About CVWO Butterfly Research

Since 1998, when CVWO established a Monarch Butterfly Migration Program at Kiptopeke State Park, volunteers have conducted fall surveys and tagged Monarchs. Monarch numbers are declining at an alarming rate due to a variety of factors. Several tagged Monarchs have later been found at their winter roost sites near Mexico City, but that is still a frustratingly small gain of information for 600+ monarchs tagged each of the last few seasons.

According to a Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation press release issued in March 2026, “The amount of overwintering habitat occupied by monarch butterflies in central Mexico increased 64% from last year, according to the annual census released today by World Wildlife Fund-Mexico and partners. The butterflies were found covering an area of 7.24 acres, which means the eastern monarch population that migrates between Canada and Mexico each year showed an improvement from last winter’s area of 4.42 acres. The annual survey measures the area of forest in which monarch butterflies hibernate each winter, providing a reliable indicator of the eastern monarch’s population status.

“While an increase is great news, the numbers in Mexico are still well below historic norms,” said Scott Black, director of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. “With the western monarch population that overwinters in California seeing the third-worst year on record, we urgently need better protections for this beloved butterfly.”

Thanks to new ultralight transmitters, scientists are now able to tag and track the butterflies along their migratory routes, opening up new opportunities to understand their conservation needs.

Source: Xerces Society

To that end, CVWO partnered with Birds Canada in the fall of 2025 to quickly get up to speed with the new monitoring technology. Our Monarch biologist was trained in the application of these transmitters and two butterflies were tagged and tracked in real time down to Florida and the Gulf Coast. The process was incredibly rewarding for the organization members and is an exciting development in Monarch research. CVWO will be expanding this transmitter monitoring program for 2026.

• Monarch Migration Project
• Williamsburg Area Butterfly Count
• Chippokes Butterfly Count
• Delmarva Tip Butterfly Count

About the Waterbirds Team

The Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observatory’s Waterbirds Team was formalized in 2015 to maintain the continuity of shorebird and colonial nesting seabird monitoring studies. The CVWO Waterbird Team devoted the 2025 field work to documenting the volume and diversity of bird species frequenting Craney Island Dredged Materials Management Area (CIDMMA) in Portsmouth, Virginia. Breeding activity was focused on three species: Black-necked Stilts, American Oystercatchers, and Least Terns. In addition to shorebird and seabird studies, CVWO sponsors Wood Duck monitoring at Harwoods Mill with support from the City of Newport News.

• Waterbird Team Report
• Wood Duck Research

About Songbird Research

CVWO volunteers monitor two species in the coastal plain of Virginia – Prothonotary Warblers at six sites and Purple Martins at four sites.

In September 2019, the journal Science released a study telling us that the number of birds in the US and Canada had fallen by 29% since 1970, resulting in 2.9 billion fewer birds. That study grabbed lots of attention.

Here we are seven years later, and the news is bleaker. In another study, relying on some of the same data sources, published in the journal Science in February 2026, researchers are finding that “birds in the United States are not only declining, but they are declining faster, especially in areas with intensive agriculture, according to new research. Overall drops in bird population, measured from 1987 to 2021, were sharpest in warm and warming areas, suggesting that climate change may play a role.

“The study shows only correlation, not causation, with intensive agriculture and does not factor in other circumstances that may be affecting birds along migratory routes or while they are overwintering.”

This is the latest in multiple studies that tell us that birds – “one of the best measured families of animals on Earth, and a sentinel for the health of other species – are not OK.”

Fewer insects, outdoor cats, window strikes, habitat loss, climate change and intensive agriculture – all impact bird populations. Sadly, the losses will continue until sustained, concerted efforts at every level in our communities, states, and nation make our biodiversity a priority.



So, what can YOU do as an individual? Among other things, support conservation organizations in your local community with your energy, imagination, and funds. Participate in local citizen science surveys that contribute to national data bases. If you’re so inclined, support local, state, and national legislation that supports wildlife conservation on a large scale. Joining with like-minded folks in your community multiplies your support. So get out there!

Source: Acceleration hotspots of North American birds’ decline are associated with agriculture” Francois Leroy, Vol 391, Issue 6788. February 26, 2026. View article HERE.

• Prothonotary Warbler Report
• Purple Martin Monitoring

This fall marked the first season of CVWO’s Sunset Beach Morning Flight Count. Morning flight is understood to be a behavior to “correct course” during migration, typically exhibited by nocturnal migrant songbirds after a night of migration. During fall on the East Coast, this behavior is typically associated with certain weather conditions. Winds out of the northwest, often accompanying autumn cold fronts, provide a tailwind for many birds to use as they make their way south across the continent. Despite their benefits as a tailwind, strong northwesterly winds tend to displace a large number of migrants in eastern North America well east of their intended flight path. This displacement is called wind drift.

Many of these migrating birds thus find themselves in a perilous situation after experiencing wind drift: They are much closer to the coast than they intended, or even worse, find themselves flying out over the open water of the Chesapeake Bay or Atlantic Ocean as the sun rises. Flying over open water during the day is a dangerous energy expenditure for a nocturnal migrant that would much rather be refueling or resting in a habitat with cover.

Morning flight is generally thought to be an important way for birds to correct for wind drift and avoid further travel complications. It may also be exhibited by birds selecting foraging habitats in the early morning. The narrow, funnel-shaped peninsula of the Eastern Shore acts as a natural concentration point for migrants, waterlocked to the west and south by the Chesapeake Bay, and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. Surrounded by water, migrants concentrate at the tip of the peninsula and correct course, sending them straight past Sunset Beach as they turn north to look for somewhere on the peninsula to forage, while other forward migrants continue south towards Fisherman’s Island or across the Chesapeake Bay.



Birders have long known of the incredible morning flight spectacles that occur at Sunset Beach, but fall 2025 is the first time a daily count was conducted using standardized data collection protocols. CVWO has joined other ongoing morning flight counts elsewhere around the world, documenting this unique migratory behavior. 

Documenting the volume and species composition of birds engaging in morning flight at Sunset Beach throughout the fall season was the primary goal of this project. Other birds and insects engaging in forward migration were also counted. This data will also inform habitat management decisions to support the diversity of migrant species moving through the Eastern Shore and will help further our understanding of the varying factors influencing morning flight behavior.

Pictured above is a Northern Flicker captured during Morning Flight photographed by Baxter Beamer.

Read the Full 2025 Morning Flight Report Here