Morning Flight Sunday October 24, 2010

Finches handily outstripped the nocturnal migrant species today at the Higbee Dike. There was a very strong southbound movement of House Finches, Purple Finches, and American Goldfinches for the first two hours after sunrise. Even more House Finches were tallied at Cape May Point SP during the same time, suggesting that there were other finch flightlines heading down the peninsula not visible from my vantage point at the Dike. The roadside was hopping with sparrows - most unusual was an interesting Clay-colored Sparrow with dark flank streaking, most likely a young bird retaining some juvenal plumage (see a previous post for photos).

Eastern Meadowlark, the fluttering mini-football of the Dike. Higbee Beach.


Location: Cape Island--Higbees Beach SWA--Dike
Observation date: 10/24/10
Notes: primarily a southbound flight with some northbound robins and Yellow-rumped Warblers. Wind WSW 10-15 mph, 65 F.
Number of species: 23

hummingbird sp. 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Northern Flicker 2
Red-breasted Nuthatch 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
American Robin 1700
American Pipit 16
Cedar Waxwing 32
Northern Parula 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 475
Palm Warbler 1
Blackpoll Warbler 8
Northern Waterthrush 1
Chipping Sparrow 2
Savannah Sparrow 5
Dark-eyed Junco 5
Indigo Bunting 1
Dickcissel 1
Eastern Meadowlark 21
Purple Finch 212
House Finch 1540
Carpodacus sp. 610
American Goldfinch 705

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)