View from the Field: Morning Flight, 12 September 2015

Twas a "cray cray" day in Cape May, Yay! The term of the moment is "wind shear". This is a difference in wind speed and direction over a relatively small space in the atmosphere. Last night, surface level winds were south, but just above, at about 500-1000 feet and higher, the wind was stronger and north. When we say south it means southerly, or from south to the north, and the opposite of this for north winds. Got it? Good! I'm not confused but it seemed like the migrants sure were! There was a very high flight-line of warblers and Bobolinks heading south, dropping out of the higher north winds perhaps-- nocturnal migrants love tailwinds after all! There was also a northbound movement of migrants and this was mostly much lower in altitude. All these factors added up to a very fun, interesting and extra-challenging day to experience and count. High pressure air continues to stall in the region and we are looking forward to a strong push-out of the low pressure by Sunday afternoon. That means that Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are looking really good right now. I pick Tuesday as the "big one" at the dike since the winds won't be too strong like they are forecast for Sunday into Monday.

Please enjoy today's tally. It's a wacky one. It could look like a bunch of the same birds flying one direction and then doubling back but the flight vectors and behaviors this morning really gave no indication of that, and I think these are likely all individual/non-double counted birds on different flight paths. Notably Cape May Warbler was in the house with a total of 61!

Species	North	South	Total
Ruby-throated Hummingbird	1	0	1
Belted Kingfisher	0	1	1
Downy Woodpecker	2	0	2
empidonax sp.	0	1	1
Western Kingbird	0	1	1
Eastern Kingbird	5	23	28
Red-eyed Vireo	10	4	14
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	1	3	4
European Starling	71	63	134
Cedar Waxwing	16	87	103
Northern Waterthrush	25	35	60
Black-and-white Warbler	11	10	21
Tennessee Warbler	3	3	6
Nashville Warbler	5	1	6
American Redstart	85	36	121
Cape May Warbler	10	51	61
Black-throated Blue Warbler	9	10	19
Northern Parula	12	13	25
Magnolia Warbler	1	5	6
Bay-breasted Warbler	2	1	3
Blackburnian Warbler	1	1	2
Yellow Warbler	7	11	18
Chestnut-sided Warbler	1	2	3
Blackpoll Warbler	8	17	25
"Baypoll" warbler	0	7	7
Palm Warbler	0	13	13
Pine Warbler	0	1	1
Prairie Warbler	0	1	1
Black-throated Green Warbler	1	2	3
warbler sp.	19	144	163
Rose-breasted Grosbeak	0	1	1
Blue Grosbeak	0	1	1
Indigo Bunting	1	2	3
Bobolink	15	703	718
Baltimore Oriole	6	12	18
House Finch	1	1	2
American Goldfinch	3	2	5
House Sparrow	0	1	1
total warblers	200	364	564
Totals	332	1270	1602

Thanks to Nick Kontonicolas, Tom Baxter, and Jesse Amesbury for sharing in the challenge and fun. My boy Sam Galick was in great form, as always, this morning and did a fantastic job in assistance!