Winds shifted to the southeast this morning at Sunset Beach, providing a nice light headwind for another good flight of forward migrants. Totals of 35 species and 1752 individuals were counted.
Alternate counter Mario Balitbit was on duty today and brought
the heat with the first count record of four Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks in
the first hour! These southern waterfowl have undergone a significant range
expansion over the last decade, and are now localized summer residents on Virginia’s
Eastern Shore following the state’s first breeding confirmation in fall 2024.
All five species of the predominant early season forward migrants
broke triple digits today, with 492 Purple Martins, 435 Eastern Kingbirds, 367
Barn Swallows, 193 Red-winged Blackbirds, and 118 Blue-gray Gnatcatchers.
Purple Martin numbers have vastly eclipsed last season’s total of 2346, with this
year’s tally currently at 4142. Today’s gnatcatcher push also broke the 2025
season total of 622, and 2026 now sits at 725!
East winds overnight did not produce a significant flight of
nocturnal migrants, and the majority of warblers today were continuing south
into the breeze including two Northern Waterthrushes, seven American Redstarts,
seven American Yellow Warblers, and two Prairie Warblers. Other neotropical migrant
activity included the season’s first Baltimore Oriole and a northbound Traill’s
(Willow/Alder) Flycatcher. The Chesapeake Bay was calm and quiet other than very
distant feeding activity, though a Black Skimmer put in an appearance as well as
a nice northbound Wilson’s Storm-Petrel.
South winds will build this afternoon through tonight along
with the chance for some overnight rain showers, surely stalling out most
overnight migration. Stronger southwest winds in the morning could produce more
activity over the Chesapeake Bay, and it will be interesting to see what is
trying to move into the headwinds.
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/3748/20260816
Black-bellied Whistling Ducks
