The cold front moved through yesterday. Skies cleared, and as night fell, a light northwest wind continued. Birds were on the move. In 10 minutes (9:26-9:36pm) I tallied 30 call notes of migrants passing overhead.

The light northwest breeze and clearing skies continued, and made for a nippy dawn as Jeannette and I greeted the sunrise at Sandy Point on Cousin's Island. The flight started off a bit slow, but it really began to heat up as the sun came up. It wasn't a huge flight, in terms of volume, but the diversity of species was fantastic. I remained until 9:00, when things had slowed down quite a bit - although some stuff was still on the move.

First of all, most of the birds passing overhead were a bit lower than they have been of late. Secondly, northwest breeze was increasing as the time went by, and this caused more of the migrants to pause before crossing the water back to the mainland. Last, but not least, a lot of birds were lingering in the trees and shrubs around the parking lot. Therefore, my percentage of unidentified was significantly lower than some recent mornings, which was a nice change.

17 total species of warblers were seen, and I missed only one of these, a single Tennessee Warbler. Also, I did not count in that total two warblers in the genus Oporornis that remained unidentified. One flew below us at the edge of the bridge, and one flew overhead. I REALLY want a look at that overhead bird, as it was more than likely a much sought-after Connecticut Warbler (a bird that I am on the prowl for in Maine).

The bulk of the flight was made up of Black-throated Green Warblers, Northern Parula, and Blackpoll Warblers. Two large flocks of Cedar Waxwings moved overhead as well.

My personal counts were as follows:
Unidentified passerine: 282
Cedar Waxwing: 70
Black-throated Green Warbler: 58
Blackpoll Warbler: 30
Northern Parula: 28
Northern Flicker: 18
Magnolia Warbler: 18
Ruby-crowned Kinglet: 14
Yellow-rumped Warbler: 9
Red-eyed Vireo: 8
Gray Catbird: 8
American Robin: 7
Blue Jay: 6
Black-throated Blue Warbler: 5
American Redstart: 5
Eastern Phoebe: 4
Common Yellowthroat: 4
Common Loon: 3
Laughing Gull: 3
Blue-headed Vireo: 3
Black-and-white Warbler: 3
Red-breasted Nuthatch: 2
Ovenbird: 2
Unidentified Oporornis warbler: 2
White-throated Sparrow: 2
Eastern Wood-Pewee: 1
Unidentified Empidonax flycatcher: 1
Philadelphia Vireo: 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet: 1
Unidentified Kinglet: 1
Swainson’s Thrush: 1
Hermit Thrush: 1
Nashville Warbler: 1
Yellow Warbler: 1
“Yellow” Palm Warbler: 1
“Western” Palm Warbler: 1
Bay-breasted Warbler: 1
Northern Waterthrush: 1
Scarlet Tanager: 1
Chipping Sparrow: 1
Savannah Sparrow: 1
Swamp Sparrow: 1
Dark-eyed Junco: 1

After Sandy Point, Jeannette and I conducted our morning hawkwatch at the store. Moderate northwest winds, and a few big, puffy clouds for a background, presented perfect conditions for a good raptor flight. This too, did not dissapoint. In only 1 ½ hours, Jeannette, Pat, and I tallied 107 raptors from the parking lot in front of the store!

Here’s the count:
96 Broad-winged Hawk
7 Osprey
2 Sharp-shinned Hawk
1 Northern Harrier
1 Peregrine Falcon

Another great day for observing migrants! Fall is grand.

(Tomorrow should be pretty good for passerines and raptors as well, by the way)