18 August 2011 - Morning Flight

Cape May was washed by south winds overnight, and there was virtually no morning flight this morning. I saw only a small trickle of Yellow Warblers and American Redstarts, though numbers of warblers were milling around in the woods (likely the same birds present yesterday). I did want to share a really cool photo taken by Doug Gochfeld yesterday of a Louisiana Waterthrush in flight at the Dike. Louisiana Waterthrushes are infrequently detected as fall migrants here in Cape May, perhaps due mainly to difficulty in separating them from the similar and much more abundant Northern Waterthrush. This species, however, migrates early in the fall, primarily in July and August, whereas Northern Waterthrush migration peaks later in the season (September). The large bill, contrastingly white and broad supercilium (especially behind the eye), and sparse, blurry streaks on the underparts are all good Louisiana marks to look for in Doug's photo below. During the observation, a sharp chip note was the first cue that led us to focus on this individual; views then allowed us to see the broad, white supercilium and stocky bill. Since Louisiana Waterthrush is so uncommon at the Dike, and photographing warblers in flight is so tricky, there are precious few photos of the species out there - this is certainly the nicest I've seen. Nice work, Doug!

Louisiana Waterthrush at Higbee Beach (photo by Doug Gochfeld)