Expectations. Sometimes they are met or exceeded sometimes they are not. Today fell into the former category. Or, more accurately, expectations were utterly outstripped! I had a feeling that it would be a good day as I watched over 30 Sharp-shinned Hawks sail through the pink-washed pre-dawn sky. Almost immediately my suspicions were justified as warblers dotted the sky. Things quickly accelerated into world class bedlam with birds all over the sky. Several of the counts for the day were notable: The 347 Northern Parulas is an excellent number, while in these post spruce budworm years, the 13 Bay-breasted Warblers seen today is also notable, and the 129 Blue-gray Gnatsnachers, the second highest count of the season and late in the season for such a large push of Gnatcatchers. Also more signs of the progress of fall were evident today with the first Yellow-rumped Warbler for the count and the first large flight of Northern Flickers. In all, 22 species of warblers were counted from the Dike. Add to that number the afraid-to-fly Common Yellowthroats, and the Wilson's and Blue-winged Warblers seen from the Morning Flight platform, but not on the Dike, and we had 25 total species of warblers. Not shabby! The total number of warblers was 2073 including 853 unidentified warblers. The total number of species for the morning was 104, a fantastic total for 4.5 hours spent all at one spot!
Location: Cape Island--Higbees Beach SWA--Dike
Observation date: 9/14/09
Number of species: 104
Canada Goose 2
Mute Swan 7
Mallard 6
Northern Shoveler 7
Northern Pintail 7
Green-winged Teal 8
Double-crested Cormorant 25
Black Vulture 35
Turkey Vulture 7
Osprey 9
Bald Eagle 3
Sharp-shinned Hawk 85 30+ before sunrise
Cooper's Hawk 1
American Kestrel 2
Merlin 12
Black-bellied Plover 1
Semipalmated Plover 2
Killdeer 5
Spotted Sandpiper 2
Solitary Sandpiper 1
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Lesser Yellowlegs 9
Semipalmated Sandpiper 18
Least Sandpiper 3
Laughing Gull 85
Ring-billed Gull 5
Herring Gull 15
Great Black-backed Gull 85
Caspian Tern 2
Forster's Tern 15
Royal Tern 8
Black Skimmer 6
Rock Pigeon 12
Mourning Dove 4
Chimney Swift 9
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 5
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 129
Eastern Wood-Pewee 2
Least Flycatcher 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 2
Eastern Kingbird 18
White-eyed Vireo 1
Warbling Vireo 2
Philadelphia Vireo 1
Red-eyed Vireo 15
Blue Jay 6
American Crow 25
Fish Crow 2
Purple Martin 3
Tree Swallow 400
Barn Swallow 6
Carolina Chickadee 3
Tufted Titmouse 1
Carolina Wren 4
House Wren 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 129 Huge flight for this late!
Veery 4
American Robin 2
Gray Catbird 8
Northern Mockingbird 3
European Starling 120
Cedar Waxwing 112
Tennessee Warbler 8
Nashville Warbler 12
Northern Parula 347
Yellow Warbler 18
Chestnut-sided Warbler 2
Magnolia Warbler 31
Cape May Warbler 17
Black-throated Blue Warbler 110
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 1 The end is near! Run for your life!
Black-throated Green Warbler 9
Blackburnian Warbler 7
Yellow-throated Warbler 1
Pine Warbler 1
Prairie Warbler 6
Palm Warbler 33
Bay-breasted Warbler 13 The ratio of BBWA to BLPW was crazy. Seem to fly lower than BLPW
Blackpoll Warbler 27
Black-and-white Warbler 72
American Redstart 474
Ovenbird 1
Northern Waterthrush 23
Connecticut Warbler 6
Common Yellowthroat 9
Canada Warbler 1
Scarlet Tanager 15
Chipping Sparrow 1
Savannah Sparrow 3
Song Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 8
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 10
Blue Grosbeak 2
Indigo Bunting 5
Dickcissel 2
Bobolink 150
Red-winged Blackbird 90
Common Grackle 6
Baltimore Oriole 12
Purple Finch 2
American Goldfinch 14
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