Morning Flight, 26-28 September 2015

Viewing the trend in total Morning Flight numbers for the last three days one might say that things are improving?!?  Well, we'll see. Being in the middle of an unprecedented-for-September spathe of northeast winds is sometimes tough on the nerves.  The calmer winds last night seemed to allow birds to place themselves on land, as most of these migrants rose up and came out of the Higbee woods from the south, half-heartedly displaying Morning Flight behavior.  The past few days' heavier winds could've made them feel like they they're being blown halfway to Delaware and their northbound or redirected migration at "the dike" seemed stronger in "vibe" (i.e., longer flights and higher altitudes.) Ah questions, questions!  One thing is for sure, northeast winds don't usually carry a high magnitude of songbirds Cape May-way and perhaps this low density also stifles their zugunruhe urges once they get to "Exit 0".

Species	26 Sept	27 Sept	28 Sept
Belted Kingfisher	1	1
Red-headed Woodpecker			1
Downy Woodpecker	1		1
Northern Flicker			6
Red-eyed Vireo			1
European Starling		7	34
Cedar Waxwing		42	28
Northern Waterthrush	2	2	24
Black-and-white Warbler	3	4	2
Tennessee Warbler		1	1
Connecticut Warbler		1
American Redstart	3	3	11
Cape May Warbler	1	1	2
Northern Parula	6	9	14
Magnolia Warbler			2
Blackpoll Warbler	7	4	7
Black-throated Blue Warbler	1	3	1
Palm Warbler	13	13	4
Yellow-rumped Warbler	1	3
Black-throated Green Warbler		1	2
warbler sp.	4	13	7
Savannah Sparrow		2	1
Rose-breasted Grosbeak			1
Indigo Bunting		3
House Finch			4
Total warblers	41	58	77
Total	43	113	154

photo by: Glen Davis