It was a bumping day of abundance at the Higbee dike today! Ripping NW winds (gusts up to 25) brought good numbers to the count today but stifled diversity (as is typical for the first day of a strong front). 7,345 Yellow-rumped Warblers streamed north from out of the treeline, giving my clicker finger a good workout. Present in moderate numbers during the early morning, American Goldfinches (998, the peak flight ever for the count) and Purple Finches (276) took over later on in the morning after Yellow-rumps had tapered off. We are truly having a special fall for finches in the region. We shattered the American Goldfinch total long ago and are in exciting, uncharted territory for them this fall. And although we have not had any Top 3 Purple Finch flights, we have had numerous consistently good (100+) days for them and are now in position to break the all-time record for the Purple Finch season total at the Morning Flight Count!
A great Sharp-shinned Hawk flight brought additional entertainment to the count today, watching a mix of immatures and adults dive through cover to flush Yellow-rumps and finches out from their hiding places. Four Bank Swallows and a northbound Vesper Sparrow near the end of the count period were welcome bonuses! No morning flight season has ever had more than 3 northbound Vespers. Will we be the first?
As always, you can find our official count totals on Trektellen here, and our complete eBird checklist of the day’s observations here.
Bring on the next day!
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