Northeast winds allowed for most of the departing migrants after the cold front to depart the Eastern Shore last night, and far fewer nocturnal migrants arrived to take their place. Morning flight was slower at Sunset Beach, though the weather was distinctly autumnal and totals of 48 species and 335 individuals were still counted.
Though morning flight was on the slow side, there was still a bit of diversity including singles of Nashville, Tennessee, and Prairie Warblers, all of which dropped in throughout the morning as they worked their way north. Four Glossy Ibis found traveling companions today, including one with a White Ibis and five Brown Pelicans and three with a flock of Double-crested Cormorants. Nineteen of the morning’s 22 American Kestrels came in the early part of the first hour.
Bay watching had a strong start with an immature Brown Booby feeding relatively close in with Laughing Gulls, shortly followed by a northbound flock of nine Brown Boobies distantly on the horizon for a total of ten, doubling the state high count! Large flocks of gulls also drew in an aggressive Parasitic Jaeger that prowled the bay in front of the count site for most of the third hour.
The Kiptopeke Hawkwatch experienced a fairly steady raptor flight throughout the day headed by 83 American Kestrels, 32 Osprey, and 21 Broad-winged Hawks alongside smaller numbers of regulars. A juvenile Mississippi Kite appeared several times throughout the day, at one point doing aerial battle with a Cooper’s Hawk.
Outside of our counts, a notable rarity was found yesterday by visitor Daniel Irons at the Eastern Shore of Virginia NWR, a Great White Heron! This subspecies of Great Blue Heron is found in the West Indies and Florida Keys and is a rare vagrant elsewhere. The bird continued tonight at the small pond by the refuge boat ramp.
Winds out of the east northeast will likely not do much for overnight migration as more migrants continue to depart the shore, though it could well be another good hawkwatch day.
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/3748/20260915
