HawkWatch - Friday, September 1, 2017

Today’s hawkwatch was started with a gorgeous sunrise over bunker pond. The skies filled with intertwined streaks of pearly pinks, oranges, and lavender blue. The recently-arrived north winds brought cool air and many birds to come on this opening day.

Shortly after sunrise, an immature Bald Eagle plowed through the air, showing a direct intent to migrate. Following this bird came several American Kestrels. The flow of Bobolinks calling high overhead mingled with the chatter of rivers of migrating terns. A Common Nighthawk flew by. Then another. The rich array of raptors and non-raptors is one of the most impressive features of the Cape May Hawkwatch. There is always something going on, and this season started out with a bang. We even had a rare-for-the-area White-winged Dove show up, found by naturalist Andrew Dreelin.

North winds continued throughout the day, bringing early movements of Osprey and even a few Broad-winged Hawks! The hawkwatching platform was packed with people enjoying the spectacle of bird migration.

I’m looking forward to scanning the skies with you this fall. Hope to see you soon at the Cape May Hawkwatch in the months to come!


Erik


White-winged Dove, found by naturalist Andrew Dreelin.

A Common Nighthawk showing off its beautiful and intricate plumage.

And, of course, a raptor! This immature Cooper's Hawk buzzed right by at eye level.

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Morning Flight - Friday September 1, 2017


 Happy Friday from your happy Swing Counter! I hope everyone is having a fabulous day, and I hope you were able to get outside this morning to see some birds! The northerly winds continued last night into this morning and brought another impressive round of migrants past the Morning Flight count. While today's count was nowhere near Glen's 5051 individuals yesterday (!), we were just a few birds shy of 1300 with American Redstarts dominating the pack. We had a variety of other warbler species throughout the morning including Tennessee, Nashville, Blackburnian, Cape May, Magnolia, and our FOS Blackpoll Warbler.

A duo of Bobolinks. Photo by Tom Johnson.
A stunner of a Black-and-white Warbler. Photo by Tom Johnson.
One of six Blackburnian Warblers seen this morning. Photo by Tom Johnson.
The first Blackpoll Warbler of the season! Don't worry, there will be many more to come. Photo by Tom Johnson.


Morning Flight Songbird Count for 9/1/2017
Species Count today Season total Season maximum
North South North South North only Date(s)
Mourning Dove 8 3 366 93 42 8/31
Chimney Swift 4 0 145 42 52 8/28
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 2 1 61 16 12 8/20
Eastern Wood Pewee 1 0 1 0 1 9/1
Eastern Kingbird 128 0 1131 521 386 8/20
Red-eyed Vireo 2 0 32 8 7 8/24
Purple Martin 11 0 471 111 201 8/30
Tree Swallow 2 0 314 6 302 8/30
Barn Swallow 44 0 743 875 203 8/26
Blue-grey Gnatcatcher 5 1 429 20 135 8/20
European Starling 0 10 54 312 27 8/20
Cedar Waxwing 56 0 780 87 285 8/30
Northern Waterthrush 17 3 404 82 115 8/31
Black-and-white Warbler 34 2 408 32 149 8/31
Tennessee Warbler 1 0 13 0 9 8/31
Nashville Warbler 1 0 3 0 1 9/1
American Redstart 424 38 4832 270 2250 8/31
Cape May Warbler 2 0 22 1 6 8/26
Northern Parula 7 0 50 3 33 8/31
Magnolia Warbler 3 1 16 2 8 8/31
Blackburnian Warbler 6 0 19 0 6 9/1
Yellow Warbler 38 4 516 49 167 8/31
Chestnut-sided Warbler 6 0 61 0 29 8/31
Blackpoll Warbler 1 0 1 0 1 9/1
Black-throated Blue Warbler 2 0 12 0 8 8/31
Prairie Warbler 2 0 37 1 12 8/31
Black-throated Green Warbler 1 0 3 0 1 9/1
Blue Grosbeak 2 0 10 4 2 9/1
Indigo Bunting 0 1 35 8 12 8/31
Dickcissel 2 2 5 15 2 9/1
Bobolink 185 2 1703 9500 813 8/30
Red-winged Blackbird 76 0 1717 1412 377 8/31
Brown-headed Cowbird 2 0 102 53 25 8/22
Orchard Oriole 1 0 12 7 3 8/16
Baltimore Oriole 70 2 239 49 70 9/1
American Goldfinch 1 0 11 5 2 8/18
Totals: 1292 individuals, 37 species, 3:15 hours
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Morning Flight, Thursday, 31 August 2017

The largest flight for the August component of the 2017 Morning Flight season occurred on the last day of that month. It was a tremendous showstopper with refreshing high pressure west winds and a dynamite, partly-cloudy sky.  Like so many mornings this August it has been cool with relatively low humidity to make for late-summer early morning birding at its most pleasant. 

Over 3,000 Boblink were counted heading south. The flight was challenging to account especially because there were a few general flightlines going on at once. A really nice Warbler diversity was to be had by sifting through the small warbler groups that were dominated by American Redstart, as to be expected at this time of season. Worm-eating, Prothonotary, and Tennessee Warblers were really fun to see, just like all of it-- the whole mixture that made up the morning. 

Pour over this list for more details!:
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Morning Flight, 30 August 2017

On what was mostly a coool (feels like 55 in August!) and dreary-low-cloud kind of day, was still really neat to witness atop the Higbee/CM canal mud impoundment known fondly as "the dike". Following the passing of a small but rangy tropical system that went north of us a still gray and windy morning. There wasn't a flight for most neotropical species but it was an interestingly and relatively strong day for Cedar Waxwing, hirundids (swallows), and Bobolink.

 http://www.trektellen.org/count/view/1746/20170830
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Morning Flight, 29 August 2017

Rain was prevalent through most of the early morning and no count was conducted. Ten Northern Waterthrush were observed at the base of and along the road to the dike.
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Morning Flight, 28 August 2017

The winds weren't too favorable but remained light in intensity, and the high pressure air and clearer conditions certainly seemed to play a part to the birds' flight activities today. Chimney Swift, Barn Swallow, American Redstart, and others, certainly displayed a significant-enough magnitude and activity of flight. The swifts and swallows likely lifted from roost early in the day or pre-dawn, whilst the warblers and the other migrants could have been continuing to travel through the night, or newly picking up after a short break on the ground. 

 http://www.trektellen.org/count/view/1746/20170828
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Morning Flight, 27 August 2017

There was another breath of coastal songbird migration with light NNE winds the preceding nighttime.  The winds continued to be light and steady straight through dawn and slow but consistent passage of birds occurred for about 90 minutes.  It had some exciting moments like an Ovenbird going streaking by at nearly our feet!


Species
Count today
Season total
Season maximum
North
South
North
South
North only
Date(s)
31
2
325
53
87
08/27
10
0
83
16
30
08/27
2
0
51
11
12
08/20
1
0
4
4
3
08/27
1
0
3
0
3
08/27
2
0
27
3
7
08/24
1
0
6
1
3
08/19
4
0
249
109
51
08/24
3
0
17
4
8
08/27
92
16
529
434
254
08/27
1
0
3
0
3
08/27
40
0
458
15
135
08/20
1
0
4
1
3
08/27
28
2
275
48
83
08/27
1
0
41
4
9
08/25
15
0
218
16
52
08/25
100
0
1915
50
622
08/20
1
0
5
0
3
08/27
1
0
22
0
8
08/24
1
0
21
1
5
08/24
1
0
4
0
3
08/27
16
0
360
590
67
08/20
15
137
1140
1278
316
08/24


Black-and-white Warbler (Mniotilta varia)
Photo by: Glen Davis

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