Morning Flight Friday September 10, 2010

Well, there were certainly a lot of birds flowing north past the Dike today. Unfortunately the vast majority of them were well to the east, and so ended up getting counted without being assigned to a species. After the first hour of counting, the flight essentially shut down, although it picked up again in the last hour after the sun came back into view.

Northern Waterthrushes were especially conspicuous, and the lone Prothonotary Warbler gave excellent views. The species highlight may have been Olive-sided Flycatcher, because there were no less than 3(!) individuals seen, and maybe up to 4. Only one of these individuals actually ended up engaging in Morning Flight behavior, so perhaps the others are still around the woods just south of the Dike.

Another notable species for the date (it's getting late for them) was an Orchard Oriole, which chattered from the vegetation in front of us before flying south into the woods.

Kevin Karlson getting up close and personal with the extremely confiding Baird's Sandpiper that's been hanging out on the Dike for the last couple of days.

Complete eBird list follows (Species engaged in Morning Flight in Bold)

Location: Cape Island--Higbees Beach SWA--Dike
Observation date: 9/10/10
Notes: NNW Winds
Number of species: 63

Canada Goose 4
Black-bellied Plover 3
Semipalmated Plover 3
Killdeer 1
Solitary Sandpiper 1
Lesser Yellowlegs 1
Sanderling 1
Semipalmated Sandpiper 11
Least Sandpiper 3
Baird's Sandpiper 1
Laughing Gull X
Ring-billed Gull X
Herring Gull X
Great Black-backed Gull X
Caspian Tern 1
Common Tern X
Forster's Tern X
Royal Tern 15
Rock Pigeon 35
Mourning Dove 20
Chimney Swift 5
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Olive-sided Flycatcher 3 (Only 1 engaged in Morning Flight before the count period ended)
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1
Eastern Kingbird 12 (None engaging in Morning Flight Behavior)
Red-eyed Vireo 2 (1 in trees, 1 engaging in Morning Flight Behavior)
Fish Crow X
crow sp. X
Tree Swallow 3
Barn Swallow 40
Cliff Swallow 30
Carolina Chickadee X
Red-breasted Nuthatch 3
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 15
American Robin 3
European Starling X
Cedar Waxwing 639
Tennessee Warbler 14
Nashville Warbler 2
Northern Parula 66
Yellow Warbler 7
Chestnut-sided Warbler 2
Magnolia Warbler 7
Cape May Warbler 13
Black-throated Blue Warbler 6
Black-throated Green Warbler 2
Blackburnian Warbler 2
Palm Warbler 8
Blackpoll Warbler 14
Bay-breasted/Blackpoll Warbler 2
Black-and-white Warbler 12
American Redstart 193
Prothonotary Warbler 1
Northern Waterthrush 157
warbler sp. 1175
Scarlet Tanager 2
Northern Cardinal 1
Blue Grosbeak 4
Indigo Bunting 2
Dickcissel 1
Bobolink 149
Red-winged Blackbird X
Common Grackle 3
Orchard Oriole 1
Baltimore Oriole 2
American Goldfinch 20