Morning Flight - 8 September 2012

After two excellent mornings at Higbee, today's flight showcased few birds.  The star, however, was a Kentucky Warbler that dropped into the Phragmites literally at our feet.  As best as we can deduce, it probably weaved between onlookers before settling into the vegetation.  At one point it actually approached my clipboard to within a few feet, as if imploring us to count it.  It flew farther north and disappeared along the line of Phragmites - not typical Kentucky Warbler habitat, to say the least. 

As it turns out, this is the first Kentucky Warbler registered in the Morning Flight database since its official inception in 2003.  Kentucky Warblers were once seen more frequently on Cape Island; in fact, The Birds of Cape May (Sibley 1997) states that the average was once 10 individuals per fall on the island.  A quick check on eBird shows that there have been only four fall reports in the past 10 years (1 in 2002 and 3 in 2005).  Unfortunately, as they've become decidely less common, today's sighting was a real rarity.    

Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 3
Empidonax flycatcher - 1
Red-eyed Vireo - 2
Tennessee Warbler - 1
Northern Parula - 1
Yellow Warbler - 2
Black-throated Green Warbler - 1
Palm Warbler - 2
Black-and-white Warbler - 5
American Redstart - 16
Northern Waterthrush - 20
Kentucky Warbler - 1
warbler sp. - 4
Blue Grosbeak - 1
Indigo Bunting - 1
Dickcissel - 1
Bobolink - 18

Total = 80

Kentucky Warbler (Photo by Tom Johnson)