Morning Flight Saturday September 4, 2010

Today's flight was absolutely incredible for about an hour and change, before it abruptly slowed down.
The density of birds flying north during that magical period was extremely high, certainly far higher than
any previous flight this year (and maybe even those of other full seasons). The strong west winds (which
also surely contributed to the truncated nature of the flight) kept most of the flight very low, although
the birds were also zooming by much faster than normal. It was not uncommon to have over 20
identifiable warblers in view at once, but getting good views of more than a couple of the birds in the air
at any one time was quite a challenge. Non-passerine highlights were few, in part due to the excellent
songbird flight that kept everyone's attention, but a single Buff-breasted Sandpiper was seen flying by twice.

With the forecast for west winds once again, we should have another really good flight, and without the
increase in wind speed that took place last night, tomorrow's flight should be good for a longer time period
than today's was. See ya there!

Full list of species follows; species engaged in morning flight are in Bold.

Turkey Vulture     8
Osprey     20
Bald Eagle     1
Sharp-shinned Hawk     1
Cooper's Hawk     1
American Kestrel     5
Merlin     1
Semipalmated Plover     25
Semipalmated Sandpiper     125
Least Sandpiper     50
Buff-breasted Sandpiper     1
Laughing Gull     X
Ring-billed Gull     1
Herring Gull     X
Great Black-backed Gull     X
Common Tern     X
Royal Tern     10
Rock Pigeon     X
Mourning Dove     10
Chimney Swift     4
Ruby-throated Hummingbird     6
Belted Kingfisher     1
Olive-sided Flycatcher     1
Eastern Wood-Pewee     1
Empidonax sp.     1
Eastern Kingbird     171
Red-eyed Vireo     2
American Crow     X
Fish Crow     X
Purple Martin     12
Tree Swallow     2
Bank Swallow     4
Barn Swallow     50
Cliff Swallow     1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet     1
Northern Mockingbird     1
European Starling     X
Cedar Waxwing     70
Tennessee Warbler     9
Nashville Warbler     4
Northern Parula     30
Yellow Warbler     61
Chestnut-sided Warbler     4
Magnolia Warbler     14
Cape May Warbler     12
Black-throated Blue Warbler     25
Black-throated Green Warbler     22
Blackburnian Warbler     6
Yellow-throated Warbler     2
Pine Warbler     1
Prairie Warbler     4
Palm Warbler (Western)     3
Bay-breasted Warbler     9
Blackpoll Warbler     7
Bay-breasted/Blackpoll Warbler     2
Cerulean Warbler      1
Black-and-white Warbler     12
American Redstart     907
Worm-eating Warbler     1
Ovenbird     3
Northern Waterthrush     86
Canada Warbler     1
warbler sp.     779
Northern Cardinal     2
Indigo Bunting     3
Bobolink     1367
Red-winged Blackbird     75
Baltimore Oriole     4
American Goldfinch     8