Southwest winds and overnight rain again stalled out overnight migration, and forward migrants were very slow with the strong west-southwest crosswinds under heavy overcast skies today at Sunset Beach. There were still a few birds moving with a couple interesting highlights, and totals of 23 species and 223 individuals were counted.
Two southbound flocks of Brown Pelicans totaling 77
contributed the most to the day’s individual count. Barn Swallows were close
behind with 71, trickling by in small groups throughout the morning though in
numbers much reduced overall compared to previous days. Eleven of each Purple
Martin and Eastern Kingbird emphasized the slow forward migration flight,
though another southbound juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker was good to see. One
southbound Pine Warbler was the only warbler counted today.
The Chesapeake Bay provided the most interesting sightings
despite being slow overall. The highlight was a very distant northbound Brown
Booby in the third hour utilizing the breezier conditions in keeping with the
three previous detections of this rarity this season. Tern numbers were low but
diversity was fairly high, including one each of the three uncommon species
Caspian, Gull-billed, and Black. Three northbound Black-bellied Plovers and an
unseen calling Solitary Sandpiper represented the only shorebird diversity
today.
The potential of light westerlies forecasted tomorrow morning
is diminished by the likelihood of heavier overnight rain to our north, so
nocturnal migration may be limited. Regardless, it will likely be a very
different day than today, and overnight precipitation occasionally yields
interesting movements if birds are moving as we saw on Saturday’s shorebird
flight.
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/3748/20260817
