this bird will stick around the area and be detected on one of our counts in the coming days.

Swainson’s Hawk

Keep up with both of CVWO’s counts with our daily migration update on Facebook, Instagram, and the CVWO Blog: 

https://vawildliferesearch.org/cvwo-blog-1

Follow along with our counts live every morning on our Trektellen pages:

Sunset Beach Morning Flight: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/3748/20251017

Kiptopeke Hawkwatch: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/4022/20251017

Eastern Shore Migration Update: October 16, 2025

The arrival of an overnight cold front allowed for high overnight migration across the northeast and mid Atlantic. There was a noticeable chill to the air and a brisk north wind this morning at the Sunset Beach Morning Flight Count. After a very busy morning of counting for a full five hours of nonstop morning flight, totals of 65 species and 35843 individuals counted. 

Yellow-rumped Warblers dominated the flight as expected with 1639 northbound birds counted. A further 1011 warbler sp. were mostly far out to the east and unidentifiable, despite the high probability nearly all of these were Yellow-rumped. Enough other warblers were moving to leave room for uncertainty that every single warbler was Yellow-rumped. Totals of other late-season warblers including 32 Nashville, 6 Black-throated Green, and 5 Nashville warblers were nice to see. 

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Nashville Warbler

A good array of other winter songbirds were on the move including both kinglets, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Eastern Phoebes, Brown Creepers, and the season's first Hermit Thrush and Purple Finch. Fish Crows also seem to be moving in flocks, with 18 counted. Good diversity of other migrants including raptors were migrating throughout the morning, and a surprise Cackling Goose was seen flying over in a flock of 19 Canada Goose. 

Eastern Meadowlark

Cackling Goose (second from left) 

The Kiptopeke Hawkwatch had a slower flight today with 145 raptors counted. A few accipitrine hawks were moving early in the day, and a nice push of Northern Harriers took place in the evening. Like Sunset Beach, a number of winter passerines appear to be in in force, as well as two Lincoln's Sparrows.

Northerly winds should allow more migrants to move through the area tonight, though it will likely not be as busy a day as this morning. Winds will briefly shift around to the west and southwest before northly winds return early next week.

Keep up with both of CVWO’s counts with our daily migration update on Facebook, Instagram, and the CVWO Blog: 

https://vawildliferesearch.org/cvwo-blog-1

Follow along with our counts live every morning on our Trektellen pages:

Sunset Beach Morning Flight: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/3748/20251016

Kiptopeke Hawkwatch: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/4022/20251016

Eastern Shore Migration Update: October 15, 2025

Skies were clearer this morning during the Sunset Beach Morning Flight Count with scattered clouds and no rain in the area. North winds overnight allowed for more migratory movement than the past few days during the passing nor’easter. A nice diversity was moving throughout the day ahead of tonight’s arriving cold front. Totals of 46 species and 998 individuals were counted.

Morning flight today was moderate in volume be and fairly diverse. Songbirds had a better morning including 87 Yellow-rumped Warblers, 17 Northern Parulas, and 32 Gray Catbirds. An Eastern Meadowlark and two American Pipits were also nice to see as they moved north. The season’s first Northern Gannet southbound over the bay, and six Black Scoters were moving north close in. Great Blue Herons were moving south in small flocks all morning tallying 64. 

In the fourth hour a pink imposter was spotted in a flock of eight very distant Great Blue Herons— a Roseate Spoonbill! This is the third Northampton County record of Roseate Spoonbill, with the last record being a flyover bird at the Kiptopeke Hawkwatch two years ago to the day, also in with eight Great Blue Herons! Sometimes birds really do seem to appear like clockwork, though these were almost certainly different individuals.

Roseate Spoonbill with Great Blue Herons

The Kiptopeke Hawkwatch was much busier today with clearer skies and north winds. A total of 329 raptors were counted, mostly Accipitrine hawks with a few more falcons moving in the afternoon. A juvenile Peregrine Falcon made some especially nice passes in the afternoon, and a couple Nashville Warblers kept counters company throughout the day.

Peregrine Falcon

Red-tailed Hawk

Nashville Warbler

The cold front arriving tonight seems primed to bring a significant arrival of migrants overnight along with chilly temperatures tomorrow. The following night will also have favorable migrations. Winds shift around to the southwest through the weekend before another shot of north winds arrives next week.

Keep up with both of CVWO’s counts with our daily migration update on Facebook, Instagram, and the CVWO Blog: 

https://vawildliferesearch.org/cvwo-blog-1

Follow along with our counts live every morning on our Trektellen pages:

Sunset Beach Morning Flight: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/3748/20251015

Kiptopeke Hawkwatch: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/4022/20251015

Eastern Shore Migration Update: October 14, 2025

Conditions this morning on the lower Eastern Shore were very similar to yesterday morning, still windy and damp with strong 20-25 mph north winds and persistent mist. Overnight migration was again minimal, though slightly more reorienting migrants were counted this morning during the Sunset Beach Morning Flight Count. Though bay watching was slow, there were a few nice surprises and conditions eventually cleared allowing for a few birds to start flying. Totals of 29 species and 278 individuals were counted.

A couple of warblers were moving, highlighted by eight Northern Parulas and a Blackpoll Warbler. Very few waterfowl were migrating with only three distant Surf/Black Scoters, but a surprise northbound Snow Goose low over the bay and two Common Loons were nice to see. There was a nice later morning liftoff of raptors including 39 Sharp-shinned Hawks and a Red-shouldered Hawk missing many primary feathers on one wing.

Snow Goose

The Kiptopeke Hawkwatch had a slower day, with few raptors counted even after the mist stopped and skies cleared. Nine Osprey, 16 Sharp-shinned and eight Cooper’s were the most numerous species counted. A Lincoln’s Sparrow was hanging around again, typically a fairly rare migrant on the Eastern Shore. 

Late fall is well-known for vagrants and rarities on the Eastern Shore, and a Western Tanager at the Edward S. Brinkley Nature Preserve was a nice surprise in with a mixed flock. We will be keeping a close eye out for other strays with more favorable conditions in the coming days for more western migrants.

Western Tanager

Clear conditions tonight with a steady north wind provided ideal conditions for a big liftoff to our north, and tomorrow should be a much busier day than the last few days! Northerly winds continue for the rest of the week, and it should be a great time to see active migration and lots of late season migrants arriving wintering species like waterfowl and sparrows. As always, there’s the chance for something totally unexpected in the mix!

Keep up with both of CVWO’s counts with our daily migration update on Facebook, Instagram, and the CVWO Blog: 

https://vawildliferesearch.org/cvwo-blog-1

Follow along with our counts live every morning on our Trektellen pages:

Sunset Beach Morning Flight: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/3748/20251014

Kiptopeke Hawkwatch: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/4022/20251014

Eastern Shore Migration Update: October 13, 2025

Eastern Shore Migration Update: October 12-13, 2025

Yesterday’s conditions were not conducive to counting due to the passing nor’easter bringing heavy wind and steady rain to the Eastern Shore. Rain and winds cut the Sunset Beach Morning Flight Count short yesterday with just two birds counted in an hour, a Peregrine Falcon and a Black Skimmer moving south out over the bay. The Kiptopeke Hawkwatch did not fare much better in the countable windows throughout the day with only a few migratory raptors passing through. The most numerous species were Peregrine Falcons with seven counted.

Conditions at Sunset Beach were much better this morning, though still windy and damp with strong 23 mph north winds and steady drizzle. Overnight migration was negligible, and barely and land birds were moving. Rough conditions on the bay combined with the wind made for a nice morning of bay watching. Totals of 27 species and 206 individuals were counted.

Passerines were incredibly slow, highlighted by a small northbound group of three Golden-crowned Kinglets and a Red-eyed Vireo. Drizzle, low light and haze made for subpar viewing conditions on the water initially, though conditions gradually improved throughout the morning. Scoters were on the move with four Surf, 34 Black, and 66 unidentified Surf/Black Scoters counted. A first cycle Bonaparte’s Gull was a nice first of season, and a light morph adult Parasitic Jaeger was an exciting bird later in the morning.

Gray Catbird

Parasitic Jaeger

Despite the better counting conditions, the Kiptopeke Hawkwatch had an even slower day today. Raptor totals were singles of Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper’s Hawk, American Kestrel, four Osprey, and three Merlin. Many more Yellow-rumped Warblers were hanging around the hawkwatch, with 73 southbound and 77 northbound.

Keep up with both of CVWO’s counts with our daily migration update on Facebook, Instagram, and the CVWO Blog: 

https://vawildliferesearch.org/cvwo-blog-1

Follow along with our counts live every morning on our Trektellen pages:

Sunset Beach Morning Flight: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/3748/20251013

Kiptopeke Hawkwatch: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/4022/20251013

Eastern Shore Migration Update: October 11, 2025

Eastern Shore Migration Update: October 11, 2025

Today’s Sunset Beach Morning Flight Count had east-northeast winds and cloudy skies. Not a ton was on the move compared to yesterday aside from Tree Swallows and Yellow-rumped Warblers. Totals of 29 species and 3060 individuals were counted. 

Fewer birds were on the move today, though Tree Swallows were moving all over the place again with 1185 southbound and 1413 northbound birds counted. Yellow-rumped Warblers had a considerably slower day than yesterday with 137 southbound and 31 northbound. A late Northern Waterthrush was good to see, as was an Eurasian Collared-Dove that hung out in the parking lot and sang a bit.

Eurasian Collared-Dove

The Kiptopeke Hawkwatch had a slower day with just over a hundred raptors counted. The top raptor was 55 Sharp-shinned Hawks. Tree Swallows were also on the move with 694 southbound and 467 northbound. There were a couple passerines around including a southbound Nashville Warbler and a northbound Scarlet Tanager.

A strong nor’easter passes offshore tonight bringing strong northeast winds and rain tomorrow. It will be a borderline day for counting, though the Sunset Beach Morning Flight Count will be attempted despite the conditions, and the Kiptopeke Hawkwatch will follow suite conditions pending. North and northwest winds will follow next week. 

Keep up with both of CVWO’s counts with our daily migration update on Facebook, Instagram, and the CVWO Blog: 

https://vawildliferesearch.org/cvwo-blog-1

Follow along with our counts live every morning on our Trektellen pages:

Sunset Beach Morning Flight: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/3748/20251011

Kiptopeke Hawkwatch: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/4022/20251011