An overnight cold front provided exceptional migratory conditions across the eastern half of the continent last night. From the Gulf Coast to Maine, vast numbers of birds lifted off and moved south en masse. Estimates from BirdCast this to be a record setting night of migration since their forecasting has begun, with over 1.2 billion birds taking to the wing last night across the country. With steady north-northeast winds and clear skies, a number of these birds made it to the Eastern Shore last night. The Sunset Beach Morning Flight Count had an excellent day, with 71 species and 2589 individuals counted in active migration.
The diversity of the flight this morning was excellent, with no single taxonomic group standing out significantly. Warblers are now solidly dominated by Yellow-rumped with 279 counted. Northern Parulas are hanging on with 84. Winter was in the air with the northbound movements of 6 Brown Creepers, 27 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, a Rusty Blackbird, and several Eastern Towhees, White-throated and Swamp Sparrows hanging around the count site. Gray Catbirds had another good flight with 267 counted.
There was no trace of yesterday's Blue-winged Teal movement, with only nine Green-winged Teal and 40 very distant ducks counted. White Ibis were moving out in strong numbers with 427 counted. There were a couple of nice rare migrants that were also first-of-seasons including a Connecticut Warbler with documentation photos cinching the identification after the count, and a sneaky Black-billed Cuckoo offering fleeting glimpses as it shot into the trees.
Many mornings at Sunset Beach come with surprises, though today's might take the cake for one of the most unexpected yet. What our counters thought was a dark duck appeared moving north out over the bay passing the pylons, but continued study soon revealed the white wing stripe and red bill of a Common Gallinule! We're not sure which one of us was more confused, but the gallinule seemed to be working hard to find better habitat than the wide expanse of open Chesapeake Bay.
The Kiptopeke Hawkwatch also had a very diverse day of passerines and other species along with over 300 individual raptors. A total of 7,666 birds were counted, with 5,147 of which were Tree Swallows. A Lincoln's Sparrow and a first-of-season Orange-crowned Warbler were other notable songbird sightings.
Further highlighting the incredible diversity out here on the Eastern Shore right now, a vocal Bicknell's Thrush was found at Eastern Shore of Virginia NWR. Bicknell's Thrushes are a rare species that only nests in stunted spruce/balsam forest on high peaks in the Northeast and the maritime provinces. It is likely that the Eastern Shore represents an important flyway for this cryptic species on its way to wintering grounds on Hispaniola.
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/3748/20251009
Kiptopeke Hawkwatch: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/4022/20251009
