After returning home from a late dinner on Friday night with my visiting college buddies, I heard numerous call notes passing overhead. Despite being well past my bedtime already, I decided to set me alarm for 5:00am, to arrive at Sandy Point before sunrise. I moaned and groaned when that alarm went off, but when I heard migrants calling through the window, I was motivated to get out of bed.

And, I am sure glad I did! Sandy Point was really hopping. In fact, it was probably my best morning (in terms of diversity – 16 species of warblers – and volume) for this early in the season. I am certainly glad that I did not sleep through this! (February is for sleeping!). You can see the totals here.

Activity had calmed down significantly by the time I returned to Sandy Point with my birdwalk group, but we still had a handful of birds moving overhead, and a smattering of migrants in the trees, including a great look at a Philadelphia Vireo.

Here’s what the sky looked like overnight. The echos on the Doppler radar are birds. Lots, and lots of birds. Note the concentrations near the coast.

9:55pm:

1:57am:

4:53am:

Good flights also occurred Saturday night and Sunday night, but there was no chance of seeing me at Sandy Point, or anywhere else, at dawn!

Last night, birds were taking off, as shown here in this 953pm radar:

But, few birds were arriving, so there was little in the air before dawn at 4:54am:

Cool, huh?

We'll see what tonight brings, which - depending on the timing of the approaching cold front - could be interesting.

Speaking of cool technology that we are using more and more to study the movement of birds, take a look at the progress of Atlantic Sooty Shearwaters that were outfitted with satellite transmitters this summer.