Northeast winds continued began to build this morning under heavy overcast skies. At the Sunset Beach Morning Flight Count totals of 44 species and 7,157 individuals were counted.
American Robins had their best day yet with 2,814 counted. Blackbirds were showing strongly once again including 34 Rusty Blackbirds. Yellow-rumped Warblers took a little bit of a break today with 601 counted. Ducks had a decent flight with 15 Wood Ducks, 45 Green-winged Teal, 31 Surf and 10 Black Scoters.
The hawkwatch had its busiest day in a while with the return of northeast winds. Sharp-shinned Hawks took the lead with 78 closely followed by Cooper’s with 72 counted. Northern Harriers had a bit of a resurgence as well with 10 counted. There were a number of nice non-raptors counted today as well, with the biggest surprise being an early morning Cattle Egret. A late Chinney Swift and Tennessee Warbler along with a leucistic Song Sparrow added some more flavor to the day.
Northeast winds continue to build as a low pressure system works its way up the coast bringing chances of rain Wednesday. An arctic blast seems poised to arrive by the end of the much with much colder temperatures and westerly winds heralding the arrival of November, and hopefully some interesting birds too!
Follow along with our counts live every morning on our Trektellen pages:
Sunset Beach Morning Flight: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/3748/20251027
Kiptopeke Hawkwatch: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/4022/20251027
