I woke up this morning with dramatically low expectations for today's flight at Higbee Beach; however, bolstered by some very welcome hot chocolate and with hard core co-observers, we headed out anyway and were very surprised by a good flight of songbirds. Even with 15 mph NNE winds and a light but persistent rain, the Blackpoll Warblers were on the move. Along with smaller numbers of other expected early October warblers like Northern Parula, Yellow-rumped, and Palm, the Blackpolls made a big showing with nearly 200 tallied flying out; many (probably over 50) landed right in front of us on the dike before heading north, giving great comparisons with parulas and a gorgeous Black-throated Green Warbler. Three Connecticut Warblers flew out as well, a generous total for October. Most surprising by far was the adult male Prothonotary Warbler that perched out in a holly for a minute or two, allowing killer views. Though there are a couple of important references that I don't have on hand, I can only find one other October report for Cape May - one on 5 October 1992 at Cape May Point State Park that was entered into eBird.
All over Cape Island, shorebirds are flying by regularly, including a couple of American Golden-Plovers and a lot of White-rumpeds and Dunlin; between the Dike and the hawkwatch, around 60 White-rumped Sandpipers have been tallied this morning. Amazingly, a Clapper Rail flew over the dune into Cape May Point State Park around 10 AM and landed on a bale of hay next to a pumpkin. The bird stayed long enough for Doug Gochfeld to take some digiscoped photos - I'm sure he'll post them here later on.
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