Morning Flight - Thursday, September 27, 2018

It was a great late September day for Morning Flight at Higbee this morning! We had our best day so far for Northern Parula (233), as well as Blackpoll (275), Palm (161), and Magnolia Warblers (8). The conditions were thankfully dry (unlike the big flight on the 23rd), but clouds still made identification challenging. Despite that fact, this was our most diverse day for warblers, with 20 species in active migration. Northern Parulas were hot out of the gate early this morning but shortly thereafter gave way to Blackpoll and Palm Warblers, which carried the rest of the morning. Speaking of carrying things, it was really cool/weird to see a Black-and-white Warbler and a Rose-breasted Grosbeak each carrying a prey item in their bills as they flew! Taking notes from Osprey, it seems?

Look how long those wings are!
That's a champion migrant right there. 

We also had a good late-end flight of American Redstarts (103), which were mixed in over the course of the whole morning. A nice warbler treat of this morning’s flight was an Ovenbird! They’re pretty uncommon past morning flight (averaging ~12 per fall), and the period of strong east winds in early-mid September prevented us from seeing more. Last on the warbler front, Cape May Warblers made a solid showing with 22 northbound individuals and several crisp males mixed in.

Cape May Warbler in cloudy Cape May.
That thick white wing bar really pops, even at a distance!

Another pair of single day high counts so far came from our boreal brethren: Red-breasted Nuthatch and Blue Jay! We had 27 northbound Red-breasted Nuthatches this morning, edging out several previous days in the low 20s from August/September, and bringing us to 132 for the season so far. This was our first real “influx” day for Blue Jay after the trickle yesterday. Most of that came in a flock of 60 that sped south on the winds. One distinctive mark for Blue Jays in flight is how slow they appear, but it’s a different story when they have a 10 mph tailwind! We didn’t see any Purple Finches this morning (the third expected boreal irruptor), but perhaps on Saturday! And of course, there should be lots more of these species in October, weather willing.

With another round of NW winds starting Friday at midday and through Sunday morning, conditions are looking primo for Saturday morning, so come on down weekend warriors! Here’s hoping we finally get a Connecticut on Saturday. 

Thanks to Molly Jacobson and Jerald Reb for assisting with the count this morning, and thanks to everyone who came out and enjoyed the spectacle! As always, you can find the link to the official count on Trektellen here and the complete eBird checklist here.

Bring on Day 59!

P.S.

Michael O'Brien, Richard Crossley, and Doug Gochfeld recorded an even larger morning flight further up the flight line along the Delaware Bayshore near Delhaven! They had ~4,250 warblers, and I will post the link to their checklist here once it's finalized. Although Higbee is usually the best place to see morning flight in Cape May, the whole area is a system and occasionally other places produce great flights too! Does this mean that there were a lot of birds that re-oriented *before* they made it to the point? Lots of questions...