A very weak and dry cold front passed through yesterday (Thursday) evening. Although the winds were calm – or nearly calm – through most of the night, a light northwesterly component had developed by dawn. A HUGE number of birds (likely the biggest flight of the season so far) were on the move last night.

Here’s the 10:00pm, 12:00am, 2:00am, and 5:00am radar images:

Apparently that northwest breeze (more of a sneeze, really!) was just enough, and combined with the volume of birds in the air, produced a great flight at Sandy Point. I tallied 13 species of warblers, but the highlight by far was a Blue Grosbeak that I found in the scrubby powerline cut. It perched a top a small shrub for a minute or so, showing off its honkin’ snoz. Stella was able to get on it as it flew away, never to be seen again (although once or twice I MIGHT have had it in flight). A very good bird for the state and only the second that I have seen in Maine. And to think, I almost didn’t bother coming here this morning! (Complete list and totals below).

With errands to run in Portland, my next stop was the Eastern Promenade. Again, I almost didn’t go here, but thank goodness I did. It was spectacular! It began with about 800 Semipalmated Sandpipers roosting in tight groups on the rocks at the west edge of the parking lot.

After spending some time photographing them, I finally moved on and hit the brush.

Spectacular. Amazing. Astounding. No, none of those adjectives really do this morning justice. I conservatively estimated 1000 White-throated Sparrows! Wave after wave would be flying through the trees as I sorted through the flocks on the ground and in the bushes. Most, of not all were calling, and many birds – immature males from the sound of things – were even singing. It was quite the cacophony, and quite the show. I totaled 7 species of sparrows, including 22 Lincoln’s Sparrows – a very good count. The 19 Eastern Phoebes was one of my highest counts for this species in Maine, and the eight species of warblers were decent for this location (A single Black-and-white and 2 Yellows were my 14th and 15th species of warbler for the morning). (Complete list and totals below).

I finally tore myself away from the show as there were a couple of errands that simply had to get done. But, on my way back (after calling Jeannette with, “Uh, I’m running A LITTLE behind schedule!”), I just had to take a quick swing through Dragon Field. A half-hour tour here didn’t do the place justice on such a busy and productive morning, as there were lots of White-throated Sparrows in the bushes and plenty of Savannah Sparrows in the weeds. An Ovenbird was my 16th warbler species of the day, a nice way to finish a stellar morning!

Location: Sandy Point Beach, Cousin's Island, Yarmouth
Observation date: 9/21/07
Notes: Very weak cold front passing in pm. Mostly calm and
completely clear overnight, but very light NW in early morning. HUGE movement noted on radar. 6:20am - 8:15am. 292 Unidentified fly-overs.
Number of species: 45

American Black Duck X
Common Eider X
Common Loon 2
Double-crested Cormorant X
Great Blue Heron 1
Bald Eagle 1 2nd Cycle
Cooper's Hawk 1
Ring-billed Gull X
Herring Gull X
Great Black-backed Gull X
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Belted Kingfisher X
Red-eyed Vireo 5
Blue Jay 6
American Crow X
Black-capped Chickadee 4
Red-breasted Nuthatch 5
White-breasted Nuthatch 3 Possible migrants - at least one bird
was "thinking about" making the crossing.
Brown Creeper 1
Swainson's Thrush 1
Hermit Thrush 1
Gray Catbird 6
European Starling X
Cedar Waxwing 7
Nashville Warbler 1
Northern Parula 10
Chestnut-sided Warbler 2
Magnolia Warbler 12
Black-throated Blue Warbler 11
Yellow-rumped Warbler 75
Black-throated Green Warbler 17
Palm Warbler 2
Blackpoll Warbler 6
American Redstart 6
Northern Waterthrush 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Wilson's Warbler 2
Chipping Sparrow 4
Lincoln's Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 21
Dark-eyed Junco 11
Blue Grosbeak 1 Perched on small shrub in weedy area of
powerline cut, to east of parking lot for about 1 minute. Called a few times.
Flew towards parking lot, but not seen again. Seen in poor light;
aging/sexing not possible.
Rusty Blackbird 4
Baltimore Oriole 1
Pine Siskin 1

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org

Location: Eastern Promenade
Observation date: 9/21/07
Notes: Fantastic morning!
Number of species: 54

Canada Goose 14
American Black Duck 1
Common Eider X
Double-crested Cormorant X
Great Blue Heron 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk 2
Merlin 1
Semipalmated Plover 3
Greater Yellowlegs 2
Semipalmated Sandpiper 800 Packed together on rocks at edge of
boat launch parking lot.
Ring-billed Gull X
Herring Gull X
Great Black-backed Gull X
Rock Pigeon X
Mourning Dove 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Northern Flicker 10
Least Flycatcher 1
Eastern Phoebe 19 One of my highest counts for the state.
Blue-headed Vireo 3
Philadelphia Vireo 1
Red-eyed Vireo 2
Blue Jay 1
American Crow X
Black-capped Chickadee 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
Brown Creeper 5
Swainson's Thrush 4
American Robin 2
Gray Catbird 8
Northern Mockingbird 3
Brown Thrasher 1
European Starling X
Cedar Waxwing 13
Yellow Warbler 2
Chestnut-sided Warbler 2
Magnolia Warbler 2
Black-throated Blue Warbler 1
Black-throated Green Warbler 1
Palm Warbler 1
Black-and-white Warbler 1
American Redstart 1
Common Yellowthroat 23
Savannah Sparrow 10
Song Sparrow 50
Swamp Sparrow 3
White-throated Sparrow 1000 VERY conservative guess-timate.
Hundreds moving over and through trees, moving east to west, passing over
and through large flocks on the ground and in the bushed. Quite a
spectacle!
White-crowned Sparrow 1
Dark-eyed Junco 11
Northern Cardinal X
Purple Finch 2
House Finch X
American Goldfinch X

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)