With the month of August already under-our-belts, I thought I'd take the opportunity to summarize the morning flight migration from the latter half of the month (8/16 - 8/31). More than 6500 birds have already been tallied in redetermined migration at Higbee Beach, including 27 species of warblers and one confirmed hybrid (a single "Brewster's" Warbler). The bulk of this migration came in a single day (8/29), when more than 2700 birds were noted.
The species highlight for August was a White-winged Dove (8/20) that flew north across the Cape May Canal. However, excellent single-day flights of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers (313 on 8/16) and Red-breasted Nuthatches (374 on 8/29) were very memorable; the gnatcatcher count is an all-time Cape May high count while the nuthatch figure is the third-highest. Although not as obvious - daily numbers top out in the low teens - it has been a great fall for Ruby-throated Hummingbird migration. It's only the beginning of September, but the 2012 total is already the second highest season total yet.
Yellow-billed Cuckoo - 1
White-winged Dove - 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 133
Belted Kingfisher - 9
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 3
Olive-sided Flycatcher - 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee - 2
Least Flycatcher - 1
"Traill's" Flycatcher - 1
Empidonax flycatcher - 11
Great Crested Flycatcher - 1
Eastern Kingbird - 244
Warbling Vireo - 2
Philadelphia Vireo - 1
Red-eyed Vireo - 45
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 423
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 426
American Robin - 42
Northern Mockingbird - 12
Cedar Waxwing - 1020
Blue-winged Warbler - 2
Golden-winged Warbler - 1
"winged-warbler" sp. (Golden-winged/Brewster's) - 1
"Brewster's" Warbler - 1
Tennessee Warbler - 6
Nashville Warbler - 4
Northern Parula - 31
Yellow Warbler - 291
Chestnut-sided Warbler - 18
Magnolia Warbler - 12
Cape May Warbler - 14
Black-throated Blue Warbler - 62
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 4
Black-throated Green Warbler - 7
Yellow-throated Warbler - 1
Blackburnian Warbler - 15
Pine Warbler - 2
Prairie Warbler - 29
Blackpoll Warbler - 1
Black-and-white Warbler - 120
American Redstart - 1419
Prothonotary Warbler - 2
Worm-eating Warbler - 8
Ovenbird - 9
Northern Waterthrush - 359
Louisiana Waterthrush - 6
Wilson's Warbler - 2
Hooded Warbler - 1
Canada Warbler - 2
warbler sp. - 550
Scarlet Tanager - 4
Summer Tanager - 1
Clay-colored Sparrow - 1
Lark Sparrow - 2
Rose-breasted Grosbeak - 1
Blue Grosbeak - 17
Indigo Bunting - 28
Dickcissel - 6
Bobolink - 879
Orchard Oriole - 3
Baltimore Oriole - 224
Purple Finch - 4
Total = 6522
