Morning Flight - Monday, August 20, 2018

The “bubble” flight call of an Upland Sandpiper kicked off an otherwise quiet sunrise at the dike today. The dike remained largely quiet until around 8:00 AM, when a significant Purple Martin, a.k.a “Mini-Merlin” movement got underway in what looked like a unified “liftoff” from somewhere to the southeast of the dike (my aerial insectivore senses lead me to guess Pond Creek Marsh as the most likely source).

This northbound flight of 1,500+ is the second largest tally of Purple Martins recorded for the official Morning Flight Songbird Count, although it’s worth noting that Purple Martins have only been counted for the past several years as the count has grown beyond its original focus on warblers and the like. Most of our aerial insectivores are long-distance Neotropical migrants too, y’know! As with many movements here, some obvious questions arise: were these martins the accumulated southbound birds that had flown by the count in prior days, or were these recent departures, perhaps a small segment the famously massive roost of ~750,000 on the Maurice River north of here? That sort of question requires individually tagged birds for a real answer, but the martins were certainly headed north in force in a broad front across the middle of Cape Island. The counter in me must confess that I’m a little glad it was “only” 1,500. I love Purple Martins to the ends of the Earth, but I think my heart would stop if I had to count that many while worrying about everything else going past the dike!

The other notable of the day was the sizeable roaming flock of kingbirds that would occasionally mix with (and chase!) the migrating martins, which provided an interesting ID challenge at a backlit distance. These big wandering flocks often move across Cape May well into the day, and they are truly a spectacular sign of late August! If only they were a little more decisive about whether to go north or south...

Right now kingbirds seem a little "directionally challenged."
You are royalty! Make up your minds!  

As always, you can find the link to the official count on Trektellen here and the complete eBird checklist here.

Bring on Day 21!

Morning Flight - Sunday, August 19, 2018

The lingering signs of last night’s wind and rain were obvious on the dike this morning, as cloudy skies shrouded us to all sides. Decent numbers of birds were up on the radar last night, but this is no guarantee for a good morning flight. Still, four previous morning flight counters plus some more birders joined me on the dike this morning to see what was in store.

All of that counting talent was overkill for today’s flight, since no species was particularly abundant. Precipitation to our north presumably grounded migrants before many could be pushed to Cape May to engage in morning flight. Overcast conditions can make for difficult, backlit viewing though, so the additional eyes and great company were very much welcome.

The light left something to be desired today.
I don't think I'll ever tire of ad. male redstarts though!

As per usual on these slow days, we maintained our handfuls of redstarts, Yellow Warblers, and Northern Waterthrushes, which were highlighted by lone Prairie, Chestnut-sided Warblers, and Prothonotary Warblers. 61 kingbirds remain a sign of the abundance on the horizon, while 5 Orchard Orioles (as with the Prothonotary) are a reminder to appreciate what we have before they depart entirely. Our two oddities of the morning were a much-awaited Lark Sparrow that came in chasing a blackbird before perching on the dike, and a Boat-tailed Grackle flying south with a flock of Red-winged Blackbirds! We see handfuls of Boat-tails in morning flight, but typically not until October.

Molty bunting torpedo! 

Moderate northeast winds tonight and in the morning-- if it's got north in the forecast, I'll take it!

As always, you can find the link to the official count on Trektellen here and the complete eBird checklist here.

Bring on Day 20!

Morning Flight - Saturday, August 18, 2018

Barn Swallows stole the day by a mile today, moving in massive numbers on today’s light southwest winds. Shortly after the sun broke, Barn Swallows began zooming south past the dike, first in groups of threes and fives but then by the dozen. Any given scan across the the Delaware Bay revealed similar numbers doing their best storm-petrel impressions as they flew right over the water’s surface. The near-constant clicking of sports counters added to the ambiance of the morning, and I couldn’t even attempt photos of them because to do so would mean failing to count individuals to either side of me.

This is the only Barn Swallow photographed all day! 

Hardly anything else was migrating in numbers, however, which for whatever reason tends to be the case when we have big Barn Swallow flights in Cape May. We owe them a great debt for making the day entertaining and interesting!

We ended the morning at Higbee with 720 Barn Swallows (equalling our total from all the previous days of the count!) and 63 Purple Martins as the birds ceded the day to the grating purrs of cicadas. Although the flight at Higbee was done, the Barn Swallows had other plans. They continued streaming through the dunes at the Meadows, over the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, and in the sky above well past noon. I joined Tom Reed over there to continue basking in the spectacle, and his final count was 9,234 at 2:15! That makes for over 10,000 Barn Swallows past Cape May Point today! Oh, what a lovely August day with one of the world's most classic birds.

As always, you can find the link to the official count on Trektellen here and the complete eBird checklist here. TR’s totals from the Meadows in Trektellen are here.

Bring on Day 19!

Morning Flight - Friday, August 17, 2018

Muggy, tropical air has again returned to Cape May. Dewpoints today reached well into the 70s, levels that readily translate to very stuffy outdoor conditions. Winds overnight were light from the south, and as such, we anticipated a fairly light movement past the Higbee dike this morning.

Therefore, we were pleasantly surprised to find that a fair number of passerines were engaged in morning flight behavior today.  Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and Orchard Oriole both staged unexpectedly strong movements. The gnatcatcher flight was particularly impressive, as very high groups of 2-9 individuals (eventually adding up to 51) made their way south over the dike throughout the count period. There were occasional pulses of both northbound and southbound warblers, several sky-high groups of southbound Bobolinks, and a building southbound stream of Barn Swallows. Bird of the Day award easily went to the Willow Flycatcher that snaked its way north through the phragmites toward the end of the count period. Empidonax flycatchers are notoriously difficult and present unique challenges in flight; this one paused long enough to vocalize and provide some convincing views.

Count totals from today can be found at Trektellen; a full list of birds encountered can be found at eBird.

Conditions look similar for tomorrow but, as always, it's certain that something notable will happen and I'm sure you'll be able to read about here. Better yet, consider heading out to see morning flight for yourself! For now, we'll leave you with a selection of photos from this morning.

[Top to bottom: Green Heron, Bobolink, Common Sootywing butterfly, Northern Mockingbird, White-rumped Sandpiper, Prothonotary Warbler, Orchard Oriole, Cedar Waxwings. 

All photos © Tom Reed.]

Morning Flight - Thursday, August 16, 2018

The early count period is dead! Long live the early count period! Highlights (counting all directions) include 958 Purple Martins, 720 Barn Swallows, 413 Yellow Warblers, 225 American Redstarts, 112 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, 99 American Goldfinches, 58 Orchard Orioles, and 6 Yellow-billed Cuckoos. Wow! We totaled fifteen warbler species and a little over over 14,000 individual birds (and that’s not counting the July 29th flight). Considering the near total lack of cold fronts during the official count period, I will proudly take those totals.

With the winds still coming out of the west and no precipitation to block incoming migrants, active movement was notably more evident today. The birds seemed to recognize the traditional start date of the official count as well: Barn Swallows were back at it, and we had our first solid morning for Bobolinks, with approximately 500 northbound individuals calling “bink!” across the sky. Kingbirds and waxwings were in decent attendance as well with 52 and 89 southbound individuals, but big flights for both of those species are impending.

We also scored our first Chestnut-sided Warbler of the fall! Still lots of diversity to add though-- Canada Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Cape May Warbler, and Northern Parula are all low-hanging fruit that should appear very soon, and we eagerly await their arrival.

Just keep zipping, just keep zipping. Photo © Tom Johnson.

Two true blue cold fronts are forecasted to come through Cape May on Sat-Sun and Wed-Thurs, so keep those prayers to the Birding Gods flowing!

As always, you can find the link to the official count on Trektellen here and the complete eBird checklist here. Photos from this morning can be found below.

Bring on Day 17!

Northern Rough-winged Swallows like (love?) to buzz the biofilm pool on the dike.
Photo © Andrew Dreelin.  

 I'm gonna miss you guys...*sniffle*
Photo © Andrew Dreelin. 

"Coming in for a landing...deploying stilts now."
Photo © Andrew Dreelin.

Morning Flight - Wednesday, August 15, 2018

The westerly winds whipped the Phragmites back and forth on the dike this morning in what was certainly the windiest day of the count so far.

At first essentially all of the migratory activity was far to the east, with backlit warblers bounding south over the impoundments and into the treeline. In what felt far longer than it actually took, the sun finally broke through around an hour after sunrise and birds began to emerge from the woods at Higbee in good lighting.

Was this the beginning of the drift effect? Our first of the season Blackburnian Warbler came not too long afterwards.

Oh yeah, it's on now! Thanks for the photo, TBJ!

In addition to the standard American Redstart and Yellow Warbler, Yellow-throated, Black-and-white, and Prairie rounded out warbler diversity at the dike (Tom Reed had a Prothonotary and a Northern Waterthrush as well over at the Meadows). Today also marked an uptick in Eastern Kingbirds, Cedar Waxwings, and Bobolinks. With the westerlies continuing, tomorrow still looks good!

Fight those westerlies! 

As always, you can find the link to the official count on Trektellen here and the complete eBird checklist here.

Bring on Day 16!

Juvie kingbirds wear the economy of style well. 

Morning Flight - Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Humid and unsettled conditions continued across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast last night, in connection with an area of low pressure that has been affecting the region's weather for a few days. One could be confident in predicting that this morning's songbird movement past Higbee Beach would not be one for the books; however, as attested to in previous days' entries, there is always something interesting waiting in the wings.

A majority of the birds deemed to be active migrants this morning were Yellow Warblers and American Redstarts; not a surprise given the date. A smattering of other warblers included Northern Waterthrush, Prairie, Black-throated Green, and Prothonotary. Non-count birds included a flock of 8 Brown Pelicans chugging south over the bay, fair shorebird numbers and diversity (including Pectoral and 3 Stilt sandpipers), one Blue-winged Teal, and a building southward movement of Barn Swallows.

[We saw multiple Prairie Warblers this morning; this one was a bit 
indecisive about which way to go. Photo © Tom Reed.]

[An Orchard Oriole zips past the dike; almost all of these 
will depart Cape May by Labor Day. Photo © Tom Reed.]

The aforementioned area of low pressure will finally drift away from us tonight, bringing a front along as it goes. Winds have gone around to the west and will continue from that direction for the next 24 hours or so. We're hopeful that the favorable winds and high pressure will bring some birds our way over the next couple days. As always, today's full list can be found here, and count totals can be found here. Stay tuned for more!

[Prothonotary Warbler cutting through the muggy August air. Photo © Tom Reed.]

Morning Flight - Monday, August 13, 2018

Since migration and weather are inextricably linked, slow days have a tendency to come in stretches, and it seems like we’re still in that stretch. There were birds up on the radar last night, but precious little was moving past Higbee this morning. In addition to ENE winds the night before, there was a beautiful but looming storm front sat over Delaware Bay at dawn, obscuring the Brandywine Shoal lighthouse.  

Even on mornings when the winds are right (and it was still at dawn), cloudy skies can stifle migratory activity. When a burst of sun illuminates the woods, warblers will often zip out of cover and shoot across the dike. But that activity can shut down rapidly if a cloud moves to cover the warm light. We don’t really know why cloudy skies have that effect; it’s just another mystery of morning flight!

Despite the quiet morning, there were, as always, a few things worth mentioning. We had our first Belted Kingfisher of the season, an adult female that flew across a rainbow left by the brief passage of the thin storm line. Herons and egrets continue moving, with Great and Snowy Egret and Green and Great Blue Herons in attendance. Sometimes easterly winds can produce big heron flights in Cape May by pushing flocks off the ocean and onto the point, which is really cool to see.

Tomorrow’s mostly westerly winds should produce some movement, but we are looking forward to the West-Northwest winds forecasted to occuring during Tuesday night and Wednesday morning! That will hopefully bring in a much-needed dose of diversity and abundance.

As always, you can find the link to the official count on Trektellen here and the complete eBird checklist here. Photos from the morning can be found below.

Bring on Day 14!

This Solitary Sandpiper circled around the pool on top of the dike several times before heading off. 

It's always tempting to add sound effects to warbler flight shots. 

Morning Flight - Sunday, August 12, 2018

This morning was another dastardly slow day on the dike with little visible migration occurring. But one of the blessings of birding is that day is different, even if it’s slow. The first warbler of the morning was a lovely northbound Prothonotary Warbler that shot over the dike pool while calling before it dove into cover. You can almost taste the Tupelo honey sweetness in the purity of that single-banded upsweep call. The other highlight of the morning was a juvenile Red-bellied Woodpecker that flew north along the treeline towards the canal before turning back. What did it sense that caused it to make that choice as it dispersed?

Another fun aspect of the past few days has been the Snowy Egrets that are moving around Cape May, mostly headed north up the Bayshore in what is presumably re-oriented migration. It’s truly hard to grasp that we almost lost this wonderful species to the fashion-driven feather trade, and I have to remind myself of that fact to appreciate them all the more. Their story also represents a good lesson about what even a small group of determined citizens can accomplish in the name of conservation.

As always, you can find the link to the official count on Trektellen here and the complete eBird checklist here. Photos from the morning can be found below.

Bring on Day 13!

Feathers look far better on birds, wouldn't you agree?  

This gnatcatcher is smarter than all other gnatcatchers for migrating on light winds.
They really struggle against high winds! 

Morning Flight - Saturday, August 11, 2018

Sometimes there just isn’t all that much you can say about a day! The count was cloudy and thankfully cool this morning, but very little seemed to be moving on the south winds and fog (the Meadows became completely fogged in shortly after sunrise, while Higbee was spared).

Some Barn Swallows and Purple Martins made a small southbound movement along the shoreline with a few Tree and Bank Swallows in attendance. Yellow Warblers and American Redstarts continue in small numbers, supplemented by one Northern Waterthrush and another Dickcissel. I neglected to mention that we had our first Empidonax flycatcher of the fall yesterday, and we had another northbound individual today. Notoriously difficult even when perched, Empids are uncommon during morning flight at Higbee, and even then rarely get above the treeline, which makes documentation tough. But “spuhs” can be valuable data in their own right! Hopefully we get some good study of these subtle beauties (and good flight shots) as the season progresses.

Shorebirds remaining entertaining and pleasant company in slow moments. Lone Pectoral and Stilt Sandpipers joined the crowd of Semipalmated Sandpipers, Semipalmated Plovers, and Lesser Yellowlegs today.

I have the sneaking suspicion that it will be an odd feeling to look back on these “slow day” blog posts in September and October when I am busy being clobbered by the amount of birds passing through.

As always, you can find the link to the official count on Trektellen here and the complete eBird checklist here. Photos from the morning can be found below.

Bring on Day 12!

Is "nondescript" a field mark? 

Dispersal! 

Yeah bro, I can bench like 450...grams. 

Morning Flight - Friday, August 10, 2018

When I made trek to the top of the dike this morning, I was immediately met by a worrying sign: no wind and the circling of thirsty mosquitos. If anyone needed confirmation that the birding gods are capricious and fickle, this was it. Had the forecasted coldfront died on the doorstep? Birds were up on the radar last night, but had the winds done enough to push them here? For new readers of this blog, stronger NW winds => more drift for nocturnal migrants => more abundance and diversity migrants engaging in northbound “re-oriented” morning flight (along the Atlantic Coast in fall, at least). In fact, the paper that demonstrated this effect used data from the Morning Flight Songbird Count right here in Cape May!

That clearly wasn't the case this morning. Redstarts were a trickle compared to yesterday’s morning flight, and Yellow Warblers went both directions in what seemed more like localized movement than any real sort of migration. Despite the lower abundance than expected, we managed to have a fairly diverse early season flight, with the first official Cerulean Warbler and Dickcissel of the count, a few of Black-and-White Warblers giving their hissy flight calls, an Ovenbird, and a good showing from both waterthrushes, with 11 Northerns, 2 Louisianas, and 4 “waterthrush spuhs.” This fresh diversity means we had some new arrivals, but the abundance component was missing. Had there been a great morning flight somewhere else in southern NJ, Delaware, or Maryland? That sort of insight will require more birders out in the field searching for visible migration.

Although today didn’t turn out how we expected, the added diversity was a welcome sight, and as always, the morning presented a great lesson on visible migration and in-flight identification, both of which can always be honed. Such are the trials and tribulations of monitoring migration. Nothing lost, nothing learned I suppose!

As always, you can find the link to the official count on Trektellen here and the complete eBird checklist here. Photos from the morning below!

Bring on Day 11!

Dickcissel: owner of the most elegant flight call. 

Not a Lark Sparrow: this exceptionally pale Carolina Wren has been hanging out on the dike lately. 

Morning Flight - Thursday, August 9, 2018

With a cold front on the way but not coming fast enough to arrive the night before, this morning was bound to be an interesting lesson on pre-frontal migration (for me at least, since I've never counted morning flight in those conditions before). Fortunately, it turned out to be a good one!

Cloudier skies and a constant breeze on the dike provided much nicer conditions for sustained observation than stifling heat and glaring sun as with previous days. Today marked the first day of the count that American Redstart was the most abundant warbler, overtaking Yellow Warbler by a healthy margin of 55 to 15 (counting northbound birds only).

The best part of the day came when we added another two warblers to the official fall tally this morning as well: Yellow-throated Warbler (2), which we don’t see a lot of past the dike despite the many that breed in the northern part of the county, and an early Tennessee Warbler that landed in vegetation on the dike before taking off again. Tom Johnson and I recorded both of these species on July 29th, but not since-- that just goes to show you the power of cold fronts!

Ah, what a beaut. What else can I say except "Safe travels, pal!"

Another treat of the day was the noticeable uptick in Eastern Kingbirds and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, with 26 and 12 northbound individuals, respectively. I really can’t wait to see big flocks of kingbirds soon! They make a brief but spectacular passage through Cape May (peaking in late August and largely out by mid September), so folks who only visit from mid-September onwards miss much of this wonderful early fall spectacle.

A dredge site now, the pristine beach line of the Guinean Shield later on. Shorebirds continue to mystify.   

Shorebirds were also in good attendance today, potentially also in association with the approach of the front. A large flock of Semipalmated Sandpipers gorged themselves on the biofilm lining the “watering hole” on top of the dike, while Solitary, Spotted, and Least Sandpipers along with Semipalmated Plovers also joined in.

As always, you can find the link to the official count on Trektellen here and the complete eBird checklist here. More photos below!

Bring on Day 10!

Juvie mockingbird with lots to add to its repertoire. 

Swamp Darners seemed to be moving today, but I have to make sure I count all the birds first!