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Friday, May 16, 2008

Higbee in the Rain; Spring Weekend day 1

When I met Mike Fritz at the lot at Higbee Beach this morning, he said we were about to get hit with heavy rain - he had just checked the radar. Sure enough, shortly after our group of 25 Spring Weekend participants and leaders left the lot, down it came.

The first half of the morning, birds were a bit tough to come by. We did hit one pocket of migrants which remained mostly hidden, but held singing Black-throated Green and Bay-breasted Warblers, as well as a few lingering Yellow-rumped Warblers - won't be long before the last of those are through for the spring. We glimpsed a chat (later in the morning we found one teed up nicely along the road to the jetty, check the left side just past the morning flight tower), and the usual Indigo Buntings and Blue Grosbeaks cooperated despite the rain.

Later in the morning the rain subsided and we encountered a nifty little flock of migrants, which contained Bay-breasted, Blackburnian, Magnolia, Chestnut-sided, and several other species of warblers. Mike picked a Peregrine coming in off the bay, and a very soggy immature Borad-winged Hawk flew over. The Scarlet Tanagers that had been chip-burring in the parking lot all morning finally showed themselves at walk's end, one glowing male and two females.

Special thanks to leaders Mike Fritz, Kathy Horn, Steve Rodan, and Steve Weis, as well as a bunch of very intrepid participants. The full list for the morning is below.

Location: Higbee Beach
Observation date: 5/16/08
Notes: CMBO Spring Weekend, rainy.
Number of species: 59
Wood Duck 1
Mallard 1
Double-crested Cormorant 30
Great Egret 2
Snowy Egret 4
Broad-winged Hawk 1
Peregrine Falcon 1
Black-bellied Plover 2
Killdeer 1
American Oystercatcher 1
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Laughing Gull X
Herring Gull X
Great Black-backed Gull X
Least Tern 2
Forster's Tern 20
Mourning Dove 5
Chimney Swift 10
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Downy Woodpecker 2
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Eastern Kingbird 3
White-eyed Vireo 5
Red-eyed Vireo 5
Blue Jay 2
Fish Crow 2
Purple Martin 5
Barn Swallow 15
Carolina Chickadee 5
Tufted Titmouse 5
Carolina Wren 10
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 5
Gray Catbird 1
Tennessee Warbler 1
Northern Parula 2
Yellow Warbler 2
Chestnut-sided Warbler 1
Magnolia Warbler 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler 2
Black-throated Green Warbler 1
Blackburnian Warbler 1
Prairie Warbler 2
Bay-breasted Warbler 2
Black-and-white Warbler 1
American Redstart 2
Common Yellowthroat 5
Yellow-breasted Chat 3
Scarlet Tanager 3
Field Sparrow 3
Swamp Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 5
Blue Grosbeak 5
Indigo Bunting 5
Red-winged Blackbird 10
Brown-headed Cowbird 10
Orchard Oriole 2
Baltimore Oriole 1
American Goldfinch 5

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