Sunrise over the back of the Dike. Photo by Tom Reed
After several weeks of mostly slow flights in August, September got off to an excellent start this week with some northerly winds bringing a few significant flights. While Sunday and Monday remained slow, things kicked into high gear on Tuesday, with our first major American Redstart flight of the fall. That day’s count of 1912 Redstarts nearly tripled our season total! Every other day of this week has had strong movement as well, with over or close to one thousand individual birds per day, though these flights have been more varied and not dominated by a single species.
A rare Cerulean Warbler briefly zipped by the Dike on Tuesday. Not a species seen from the count every year! Photo by Tom Johnson
Warbler highlights for the past week include two Ovenbird, a Worm-eating Warbler, and a late Louisiana Waterthrush. New for the count this season were Cerulean, Yellow-throated, Canada, Connecticut, Blackpoll, Palm, and Black-throated Green Warblers, Common Yellowthroat, and Scarlet Tanager. Other cool songbirds this week included two Veery, two Summer Tanager, and several Dickcissel. Our non-songbird highlight for this week was a Buff-breasted Sandpiper which was seen on two days and spent the morning foraging atop the Dike on Thursday!
A couple of Summer Tanagers made their way past the Dike this week. Always a fun species to see in Morning Flight! Photo by Jerald Reb
Our first Connecticut Warbler was a fun addition to Saturday’s flight! Photo by Tom Johnson
This coming week will see a return to prevailing southerly winds; however, there are still expected to be a few days of north and northwest. We’ve reached a point in the season where birds will continue to move on less-than-ideal winds, though northwesterlies will still bring the biggest flights. Check the winds and overnight radar before coming out!
As always, you can check Trektellen to see what we are seeing on any given day: https://www.trektellen.nl/count/view/1746/20210904
See you on the Dike!
Jerald Reb
Morning Flight Counter
