West-southwest winds were roaring off the Chesapeake Bay this morning, essentially shutting down all landbird activity at Sunset Beach. A handful of birds were moving out over the water, but overall migration was minimal. Totals of 13 species and 95 individuals were counted.
The stronger winds this morning suppressed landbird activity overall, and very little was happening over the peninsula even in terms of local songbirds, much less migrants. The wind off the bay created some activity, highlighted by several small flocks of Blue-winged Teal totaling 34 southbound individuals. A steady trickle of southbound gulls and terns were moving south into the wind, likely exiting the bay after coming in after last night’s strong south winds. Twenty-four Common Terns, 12 Royals and nine Sandwich were counted alongside four Lesser Black-backed Gulls, this season’s firsts. A Peregrine Falcon made a pass at an unidentified passerine and a Merlin buzzed overhead as well, but neither were counted as migrants.
The Kiptopeke Hawkwatch remained very slow with only 30 individual migrants were counted, and raptors were limited to seven Osprey and singles of Bald Eagle, Northern Harrier, and American Kestrel. A northbound Common Nighthawk in the morning and a surprise southbound Buff-breasted Sandpiper in the mid-afternoon were bright spots on an otherwise slow, hot day. Many visitors kept spirits high and preserved our counters’ sanity as we stared into the empty blue!
Changes are finally in the air tomorrow as a weak cold front approaches from the north. While overnight migration may be unremarkable as the front stalls out to our north in the morning, it’s possible some birds may get ahead of it and arrive on the peninsula with light northwesterlies. Slow-moving fronts also have the potential to make for interesting bay watching as overland seabird migrants drop in ahead of the weather system.
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
