A cold front brought a much-anticipated uptick in migration and a couple rarities to the Eastern Shore this weekend. At Sunset Beach, totals of 37 species and 2366 individuals were counted.
Sunset
Beach was birdier than previous days, though the majority of activity was out
to the east and backlit over Eastern Shore of Virginia NWR. Small flocks of
House Finch and American Goldfinch were moving around, while American
Goldfinches had a fairly even split of northbound and southbound birds within
the total of 105, all 55 House Finches were counted northbound. Pine Siskins
have seemingly slowed, and only a single individual was counted this morning at
Sunset. Another northbound hummingbird out over the campground was left
unidentified, and hopefully one of these will find its way to the hawkwatch
hummingbird feeder.
The Kiptopeke Hawkwatch had a slightly busier flight today, with 31 raptors counted including the season’s third Golden Eagle. There was a strong southbound flight of flocking passerines including 4726 American Robins and 1799 Red-winged Blackbirds. American Goldfinches have increased considerably, and 152 were counted. Eastern Bluebirds have pushed in as well, with a strong flight totaling 125.
Fronts moving across the continent from the southwest often bring vagrants to the east coast, and that was the case today highlighted by an Ash-throated Flycatcher and flyover Western Kingbird at the Eastern Shore of Virginia NWR visitor center today! Continued westerly winds this week will offer further potential for western strays such as these flycatchers, Cave Swallow, or something even more unexpected.
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/3748/20261108
