Morning Flight Tuesday Septemer 1 2009

The birds I was expecting yesterday decided that they would rather come today instead. The first hour was busy bordering on crazy but things slowed down fairly quickly. Including 180 warbler sp. there were 557 warblers counted representing 16 species. The warbler highlights were a Cerulean and a Canada. The highlight of the morning, however, was the full blown shootout between a hefty juvenile female Peregrine Falcon and a Lesser Yellowlegs! The thrilling duel lasted several minutes during which I was certain that the yellowlegs would meet its end at least 6 or 7 times. The Peregrine finally broke off the pursuit, visibly winded and without dinner, and left to take a nap. The Yellowlegs went the opposite direction likely in search of a therapist and a fresh pair of shorts.

Totals below are for all birds seen and include species or individuals not participating in morning flight.

Mallard 8
Double-crested Cormorant 85
Great Blue Heron 1
Great Egret 3
Snowy Egret 2
Green Heron 2
Black Vulture 3
Turkey Vulture 3
Osprey 8
Sharp-shinned Hawk 3
Cooper's Hawk 2
Broad-winged Hawk 2
Merlin 1
Peregrine Falcon 1
Semipalmated Plover 6
Spotted Sandpiper 3
Solitary Sandpiper 1
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Lesser Yellowlegs 12
Sanderling 35
Semipalmated Sandpiper 40
Least Sandpiper 6
Stilt Sandpiper 1
Short-billed Dowitcher 2
Laughing Gull 215
Herring Gull 35
Great Black-backed Gull 25
Least Tern 2
Caspian Tern 1
Common Tern 115
Forster's Tern 90
Royal Tern 4
Rock Pigeon 40
Mourning Dove 18
Common Nighthawk 2
Chimney Swift 6
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 4
Belted Kingfisher 1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 1
Empidonax sp. 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 3
Eastern Kingbird 140
Red-eyed Vireo 6
Blue Jay 2
American Crow 12
Fish Crow 14
Purple Martin 45
Tree Swallow 80
Barn Swallow 40
Carolina Chickadee 4
Tufted Titmouse 2
Carolina Wren 12
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 50
American Robin 47
Gray Catbird 8
Northern Mockingbird 5
European Starling 350
Cedar Waxwing 139
Blue-winged Warbler 2
Tennessee Warbler 2
Nashville Warbler 1
Northern Parula 21
Yellow Warbler 7
Chestnut-sided Warbler 4
Magnolia Warbler 18
Cape May Warbler 5
Black-throated Blue Warbler 16
Blackburnian Warbler 3
Prairie Warbler 4
Cerulean Warbler 1
Black-and-white Warbler 16
American Redstart 266
Northern Waterthrush 10
Common Yellowthroat 5
Canada Warbler 1
Scarlet Tanager 1
Northern Cardinal 6
Indigo Bunting 2
Dickcissel 1
Bobolink 125
Red-winged Blackbird 135
Common Grackle 6
Brown-headed Cowbird 3
Baltimore Oriole 71
American Goldfinch 5
House Sparrow 8

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