Morning Flight - 21 October 2012

Today's flight was huge.  Yellow-rumped Warblers (31,117) and American Robins (7625) flew en masse today, filling the eastern sky for the first two hours (a combined ~24,000 in just the first hour after sunrise alone!).  In fact, more Yellow-rumped Warblers and American Robins flew today than had cumulatively flown all season.

Despite the mass exodus of birds, most observers agreed that today's clear highlight was the White-breasted Nuthatch (22) flight.  Even though Red-breasted Nuthatches (105) made a good showing, they only outnumbered White-breasted Nuthatches about 5:1.  The White-breasted Nuthatch flight was so engaging that a small cadre of observers lingered into the afternoon today in hopes of tacking on yet another bird.  But try as we might, we fell one short of the all-time Cape May record (23), tallied on 18 October 2010.  However, today's surge was enough to push the season total to 54, eclipsing the prior season record (52) set in 2010.  These two standout White-breasted Nuthatch years are leaps-and-bounds above the other Morning Flight years, which total only 38 birds during eight entire seasons.  The Birds of Cape May (Sibley 1997) states that the previous high count (13+) occurred on 30 September 1995.

Today's passage included the first triple-digit Northern Flicker (136) flight since 10/7, a good movement of Eastern Phoebes (20), ten species of warblers (!), the 3000th (!) Red-breasted Nuthatch of 2012 (season total now up to 3069), and the best Chipping Sparrow (16) flight of the season.          

Red-bellied Woodpecker - 3
Northern Flicker - 136
Eastern Phoebe - 20
Blue-headed Vireo - 1
Red-eyed Vireo - 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 105
White-breasted Nuthatch - 22
Brown Creeper - 4
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 27
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 17
kinglet sp. - 4

American Robin - 7625
American Pipit - 3

Cedar Waxwing - 191
Tennessee Warbler - 3
Nashville Warbler - 2
Tennessee/Nashville Warbler - 4
Northern Parula - 5
Magnolia Warbler - 1
Cape May Warbler - 1

Yellow-rumped Warbler - 31,117
Pine Warbler - 2

Palm Warbler - 33
Blackpoll Warbler - 11

Common Yellowthroat - 1

warbler sp. - 335

Chipping Sparrow - 16
Clay-colored Sparrow - 1
Dark-eyed Junco - 4
Eastern Meadowlark - 10
Purple Finch - 68

Pine Siskin - 271

Total = 40,044

Lastly, a huge thanks to Ramsay Koury for tabulating the Yellow-rumped Warblers on the bayshore flight line throughout the morning.