South winds continued at Sunset Beach this morning. Forward migrants had another good day, while reorienting migrants were very slow. Totals of 30 species and 1793 individuals were counted.
The flight took a while to get moving, but once it did
totals of 1010 Purple Martins, 500 Eastern Kingbirds, and 96 Barn Swallows were
counted, with a few smaller groups of Bobolinks picked up in the morning
totaling 63. Northbound morning flight was negligible with only 6 American
Redstarts for the day and little else in the way of warblers. The Chesapeake
Bay had a steady trickle of southbound terns dominated by 52 Commons.
The Kiptopeke Hawkwatch had another big flight of migrants
throughout the day with a few nice raptors counted including three Peregrine
Falcons and two Northern Harriers. Four Buff-breasted Sandpipers flying over
together in the afternoon were a very nice surprise, and a rare sight from the
platform. Impressive counts of forward migrants at the Hawkwatch included 3263
Barn Swallows, 2406 Purple Martins, 935 Eastern Kingbirds, and 247 Bobolink.
Cloudy conditions with light southwest winds tomorrow could make for another interesting day of forward migration, though a true shift in the weather will need to happen for nocturnal migration to kick into gear. That chance may develop on Friday night, though rain associated with the front could easily diminish the movement. Only time will tell how it will all play out.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s daily migration update on CVWO social media and the
CVWO blog: https://vawildliferesearch.org/cvwo-blog
And follow along with the count live every morning on
Trektellen: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/3748/20260827
