Waterthrush Morning

Torrential rain, high winds, flooding, power outages, tornado warnings. . . perfect weather for a bird walk at Higbee, no?

Remarkably, 5 people joined CMBO's Friday morning walk, including friends from Delaware Ornithological Society, and amidst periodic torrential downpours we actually enjoyed some good birding. Northern Waterthrushes were everywhere - and why not, since the whole peninsula is waterthrush habitat right now? Plenty of Veeries called from the woods, and warbler highlights included a Canada, Magnolia, Chestnut-sided, redstarts, and of course the abundant waterthrushes. The full list is below - shows why it pays never to sleep in!

Location: Higbee Beach
Observation date: 9/11/09
Notes: Torrential rain much of the time. CMBO Higbee Walk.
Number of species: 47

Wood Duck 2
Mallard 3
Great Egret 2
Snowy Egret 2
Green Heron 1
Osprey 2
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Sanderling 20
Semipalmated Sandpiper 10
Least Sandpiper 10
Laughing Gull 20
Ring-billed Gull 2
Herring Gull 10
Great Black-backed Gull 40
Common Tern 10
Royal Tern 2
Rock Pigeon 1
Mourning Dove 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
Least Flycatcher 1
Empidonax sp. 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Eastern Kingbird 10
White-eyed Vireo 1
Red-eyed Vireo 8
Blue Jay 5
American Crow 5
Carolina Chickadee 3
Carolina Wren 5
House Wren 2
Veery 10
Northern Parula 1
Chestnut-sided Warbler 2
Magnolia Warbler 1
Black-and-white Warbler 4
American Redstart 8
Ovenbird 2
Northern Waterthrush 20
Common Yellowthroat 10
Canada Warbler 1
Eastern Towhee 1
Field Sparrow 2
Northern Cardinal 3
Bobolink 40
Baltimore Oriole 2