Northeast winds, clear skies, and lower humidity made for a day that felt like fall, even if morning flight was on the slow side. The Sunset Beach Morning Flight Count logged 26 species and 117 individuals.
Morning flight is back down to a trickle two mornings after Saturday’s cold front. Warblers were very slow, with eight American Redstarts being the most numerous species. A Yellow-throated Warbler and four Summer Tanagers gave good views as they worked the trees around the count site but were not counted as active migrants. Few forward migrants were counted overall, though 12 Great Blue Herons was the best count of the season so far, and a flyby Western Cattle-Egret was a first-of-season for this uncommon migrant. Sightings over the Chesapeake Bay included three northbound Black Terns early on, and three very distant Brown Boobies feeding on the horizon were exciting to see on this slower morning.
The Kiptopeke Hawkwatch had a moderate flight as the winds northeast winds shifted more to easterly throughout the afternoon. American Kestrels were the most numerous species with 36, while Osprey were much slower than the previous days with only 16. Purple Martins had a bit of an uptick with 135, hinting that there may still be some in the pipeline to our north.
Tomorrow’s weather should be similar to today, though with lighter winds earlier on in the morning gradually shifting to southeast winds in the afternoon. Southwest winds return on Wednesday, building into Thursday. The return of light southerly winds in the afternoon could possibly lead to a later season swallow and martin 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/3748/20260907
