Southwesterly winds continue their reign at Sunset Beach, though a few birds were still moving around despite overnight migration once again being negligible. Birds today were more scattered with more movement occurring farther out to the east of the count site making for backlit viewing. Totals of 41 species and 398 individuals were counted.
In keeping with the previous week of the count so far, the
flight today was dominated by forward migrants. Barn Swallows led with 147, followed by 65 Red-winged Blackbirds, and 45 Blue-gray Gnatcatchers.
Interestingly, Purple Martins were essentially nonexistent with only a single bird
counted northbound compared to the 124 yesterday, and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers
were not detected yesterday at all. These discrepancies are interesting given
the generally similar conditions between yesterday and today. Eleven American
Redstarts were the only identified warblers this morning, with a few warbler
and waterthrush sp. as high and backlit specks out to the east.
There was still a bit of diversity with the first
waterfowl of the season being three southbound Mallards, an early Broad-winged
Hawk out to the east, a handful of shorebirds including two Hudsonian Whimbrel,
a Solitary Sandpiper and a Greater Yellowlegs, and one Caspian and three
Gull-billed Terns moving south out over the Chesapeake Bay. The biggest excitement of the morning was when two Brown Boobies made
another appearance over the Chesapeake Bay circling and diving on the horizon. Black Terns also continued their presence with four seen
foraging around the bay.
There are signs that a break in the warm and humid
southwesterly flow is coming, though there seems to be at least a couple days
of more of the same in store. We are far enough along into the season where any
break in the pattern could allow a significant overnight migratory movement and
an exciting morning flight to follow. Until then, we will keep documenting what migrants are pushing on into the southwesterlies.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s daily migration update on CVWO social
media and the CVWO blog: https://vawildliferesearch.org/cvwo-blog
