The westerly winds whipped the Phragmites back and forth on the dike this morning in what was certainly the windiest day of the count so far.
At first essentially all of the migratory activity was far to the east, with backlit warblers bounding south over the impoundments and into the treeline. In what felt far longer than it actually took, the sun finally broke through around an hour after sunrise and birds began to emerge from the woods at Higbee in good lighting.
Was this the beginning of the drift effect? Our first of the season Blackburnian Warbler came not too long afterwards.
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| Oh yeah, it's on now! Thanks for the photo, TBJ! |
In addition to the standard American Redstart and Yellow Warbler, Yellow-throated, Black-and-white, and Prairie rounded out warbler diversity at the dike (Tom Reed had a Prothonotary and a Northern Waterthrush as well over at the Meadows). Today also marked an uptick in Eastern Kingbirds, Cedar Waxwings, and Bobolinks. With the westerlies continuing, tomorrow still looks good!
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| Fight those westerlies! |
As always, you can find the link to the official count on Trektellen here and the complete eBird checklist here.
Bring on Day 16!
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| Juvie kingbirds wear the economy of style well. |
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