Winds were very calm and the air was quite still on this warm, clear day on the Eastern Shore. The lack of wind did not inspire many birds to migrate today, and things were generally quite slow. At Sunset Beach, totals of 27 species and 1424 individuals were counted.
Most of the movement this morning was early on, as 563 Yellow-rumped Warblers were counted moving south. Red-winged Blackbirds were the only other species reaching triple digits, today tallying 262 southbound with many landing in the pines around the count site to feed on cones. Finches continue to trickle south, today represented by 24 House Finch, 26 American Goldfinch, and 64 Pine Siskin. The Chesapeake Bay was glassy calm, and the day’s bay-watching activity reflected that stillness. Northern Gannets were slow with only 24 moving south and a few others milling around, two Surf Scoters moved north, and 20 Black Scoters were counted southbound.
The calm conditions also made for slow going at the hawkwatch, where 22 raptors were counted. Fish Crows continue to move in very strong numbers compared to previous seasons, and they were the most numerous migrants of the day at the hawkwatch totaling 488.
Tomorrow is forecasted to be another beautiful day, though the light southeast winds will probably make for slow counting again. There are signs of changing conditions by the weekend, and until then we’ll be out in the nice weather seeing what birds are enjoying it too!
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/3748/20261103
