Happy October! The first day of the month was on the quieter side at Sunset Beach on light southwesterlies, though there were still a handful of warblers moving alongside some signs of the transition to the third quarter of fall migration. Totals of 44 species and 974 individuals were counted.
Southwesterly winds made for more forward migration than typical in nocturnal migrants, and even splits of northbound and southbound individuals were achieved for the day’s 30 Northern Flickers and 20 Northern Parulas. Early morning raptor liftoff was fairly strong following yesterday’s big flight, and 60 Sharp-shinned Hawks and 39 American Kestrels. A lingering Mississippi Kite appeared once again after a several day absence, marking one of few October records on the Eastern Shore.
Raptors were pushing south into the wind at the hawkwatch today, and Sharp-shinned Hawks and American Kestrels both had solid counts with 244 and 260 respectively. Birds were moving through low all day, including a few of the day’s 20 Peregrine Falcons. One of the more notable migratory movements today was the arrival of Blue Jays in numbers, totaling 158 southbound and 101 northbound at Sunset and 193 southbound and one northbound at the hawkwatch. Blue Jays are an irruptive boreal migrant, and numbers vary year-to-year based on acorn crops. Jays did not irrupt last year, and Sunset Beach counted only 43 the entire season. It will be interesting to track jay movements on the Eastern Shore this fall given few other boreal species are irrupting, though the Kiptopeke Hawkwatch did log its first Red-breasted Nuthatch of the season today.
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Winds are out of the south again tomorrow, bringing with them more warm temperatures. A large flight of migrants is not anticipated, though more raptors may continue to push on. Tomorrow will be the last warmer day ahead of a cold front with rain chances tomorrow night through the weekend.
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/3748/20260930
