Seawatch, 6 October 2015

Counter: Tom Reed
Total for the day: 2,840
Total birds for the season: 27,880

	10/06	Season Totals
ADMIRAL - Red Admiral Butterfly	4	--
AMGO - American Goldfinch	1	1
AMKE - American Kestrel	5	8
AMOY - American Oystercatcher	3	19
AMPI - American Pipit	1	1
AMRE - American Redstart	1	1
AMRO - American Robin	1	1
BAEA - Bald Eagle	1	2
BGGN - Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	1	1
BLPW - Blackpoll Warbler	2	2
BLSC - Black Scoter	46	557
BRAN - Brant	6	37
BRCR - Brown Creeper	1	1
BRPE - Brown Pelican	3	85
CATE - Caspian Tern	4	143
CEDW - Cedar Waxwing	21	21
CLOAKM - Mourning Cloak Butterfly	2	--
COHA - Cooper's Hawk	1	1
COLO - Common Loon	13	37
DCCO - Double-crested Cormorant	2,179	13,737
FLIN - Northern Flicker	3	3
FOTE - Forster's Tern	147	507
GBBG - Great Black-backed Gull	8	225
GCKI - Golden-crowned Kinglet	1	1
GRCO - Great Cormorant	3	11
GRSH - Great Shearwater	1	2
GWTE - Green-winged Teal	3	43
INBU - Indigo Bunting	1	1
LAGU - Laughing Gull	169	1,922
LBBG - Lesser Black-backed Gull	4	8
MERL - Merlin	1	5
MONARCH - Monarch Butterfly	16	--
MYWA - Myrtle Warbler	1	1
NOGA - Northern Gannet	1	13
PAJA - Parasitic Jaeger	3	65
RBGU - Ring-billed Gull	1	9
ROYT - Royal Tern	25	556
RTLO - Red-throated Loon	1	1
SAVS - Savannah Sparrow	1	3
SEPL - Semipalmated Plover	1	8
SPOTWG - Spot-winged Glider	1	--
SSHA - Sharp-shinned Hawk	138	144
SULPHURO - Orange Sulphur Butterfly	2	--
SUSC - Surf Scoter	39	249

Morning Flight, 5 October 2015

Lots of birds have been flying through Cape May during the last 24 hours.  Nocturnal flight calls have abounded and today's flight was pretty impressive for about 30 minutes.  The sun slightly cracked through the clouds along the eastern perimeter of the Higbee impoundment, and approaching from the south, numbers of Palm Warbler zipped and cantered into the stiff 15 mph NNE winds just meters above the treetops.  Today's shift in diversity should be continued and added upon in the coming days.  So get out there and experience this coming cold front.

Interestingly, Don Freiday watched a similar flight with similar numbers and species composition, and at close range at Norbury's Landing, 10 km up the bayshore.   That's an awesome comparison of morning flight activity in a wider range.

Species	October 5th 2015
Belted Kingfisher	1
Red-bellied Woodpecker	3
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker	9
Downy Woodpecker	1
Northern Flicker	84
Eastern Phoebe	1
Red-eyed Vireo	8
Blue Jay	1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	3
European Starling	20
Cedar Waxwing	9
Northern Waterthrush	4
Black-and-white Warbler	69
Tennessee Warbler	7
Common Yellowthroat	5
American Redstart	82
Cape May Warbler	8
Northern Parula	96
Magnolia Warbler	8
Blackpoll Warbler	54
Black-throated Blue Warbler	25
Palm Warbler	748
Pine Warbler	2
Yellow-rumped Warbler	44
Black-throated Green Warbler	9
warbler sp.	448
Savannah Sparrow	13
Scarlet Tanager	8
Rose-breasted Grosbeak	4
Blue Grosbeak	2
Indigo Bunting	53
Dickcissel	1
Bobolink	32
Baltimore Oriole	1
American Goldfinch	3
Total warblers	1,609
Total	1,866

Hawkwatch 5 October 2015

Cape May
Cape May Point, New Jersey, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 05, 2015
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Species            Day's Count    Month Total   Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture                0              0              9
Turkey Vulture              16             16            146
Osprey                      54            156           2893
Bald Eagle                   5              7            189
Northern Harrier             2              7            221
Sharp-shinned Hawk         830            852           3260
Cooper's Hawk              192            202            902
Northern Goshawk             0              0              0
Red-shouldered Hawk          0              0              4
Broad-winged Hawk           11             13            146
Red-tailed Hawk              1              1             37
Rough-legged Hawk            0              0              0
Golden Eagle                 0              0              0
American Kestrel            97            136           1681
Merlin                      50             81            679
Peregrine Falcon            20             64            270
Unknown Accipiter            0              0              2
Unknown Buteo                0              0              2
Unknown Falcon               0              0              3
Unknown Eagle                0              0              0
Unknown Raptor               0              0              1
Zone-tailed Hawk             0              0              1

Total:                    1278           1535          10446
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Observation start time: 06:00:00 
Observation end   time: 16:00:00 
Total observation time: 10 hours

Official Counter:        Cameron Cox

Observers:        

Weather:
Light to moderate NE winds. Temps in 60's. Significant cloud cover with a
few brief breaks in the clouds where blue sky peaked through.  

Raptor Observations:
While the wind direction was not ideal just the drop in wind speed compared
to past week triggered the best movement of the season. Sharp-shinneds made
the significant majority of the birds, Cooper's Hawks and Kestrels also
boosted the numbers.  

Non-raptor Observations:
Lots of birds around the platform particularly early. Golden-crowned
Kinglet and Eastern Phoebe were seen for the first time this fall. A fairly
good push of Bobolinks larger than expected for this late in the fall. A
flyover Rusty Blackbird was another hint of the changing season.   

Predictions:
Should be fairly good to good. Unless it isn't.
========================================================================
Report submitted by Cameron Cox (Kumlieni@gmail.com)
Cape May information may be found at:
http://BirdCapeMay.org