The slow trend continued this morning at Sunset Beach on southwest winds and clear skies on this first day of September in the middle of an unseasonable heatwave. Totals of 19 species and 493 individuals were counted.
Very few migrants were moving again today with the exception of mostly northbound Eastern Kingbirds, 440 of which were counted before they began to swirl around the count site. Warblers were slow, represented by seven American Redstarts, four Northern Yellow Warblers, one Black-and-white Warbler and a Yellow-throated Warbler that dropped in close for nice views. One Northern Harrier was counted moving south early on. Similarly to yesterday, a distant Brown Booby appeared feeding out in the Chesapeake Bay bringing some excitement to another slower morning, though today’s individual was an adult. In the absence of a notable flight of migrants, our local Sunset birds are always around to watch including the parking lot Northern Mockingbirds and Royal Terns out in the bay.
The Kiptopeke Hawkwatch also remained slow. One Northern Harrier was counted alongside nine American Kestrels. There was a light southbound movement of forward migrants including 197 Barn Swallows and 23 Blue-gray Gnatcatchers. Another Striped Saddlebags appeared again today amid the ongoing irruption, and it will be interesting to see how long these southern dragonflies will continue to be detected this fall.
Looking forward to the coming days’
weather, tomorrow holds some potential for migratory activity with westerlies
in the morning shifting around to northeast in the afternoon. Heavy rain over
the mid-Atlantic states to our north will probably put an end to most overnight
migration, though if the rain clears out before dawn a few birds may make it
down the Eastern Shore. Northeasterlies in the afternoon could make for a
better raptor flight too.
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/3748/20260901
