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.
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
