It was another hot, clear morning at Sunset Beach, with little more than a light west breeze off the bay to keep temperatures bearable. As the past few days have been, it was a slow day, though as always there were a few interesting highlights scattered throughout the morning. Totals of 32 species and 636 individuals were counted.
Eastern Kingbirds remain plentiful in the area, and the majority of the 480 counted this morning were southbound. A Merlin took advantage of the plentiful food supply and emerged from the picnic area pines with an unfortunate kingbird in its clutches. Freshly wary from their close brush with a raptorial death, a southbound Northern Harrier low over the count site later in the morning sent a cloud of kingbirds, robins, and starlings into the air.
Reorientation morning flight was again slow as anticipated given the conditions, consisting of six American Redstarts, four Northern Yellow Warblers, and a handful of warbler sp. glimpsed zipping into the trees and out to the east. Blue-gray Gnatcatchers are showing a bit of a resurgence in numbers with 19 counted. Other highlights included a rather low Gull-billed Tern moving south directly overhead, the season’s second Cape May Warbler, and a Baltimore Oriole loosely associating with three Eastern Bluebirds.
A shift to a light northeast breeze this afternoon was all that was needed to kick the Kiptopeke Hawkwatch into gear. The best raptor numbers of the season so far were counted, with 45 American Kestrels, 32 Osprey, six Northern Harriers, two Broad-winged and two Red-shouldered Hawks, a Peregrine Falcon and a Mississippi Kite counted. Early in the morning a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher was a nice highlight and first-of-season for either of our counts.
Conditions remain similar tomorrow, with stronger southwest winds and hot temperatures forecasted. The heat and unfavorable winds will continue through Friday, but a significant chance is anticipated by the weekend with a cold front passing Friday night. We’re looking forward to seeing what we can turn up before then!
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/3748/20260902
