Morning Flight - 8 October 2012

It was another chilly morning (48 F) and my binoculars and metal clickers suddenly felt icy against my fingers.  Compared to the relatively lower number of Yellow-rumped Warblers (394) today, the flight featured a resurgence of Northern Parulas (70) and Blackpoll Warblers (69).  In all, 1234 individuals of 14 warbler species were recorded.  Other highlights include a late Empidonax flycatcher, three more White-breasted Nuthatches, four Brown Creepers, perhaps one of the last Connecticut Warblers, and a late Blue Grosbeak. 

Red-bellied Woodpecker - 12
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 7

Northern Flicker - 50
Eastern Wood-Pewee - 1
Empidonax sp. - 1
Eastern Phoebe - 2
Red-eyed Vireo - 11

Red-breasted Nuthatch - 122
White-breasted Nuthatch - 3
Brown Creeper - 4
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 15
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 9
kinglet sp. - 2

American Robin - 5
American Pipit - 1

Cedar Waxwing - 52
Tennessee Warbler - 2
Nashville Warbler - 2
Northern Parula - 70
Magnolia Warbler - 2
Cape May Warbler - 2
Black-throated Blue Warbler - 3

Yellow-rumped Warbler - 394
Black-throated Green Warbler - 3
Pine Warbler - 1

Palm Warbler - 36
Blackpoll Warbler - 69

Black-and-white Warbler - 4
American Redstart - 3

Connecticut Warbler - 1
warbler sp. - 642

Scarlet Tanager - 1
Chipping Sparrow - 1
Dark-eyed Junco - 1
Rose-breasted Grosbeak - 2
Blue Grosbeak - 1
Indigo Bunting - 14
Bobolink - 3
Baltimore Oriole - 1
Purple Finch - 22

Pine Siskin - 80

Total = 1666

Connecticut Warbler - Perhaps one final look for 2012.  This species is actually not as difficult to identify in flight as one might suspect, given adequate views and good light.  Connecticut Warblers are large, long, sturdy warblers with sharply bicolored underparts (the front third dark and the lower two-thirds yellow) and a short tail.  The relatively straightforward identification is helped by the fact that the very similar Mourning Warbler does not regularly engage in overhead morning flight, if at all.  In this way, Mourning Warbler is much like Common Yellowthroats, which it now shares a genus (Photo by Tom Reed).

The real highlight, though, was the late-morning appearance of a widely-reported light-morph Swainson's Hawk.  It was originally found at approximately 9:56 AM over Cape May Point and by the time it made its way due north to Higbee Beach - a distance of 1.8 miles - it was 45 minutes later.  I stayed on the bird as it appeared to cross Cape May Canal, heading northeast.   

Swainson's Hawk - note the bird's long, pointy, upturned, and
swept-back primaries (Photo by Cameron Rutt)