Clear skies and light southerly winds really allowed the forward migrants to run away with it this morning at Sunset Beach. Purple Martins, Eastern Kingbirds and Barn Swallows all saw record numbers for the count, and there was a bit of diversity to be had today as well. Totals of 39 species and 3987 individuals were counted.
Hordes of forward migrants were pouring over at Sunset
Beach, including the new record counts of 2299 Purple Martin, 959 Eastern
Kingbird, and 473 Barn Swallow. The sky was filled with rivers of these birds
as pulses came and went throughout the morning, with kingbirds dominating early
and martins picking up heavily later in the morning. Purple Martins and Barn
Swallows could be seen crossing the bay overhead parallel to the Chesapeake Bay
Bridge Tunnel later in the morning, displaying the dedicated crossing these
birds undertake on days with suitable conditions.
Though today featured more volume than diversity, singleton Bank,
Cliff and Tree Swallows were picked out of the southbound flight, and occasional
other southbound flyovers were swept up in the action including two Red-headed
Woodpecker, two Great Crested Flycatchers, 13 Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, and three
Summer Tanagers. American Yellow Warblers edged out American Redstarts on this
slow warbler day with 8 and 6 respectively.
Overnight migration is looking promising tonight, though
local rain to the north may block migrants for a portion of the night.
Hopefully the system clears out in time for north-northwesterly winds to work
their magic tomorrow morning under overcast skies and cooler temperatures.
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/3748/20260820
