5 October 2011 - Morning Flight

Today was a VERY good day for Northern Flicker migration in Cape May, with nearly 700 of these attractive woodpeckers tallied flying north over Higbee Beach. The flicker flight slowed down just as the accipiter parade began - Tom Reed and I clicked 500 northbound Sharp-shinned Hawks in the first three hours of the day from the Higbee Dike! Warblers weren't too shabby either, with over 500 individuals of 15 species noted.

This Northern Flicker shows some red pigment in the wings, likely a result of diet rather than introgression with western "Red-shafted" birds.


Only morning flight birds are in this eBird checklist:

Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 2
Northern Flicker 693 *high
Eastern Phoebe 3
Red-eyed Vireo 4
Golden-crowned Kinglet 4
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
American Pipit 1
Cedar Waxwing 90
Black-and-white Warbler 4
Nashville Warbler 1
American Redstart 4
Cape May Warbler 5
Northern Parula 25
Magnolia Warbler 2
Bay-breasted Warbler 1
Yellow Warbler 2
Blackpoll Warbler 77
Bay-breasted/Blackpoll Warbler 1
Black-throated Blue Warbler 16
Palm Warbler 121
Pine Warbler 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler 77
Prairie Warbler 1
Black-throated Green Warbler 3
warbler sp. 205
Chipping Sparrow 1
Savannah Sparrow 1
Scarlet Tanager 2
Indigo Bunting 2
Dickcissel 1