Northeast winds were blasting today on the Eastern Shore during the Sunset Beach Morning Flight Count. A very nice varied flight ensued following a night of heavy migration, and 43 species and 1453 individuals were counted.
The stars of the show this morning were Gray Catbirds, 299 of which were clicked moving north through the shrubs, most of which early on in the morning with 17 Brown Thrashers and 45 Common Yellowthroats interspersed. Many other warblers this morning were tough to get on with the high winds as they moved low through the shrubs. Birds moved higher later in the morning and became more easily identifiable. Northern Parulas and Palm Warblers dominated with 87 and 70 counted. Heralding the arrival of later fall, 11 Yellow-rumped Warblers were a nice first-of-season.
Strong northeast winds opened the Raptor floodgates today at the Kiptopeke Hawkwatch. Birds were coming in across the sky nonstop all day, and a fantastic total of 3165 raptors were counted in total, one of the best days in recent years at the site. Standout species included 1459 American Kestrel, 892 Sharp-shinned Hawk, 318 Merlin, and 92 Northern Harrier.
Tonight is another active night of migration, and tomorrow could be another good morning flight at Sunset Beach. Continuing northeast winds will likely make for another great day at the Kiptopeke Hawkwatch.
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/3748/20250930
Kiptopeke Hawkwatch: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/4022/20250930
