Morning Flight - Thursday, August 23, 2018

Erik Bruhnke and I were talking a few nights ago about the differences in flow and pace of birds past all three of CMBO’s Migration Monitoring efforts, and we came to the following conclusion: we agreed that if counting raptors at the HawkWatch is like a coursing river, and if counting seabirds at the Avalon Seawatch is like a series of crashing ocean waves, then counting songbirds at Morning Flight is like being in the middle of a hailstorm! This conversation was playing out in the back of my mind early this morning as we were surrounded by redstarts, kingbirds, waxwings, and other songbirds in classic early fall fashion. And what a lovely hailstorm it was!

After a slow week leading up to today, I couldn’t help but get my hopes up for a good flight this morning, but waking up to 15-20 mph northwest winds had me a little worried. Yes, sometimes the winds can be *too strong* for morning flight, either causing migrants to overshoot Cape May head further south, or for them to hunker down in cover. Thankfully my fears were largely alleviated as soon as the sun’s rays broke over the horizon and cast the vantage from the dike in a warm glow. With that, the flight began in earnest as flocks of kingbirds and waxwings kicked things off, but redstarts and waterthrushes were hot on their heels. Stretching to the far eastern treeline, backlit warblers bounded into the gusting north wind as kingbirds created a swirling, silhouetted morass in the distance.

The Cape May magic was palpable this morning.

Fortunately for my irises, the flight soon settled into the traditional flight line right on top of the area encompassing the dike, the road, and the observation platform, providing great looks, study, and photo ops. Redstarts came in bursts of threes and sixes, often right along the edge of the dike and sometimes even too close for photos. We frequently get fabulous looks like these at morning flight-- they’re just quick ones! It quickly became clear that Black-and-white Warblers were making their first strong showing of the season, and they ended up stealing second place from Yellow Warblers in the warbler tally with 18 northbound individuals. Northern Waterthrush (9), Yellows (8), Chestnut-sideds (4), a couple Prairies (2), and Black-throated Green (1) rounded out the tally. American Redstarts ran away with first place though, as they will until early October. It’s hard to beat 258 northbound redstarts with anything but more redstarts!

Hot dang! Jamaican mangrove-bound.  

Baltimore Orioles also made a wonderful showing in their first appearance for the count, with 19 northbound individuals. The flame-like early morning light only serves to highlight their gloriously saturated colors. Glen Davis and Scott Whittle picked out a Red-breasted Nuthatch that dove down into a sumac by the platform, another first of the season. Hopefully this will be a good fall for both them and Purple Finches! Our final first of the season species was Rose-breasted Grosbeak, with two northbound birds.

The flight quieted down sharply after the first hour or so (as often happens), and soon it was just me and the kingbirds, which were fortunately less directionally challenged today. We ended the morning with 1,022 N and 315 S kingbirds, with a easily a good 200 still hanging around over the Higbee fields. We also had over 650 northbound Cedar Waxwings! Certainly lots more to come from them.

Kingbirds lock delta-foils in attack position before starting the dike run.

Migration is thirsty work. 

Despite the great day, the strong winds nevertheless left their mark on the count; we only saw one Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, a species that’s famous for visibly struggling against high winds in active migration. How many more gnatcatchers landed on the point but decided to stop over rather than brave the winds to re-orient? Were any of them blown out to sea? We also didn’t add any new warblers to the count today. Could this have had something to do with the winds? Tomorrow should be calmer, so we’ll just have to see.

And with that, a big thank you to everyone who came out and enjoyed the spectacle with me. The only thing that makes a good flight better is sharing it with folks around you. Special thanks are owed to David Weber, our seawatch counter, who was briefly conscripted to count waxwings while I handled everything else. Tomorrow should be a productive day as well, with straight north winds continuing all night and into the morning before switching to the northeast.

As always, you can find the link to the official count on Trektellen here and the complete eBird checklist here. More photos can be found below and in the eBird checklist.

Bring on Day 24!

There are few finer things in life for an aerial insectivore enthusiast than a swift crush. 

Sometimes I wonder whether Peregrines feel guilt about flushing shorebirds.
Then remember: no, no they don't.

I find myself loving juvenile Laughing Gulls more and more each fall. What a bird.  

Glorious chaos. Photo copyright Kyle Bardwell. 

Kingbirds and waxwings in the staging tree on the south end of the dike.
Photo copyright Kyle Bardwell.