Today’s Sunset Beach Morning Flight count featured an enjoyably busy and diverse flight of 1086 individuals and 38 species. While steady southeast winds were not conducive to a significant flight of reorienting nocturnal migrants, forward migrants were on the move today dominated heavily by Purple Martins (800) which flowed south in a steady overhead stream throughout the morning. Blue-gray Gnatcatchers also put in a strong early showing with 40 southbound individuals, and these tiny birds’ pale plumage and high flight path put our counters’ “gnat vision” to the test.
A handful of other swallows embedded in the Purple Martin
flight provided some nice diversity and great views throughout the morning as
they hugged the bay shore, including 32 Tree, 15 Barn, 12 Northern Rough-winged,
and one Cliff Swallow, a fairly rare and sporadic migrant on the Eastern Shore.
There was a taste of shorebird diversity as well with two Solitary Sandpipers,
three Lesser Yellowlegs and one Stilt Sandpiper, a first record for Sunset
Beach! Other highlights included a juvenile Peregrine Falcon blasting south
overhead, Orchard Orioles (6) moving in both directions, a trickle of
southbound Common Terns (34), and a definitively local Yellow-billed Cuckoo
carrying nesting material for the second morning in a row, a stark reminder that
some species are very much still in the thick of their breeding season.
The forecast for tomorrow shows south winds with steady rain
throughout the morning. Precipitation events have the potential to bring down migratory
waterbirds including shorebirds and terns, though heavy rainfall will likely
halt most migration and potentially delay or cancel the count. Barring truly unworkable
conditions, we will still be out to see what’s flying at Sunset Beach!
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s daily migration update here on the CVWO blog, and follow along live every morning on Trektellen: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/3748/20260802
