Light west-southwesterly winds made for a calmer morning at Sunset Beach. Some forward migrants were taking advantage of the more favorable conditions, and totals of 35 species and 396 individuals were counted.
Swallows were back on the move today, with 102 Purple Martins and 51 Barn Swallows counted. Other forward migrant passerines also had a good day, including 55 Eastern Kingbirds and 26 Blue-gray Gnatcatchers. There was very little in the way of nocturnal migration last night with precipitation to the north snuffing out the flight, and today’s reverse migration reflected that. For warblers, only three American Redstarts, one Prairie and one Pine Warbler, and one each Northern and Louisiana Waterthrush were counted.
Eastern Kingbird
In terms of waterbirds, there was a sprinkling of shorebird diversity including three unidentified dowitchers, two Least Sandpipers, and a Solitary Sandpiper. Brown Pelicans seemed to be on the move with 53 counted. Two Wilson’s Storm-Petrels made a nice northbound pass out over the bay following a long slick on the water.
Southerly winds return tomorrow, and it will be interesting to see if this shift is accompanied by an uptick in forward migrants such as swallows that sometimes move into the wind or creates any waterbird activity out over the Chesapeake Bay. As is typically the case with southerly winds, overall morning flight activity will probably be on the low side. A frontal boundary passes tomorrow night followed by northeast winds on Saturday, which could kickstart some more migratory action.
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/3748/20260813
