Higbee: Low volume, good quality, plus evening warblers at the state park

Morning Flight at Higbee Beach today was essentially absent, though quite a few birds made false starts and never flew on. Among these was a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, which flew north a few feet in front of me, then swung back over the dredge spoil and returned to the woods, giving Bob Fogg and me a great look, for a flyby empid. A Clay-colored Sparrow darted past and into the phragmites below the dike at around 8:30 a.m.

CMBO's Tuesday Higbee Walk (every Tuesday beginning at 7:30) featued a Philadelphia Vireo and both Least and "Trail's" Flycatchers - the full list is below, courtesy of Chuck and MJ Slugg.

Vince Elia told me he had 18 species of warblers yesterday evening at Cape May Point State Park, including Bay-breasted and Mourning. Watching for evening landbird activity on the day after a flight is often rewarding, especially if migration conditions continue to be good. Speaking of which, the National Weather Service says:

"A COLD FRONT WILL MOVE SOUTHEAST FROM THE GREAT LAKES REGION AND CROSS THE REGION LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY TONIGHT. COOL HIGH PRESSURE WILL THEN DOMINATE THE WEATHER WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY BEFORE SLIDING OFF TO THE EAST ON FRIDAY."

The front's forecast arrival shifted to a little earlier than was predicted yesterday, thus tomorrow should be very good birding, though the winds are supposed to swing around to northeast at dawn- which at least is good for Peregrines in Cape May.

Location: Higbee Beach
Observation date: 9/9/08
Notes: The Tues. Higbee Walk had great "parking lot birds" and then started slowly but we hit pockets of activity as the walk progressed.
Number of species: 46
Great Egret 1
Turkey Vulture 1
Bald Eagle 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Royal Tern 1
Mourning Dove X
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Downy Woodpecker 1
Alder/Willow Flycatcher (Traill's) 2
Least Flycatcher 3
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Eastern Kingbird 15
White-eyed Vireo 6
Philadelphia Vireo 1
Red-eyed Vireo 25
Blue Jay 4
American Crow X
Fish Crow X
Tree Swallow 2
Barn Swallow 4
Carolina Chickadee 4
Tufted Titmouse 7
Carolina Wren 10
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 12
Veery 6
American Robin 8
Gray Catbird 6
Northern Mockingbird 1
Brown Thrasher 1
European Starling X
Cedar Waxwing 10
Northern Parula 10
Magnolia Warbler 1
Black-throated Blue Warbler 6
Black-and-white Warbler 20
American Redstart 25
Common Yellowthroat 4
Scarlet Tanager 1
Chipping Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 6
Bobolink 15
Red-winged Blackbird 18
Common Grackle 10
Baltimore Oriole 15