There’s very little to say, really, that hasn’t been said over the last two days. The bottleneck of birds across the northeastern US was uncorked last night and the birds exploded southward after sunset. Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 5:00am this morning.
Frames are every 1/2 hour. Click on the thumbnail to view the full-sized animation.
Birds, Birds and more Birds. That pretty much sums it up. The majority of the northeastern US experienced heavy southbound migration last night with strong southwesterly winds pushing birds toward the east. Expect a huge flight at coastal hotspots this morning, especially Cape May which should see the culmination of both great passerine and raptor flights today (most likely with one picking off the other in feats of aerial acrobatics). Inland locations will also see many new birds today given the sheer volume of migration last night and into this morning. Without weather to concentrate birds, geography will be key today. Hit Chimney Rock if you’re in Central NJ, or Cape May and/or Sandy Hook if along the coast. Whatever you do, don’t NOT go birding today.
Make sure you stop back and let us know how you do!
Good Birding
David
6 responses to “Let the birding begin!”
Chimney Rock was indeed hopping this morning with migrants coming back on to the end of the Watchung Ridge.
Many BT Blues, Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, BT Greens, Magnolias, Parulas, B&W’s, Redstarts, Y-Rumps, and a skulking Connecticut.
Many Tanagers, RB Grosbeak, RB Nut, many Kinglets of both flavors, Phoebes, BH and RE vireos.
Winter Wren, Creeper, WT Sparrows, Junco, Sapsuckers……….
Pretty darn good.
Now for the hawks….
This morning in Kunkletown, Pennsylvania, the birding was okay, but nothing fantastic. There were tons of American Robins moving, as well as large flocks of Blue Jays and Canada Geese.
Warblers included only Yellow-rump and Tennessee. Sparrows were good with lots of White-throated and the first White-crowned of the year.
Pre-dawn flight was very good, however. I had ~200 SWTH, 10 GCTH, WOTH, HETH, SAVS,
Hi Dave
Mike and Nora from the wild cat ridge WMA hawk watch
we met you in cape may a couple of times.
Well, we had birds alright!
Magnolias, bt greens, bt blues ,Yellow rumps,
Common yellow throats, Nashville, Black and White,a first year Cerulean, re vireos, bh vireos,
yt Vireos, Blue grey gnat catchers, white throat
sparrows, tons of both Kinglets, and more.
Spent a marathon day 10 hours at Sandy Hook. The big day one hopes for at least once in the Fall. We were not leaving until we saw Tenn Warbler and had an adult and an immature.
There were at least 22 sp. of warbler including multiple Bay-breasted, Tenn. and Connecticut . Orange-Crowned was seen by us. The most numerous warbler sp. were Yellow-rump but Magnolias and No. Parulas were impressive. Big numbers of kinglets especially YC kinglet. Another big push of Phoebes and No. Flickers were in big numbers as well. There were very good numbers of sparrows especially White-throated , a few White-Crowned and numerous
Lincoln’s at least 7. Nice numbers of Brown Creepers and some Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. May have left something out but too tired to think just now. Birds were active all day after a slow start early in the AM. due to the very cool temperature.
Just got back to Maryland from a day at Cape May. After scrounging a parking spot along the side of the road below the dike at Higbee, I spent about fifteen minutes watching scores of wind-whipped Flickers and Palm Warblers torpedo in all directions overhead, among the scads of other species that were moving too fast for me to keep up with. I spent time along the trails around Higbee, then went to the State Park, then around the lake at the point. All told, I saw 17 species of warbler, as well as first of season Brown Creeper, White-throated Sparrow, Junco, and both Kinglets. Raptors were everywhere. I didn’t go near the hawk watch platform, but managed to see Peregrine, Merlin, Kestrel, Sharpie, Cooper’s, Bald Eagle, Osprey, Red-Shouldered, and both Vultures, just by looking up once in a while. Great fun, never a dull moment.
Here’s Tom Johnson’s report from the Higbee Morning flight, via the CMBO/NJAS research blog:
Morning Flight Saturday October 2, 2010
posted by Tom | 6:11 AM
Today was the first big late season flight. Over 12,500 total birds were tallied, dominated by warblers with Yellow-rumped and Palm being the only truly dominant species, though Northern Parula put in a strong showing as well. Highlights aside from the spectacle included an impressive showing of Red-bellied Woodpeckers (18) and good numbers of Tennessee Warblers.
Location: Cape Island–Higbees Beach SWA–Dike
Observation date: 10/2/10
Notes: first Yellow-rumped flight of the fall; cool clear with NW breeze, flight went on until 12:30 PM
Number of species: 48
Red-bellied Woodpecker 18
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 31
Downy Woodpecker 1
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 768
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1
Eastern Phoebe 11
Red-eyed Vireo 9
Red-breasted Nuthatch 66
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 4
Golden-crowned Kinglet 26
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 6
American Robin 260
Northern Mockingbird 1
American Pipit 9
Cedar Waxwing 1090
Tennessee Warbler 26
Nashville Warbler 4
Northern Parula 264
Yellow Warbler 1
Chestnut-sided Warbler 9
Magnolia Warbler 33
Cape May Warbler 13
Black-throated Blue Warbler 58
Yellow-rumped Warbler 4669
Black-throated Green Warbler 18
Blackburnian Warbler 1
Pine Warbler 6
Prairie Warbler 1
Palm Warbler 1066
Bay-breasted Warbler 1
Blackpoll Warbler 131
Bay-breasted/Blackpoll Warbler 23
Black-and-white Warbler 25
American Redstart 23
Northern Waterthrush 15
Connecticut Warbler 2
warbler sp. 3732
Chipping Sparrow 5
Savannah Sparrow 13
Scarlet Tanager 13
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 15
Blue Grosbeak 5
Indigo Bunting 38
Dickcissel 3
Bobolink 2
Eastern Meadowlark 1
Baltimore Oriole 1
Purple Finch 4
House Finch 5
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)