The "flight" - if you can even call it that - was nearly nonexistent this morning. In fact, only 53 birds were tallied in the truncated count period, before a wide band of light rain engulfed Cape May. However, that doesn't mean that there weren't some goodies to be seen. Among the 38 warblers in northbound flight were the season's first Cape May Warbler, a close Golden-winged Warbler, and an even closer Prothonotary Warbler. Otherwise, American Redstarts narrowly beat out Ruby-throated Hummingbirds as the day's most numerous migrant.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 8
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 4
American Robin - 1
Northern Mockingbird - 1
Golden-winged Warbler - 1
Yellow Warbler - 6
Cape May Warbler - 1
Prairie Warbler - 1
Black-and-white Warbler - 4
American Redstart - 12
Prothonotary Warbler - 1
Northern Waterthrush - 6
warbler sp. - 6
Indigo Bunting - 1
Total = 53
The interesting birds, however, were not just confined to songbirds. At approximately 6:05 AM (15-20 minutes before sunrise), a Chuck-will's-widow was seen doing a broad circuit of the road and another shorter sally a bit later. Following this observation in the pre-dawn light, I was greeted with a rare sunrise rainbow - that appeared exactly at sunrise - before dissipating a few short minutes later. About an hour afterward (7:13 AM), a flock of 8 southbound Hudsonian Godwits - the second occurrence of this species already this season - were scoped heading down the bayshore. Not too shabby for a "bad" day of migrants at the Cape...
