There was a fun flight to be witnessed at Higbee this morning! we had a surprising amount of diversity for November 4th, with 86 species total. American Robin and Yellow-rumped Warbler put in a solid but not overwhelming showing with (2,945 and 1,397 northbound, respectively).
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| Quintessential fall. What more can I say? |
Just as I had said that I thought they were finished, 114 Red-breasted Nuthatches took advantage of the light north winds today! Cape May remains full of surprises. We only had one White-breasted Nuthatch, but 14 (!) Brown Creepers flew low over the phrag or by our feet at the count. One even perched briefly on my leg, which was apparently the closest thing there was to a tree on the very top of the dike! My “perched-on” list is decidedly small and ranks nowhere near that of former counter Sam Galick’s (I think I move around too much while counting), but creeper was a great one to get.
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| Never gets old. |
Sparrows were in notable attendance this morning, with 53 Dark-eyed Juncos, 36 Chipping Sparrows, 4 Savannah Sparrows, and 2 Field Sparrows. Weirdly, few blackbirds were present except for an early morning takeoff of about 1,000 Common Grackles, and finches were only moving in small numbers.
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| Juncos don't usually get above the treeline for flight shots. I love the slate and white contrast! |
On the warbler front, 28 Blackpoll Warblers, 6 Palm, 1 Pine, 1 adult male Cape May Warbler, and 1 Northern Parula were good warblers for November, but thrushes also made a distinct contribution to the day-- 3 Hermit Thrushes and a quite late Swainson’s Thrush flew north (our only one of the season and only the third count season to ever record one!) 5 heard-only Eastern Bluebirds were a good get as well as a persistent reminder of how many birds must pass by in the blue out of our notice. An also-late Veery calling from the woods added to the thrush diversity for the day. 57 flickers and a Red-headed Woodpecker were also good woodpecker totals for November.
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| A fleeting Catharus moment. |
All in all, it was a wonderful late-season flight at the dike! It warms my heart to know that we’re capturing priceless data on songbird migration in Cape May with this extended count period, and I’m extra glad that we picked this fall to start doing it! Huzzah!
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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