Were both pretty good this morning. I arrived at the Higbee parking lot to find that, not that many birds seemed to be flying over or calling from the trees. Since I was there to bird with a couple of friends I tried to keep a positive attitude. Sometimes the winds seem right but the birds just aren't there.
That did not happen this morning. I did take a little walk around the first field and first tower filed (looking for a Connecticut, no luck) before meeting up with my fellow WSB team member and I found that after about 15 minuets in the field, birds started to drop in out of the sky. Most, predominantly kept flying over toward the Morning Flight Project area.
Soon we were on our way to the dike to find quite a good flight of songbirds taking place. While I was there we had Northern parula, Am. redstart, Blackpoll, Black-throated green and Tennessee warblers, along with Black-throated blue and Palm warblers. This is just to name a few. Also a couple of E. wood-pewees, an oriole and Scarlet tanagers. I'll leave it up to the View from the Field report for all species counted this morning.
After an hour of observation it was time to hit the woods again to see what might be moving through the trees. Since I am on limited time (having to get into the store at the Northwood Center) we figured that we'd have some good luck with birds in the fields. Well, not so much. The birds continued to pour over head for a little while but not much was sticking in the trees.
One "crowd pleaser" (Dale, this bits for you!) was a very cooperative Yellow-throated vireo. This bird, uncharacteristically, sat in a locust tree for some time giving all there excellent views from almost every angle possible. What's more, the bird obliged us with pretty much the exact angle view as last months photo quiz (go take a look and you'll see what I mean). What a great way to reinforce what I learned from Michael's answer explanation!
Now, one disclaimer, the species totals and diversity below in my list are severely affected by the fact that I was not keeping record of birds observed from the dike. I only took note of those observed on our wander before and after out Morning Flight visit. NOTE: I just over heard a member in the store mentioning to Amy that the hawk watching is "fabulous" today. Amy mentioned that folks are out front of the Northwood Center warbler watching. Looks like it might be a good idea to hang around out front for a little while.
That being said, tomorrow is looking like it could be yet another excellent day of birding. I haven't been out to the hawk watch today but I bet Jessie is having one heck of a flight today. Tomorrow should be good for hawk watching as well, but the winds are forecast to switch to the NE. Land birding should be excellent again as the winds are supposed to continue to be N-NW over night and not be too strong. Keep an eye on the birding Forecast as David La Puma continues to keep us abreast of the weather conditions for the mid-Atlantic region.
The list from Higbee this morning is below.
Location: Higbee Beach
Observation date: 9/23/07
Number of species: 29
Sharp-shinned Hawk 15
American Kestrel 1
Merlin 2
Lesser Yellowlegs 1
Least Sandpiper 8
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 25
Yellow-throated Vireo 1
American Crow 6
Tree Swallow 910
Barn Swallow 3
Red-breasted Nuthatch 2
Carolina Wren 9
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1
Gray Catbird 4
Cedar Waxwing 12
Northern Parula 3
Yellow Warbler 2
Palm Warbler 2
Blackpoll Warbler 2
Black-and-white Warbler 1
American Redstart 4
Common Yellowthroat 3
Scarlet Tanager 1
Northern Cardinal 8
Indigo Bunting 5
Bobolink 25
American Goldfinch 3
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
Also, the list from yesterdays CMBO Birding Optics walk at the Cape May point State Park
Location: Cape May Point SP
Observation date: 9/22/07
Notes: CMBO Birding Optics walk
Number of species: 36
Canada Goose 65
Mute Swan 4
Gadwall 4
Mallard 10
Blue-winged Teal 12
Northern Shoveler 12
Green-winged Teal 3
Great Blue Heron 2
Great Egret 2
Green Heron 2
Osprey 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk 28
American Kestrel 1
Merlin 1
Peregrine Falcon 1
Semipalmated Plover 11
Killdeer 5
Solitary Sandpiper 2
Lesser Yellowlegs 12
Semipalmated Sandpiper 1
Least Sandpiper 12
Pectoral Sandpiper 2
Short-billed Dowitcher 1
Laughing Gull 200
Herring Gull 15
Great Black-backed Gull 55
Caspian Tern 1
Common Tern 5
Forster's Tern 2
Royal Tern 8
Rock Pigeon 45
Carolina Wren 4
Yellow Warbler 1
Palm Warbler 4
Bobolink 25
House Sparrow 15
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
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