Morning Flight 9/11/10

This morning I did a morning flight count in Kunkletown with Terry Master. We counted migrating birds, starting at sunrise (6:37am) and ending two hours later. After the large migration last night (see previous post), the birds were definitely moving. We found 43 species, 23 of which were in morning flight. We ended with a total of 184 morning flight birds.

Species in bold were observed in morning flight:

American Kestrel 2
Mourning Dove 2
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Downy Woodpecker 3
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 2
Pileated Woodpecker 4 
Eastern Phoebe 1
Red-eyed Vireo 10
Blue Jay 4
American Crow 3
Black-capped Chickadee 8
Red-breasted Nuthatch 2
House Wren 1
Veery 1
Swainson's Thrush 15
Wood Thrush 1
American Robin 6
Gray Catbird 1
Cedar Waxwing 25
Tennessee Warbler 1
Northern Parula 1
Chestnut-sided Warbler 1
Magnolia Warbler 6
Cape May Warbler 1
Black-throated Green Warbler 4
Blackburnian Warbler 1
Prairie Warbler 1
Bay-breasted Warbler 4
Blackpoll Warbler 3
American Redstart 3
Common Yellowthroat 1
Hooded Warbler 1
Canada Warbler 1
Eastern Towhee 2
Field Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 1
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 4
Indigo Bunting 2
Bobolink 14
Purple Finch 4
American Goldfinch 16

Unidentified warbler 66
Unidentified passerine 2

Many of the warblers were flying high today, but some allowed for photos.  This warbler shows a yellow underside and an all-dark tail.  These characteristics, combined with other observations in the field, help identify this Tennessee Warbler.

Many field marks are visible on this Northern Parula, including the bluish head, strong white wingbars, and yellow throat.

A few Rose-breasted Grosbeaks were in the trees during the morning, but near the end of the count, I spotted this one flying west.  Note white crescents and the pink under the wings.

One of the last birds of the count was this Cape May Warbler.  Note the face pattern and the streaking on the side.

This is a spectrogram of the flight call that an American Redstart uttered while flying over during morning flight.

This is a spectrogram of a Chestnut-sided Warbler's flight calls from this morning.

Migrant push

Tonight there seems to be a strong push of migrants moving south.  A check of the NEXRAD radar is quite impressive.  I will out tomorrow (9/11/10) listening for flight calls and counting birds in morning flight!  I am sure the numbers will be impressive.

A look at tonight's radar shows an impressive number of birds migrating.  (National Weather Service, http://weather.gov)

Morning Flight

This morning I counted birds that flew over my yard during "morning flight" for the Northeast Morning Flight Project.  I counted for two hours (starting at sunrise).  I recorded 180 birds of 22 species engaging in morning flight.  Since most of these were identified on the wing (a few stopped to briefly before continuing) there were several unidentified birds seen.  The list is below:

1    American Kestrel
1    Mourning Dove
1    Ruby-throated Hummingbird
1    Red-headed Woodpecker
1    Red-bellied Woodpecker
1    Eastern Phoebe
1    Red-eyed Vireo
1    Red-breasted Nuthatch
1    Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
2    American Robin
70    Cedar Waxwing
3    Black-throated Green Warbler
3    Blackburnian Warbler
9    Bay-breasted Warbler
6    Blackpoll Warbler
1    American Redstart
1    Hooded Warbler
1    Scarlet Tanager
5    Bobolink
2    Purple Finch
2    House Finch
19    American Goldfinch

45    unidentified warbler
6    unidentified small passerine

Tonight is the night

Often after a cold front passes through, bird migration really picks up.  Today, one of these fronts passed through.  After days without decent migration, it is possible that tomorrow and Friday will be great birding days.  Get out birding!  Don't forget about flight calls and birds flying over!

Updates 9/6/10

Today, I added a Woodpecker ID page. 

I also photographed this Scarlet Tanager in flight, which will appear on an identification page shortly.

The yellow coloration and solid black wings are distinctive to a Scarlet Tanager.

Woodpecker Identification

Northern Flickers are easy to identify by their brown coloration and yellow under the wings.

Although facing away from the camera, this Red-bellied Woodpecker is fairly easy to identify.  The "zebra" pattern on the back is distinctive.  

Even though this photo is blurry, it is still possible to tell that the beak on this bird is quite long, separating this Hairy Woodpecker from the similar Downy Woodpecker.  Listening for the call note can be important when separating these two species in flight.

A new warbler

Today I photographed this Hooded Warbler in flight.  This is a bird of dense undergrowth in forests, so it was neat to see one against the sky!  This bird was also calling as it flew past, uttering a little buzz somewhat similar to the flight call of a Common Yellowthroat.

This image also appears on the Warbler ID page.

Some new photos

Here are a few new photos of birds in flight:

Northern Flickers are one of the larger woodpeckers in the region.  Flickers are brown with lots of dark spots.  Note the black malar ("mustache") making this a male.

Blue Jays often flock up in the fall and fly over during the day.  They are often noisy while flying.  Their flight and color pattern are distinctive.

Black-capped Chickadees do not usually fly long distances, but when they do, their black and white head pattern makes them easy to identify.