With conditions much like yesterday’s (NE winds but mostly sunny), this morning brought a light but diverse warbler flight quite similar to yesterday’s. The biggest difference was the increased cloud cover; the moderate NE winds mostly did a good job of dispersing these clouds, but they produced a “lightswitch” effect where warblers would fly when the sun was out but not so much when it was obscured!
113 American Redstarts and 35 Northern Parulas (northbound) led the flight, but there was a solid supporting cast of 8 other warbler species present, the highlight of which was 8 Cape May Warblers, a 4 Blackpoll Warblers, and 2 Black-throated Blue Warblers.
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| Geez, what a dapper bird. Truly a special color combo happening here. |
3 Dickcissels, 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker, 2 Belted Kingfishers, 2 (presumably migrating) Yellow-billed Cuckoos, and 2 Scarlet Tanagers comprised the extra diversity component of the morning. The tanagers flew low over the morning flight platform, and one even called! This was my first time hearing this neat call (you check it out on the Oldbird webpage here).
The other notable mover of the morning was 65 southbound Purple Martins, which were mostly high against the clouds or out over the bay. This is a high count for this late into September; I’m just thankful they were coming through after the warblers had mostly shut down!
As always, you can find the link to the official count on Trektellen here and the complete eBird checklist here. The morning ended with 75 species in sum-- not bad for big dirt hill on the Delaware Bay! More photos from the morning can be found below.
Bring on Day 48!
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| Blackpoll Warbler a.k.a "Big zeeper." Photo copyright Sam Galick. |
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| Cape May Warbler. Photo copyright Sam Galick. |
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| Chestnut-sided Warbler. Photo copyright Sam Galick. |
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