As darkness fell last night, partly cloudy skies and light, southerly winds opened the migratory floodgates once again. And, for the second night in row, rain developed in the early morning hours. Fallout!?

Here’s the 10pm radar. Lots of birds on the move!

The rain is approaching from the west by midnight.

Then, things get interesting. The 2am and 4am radars follow. Rain is now upon us in the Greater Portland area. But, it seems that birds may still be in the air. It’s tough to tell, and the velocity image didn’t help as both the rain, and the birds, were moving SW to NE. But, the concentration of echoes (greens) along the coast, especially south of Portland seems consistent throughout the night. Tough to tell though, as it could also be low level fog, drizzle, etc.

Since the winds were still southerly – it was a warm front that passed through and produced our rain – and the rain was not too heavy, my guess is that most birds were able to keep going, and while a classic “fallout” or “grounding” was not in the offerings today, there was little doubt that it would be good morning.

And, I did, in fact, have a very good morning out and about around South Portland. I haven’t birded SoPo in a while – and I was happy to have an excuse to hit Terra Cotta Pasta Co for Sicilian Olives (my favorite!) and their Sweet Potato-Butternut Squash ravioli!) – and, most importantly (really!) the small parks in this heavily developed area can offer refuge to hosts of tired migrants in the event of a fallout.

I began at Bug Light Park, as the last of the morning’s drizzle was coming to an end. There were only a handful of migrants here, but that did include my first Eastern Kingbird of the spring, 14 Savannah Sparrows, and a Least Flycatcher, along with seven Brant.

I was beginning to wonder about my predictions of a fallout (as I, as always, bird first, look at the computer second so I didn’t know what the radar was showing) when I hit tiny Joe’s Pond Park. First, there was my first Yellow Warbler of the spring, a Northern Waterthrush, and a pair of Rusty Blackbirds in the brush. A Bobolink sang from a patch of phragmites, and two Gray Catbirds skulked around some trash in a patch of Japanese Knotweed. Then, I heard a cacophony of singing White-throated Sparrows. They seemed to be getting close, and a moment later, the flock began to cross through the park. Standing in the middle of the trail, I watched wave after wave of birds passing through the yards that border the west side of the park. Counting by 10’s, I estimated 250+ White-throated Sparrows passed by in about 5 minutes. It was very impressive. And, their behavior was rather indicative of a fallout. Likely, these birds had accumulated along the shore of the Fore River at dawn, coalesced, and were now beginning to reorient inland to better habitat. In other words, there was a fallout of White-throated Sparrows, at least!

Therefore, I had expected to see lots of White-throated Sparrows at Hinckley Park, my next stop. But, I only counted 8. In fact, the place was pretty quiet, although I did have my first 2 Common Yellowthroats, 2 Spotted Sandpipers, and 3 Solitary Sandpipers of the year, plus a Green Heron and a few other migrants. If there was indeed a fallout last night, it sure didn’t ground birds at Hinckley!

Next, I hit Fort Williams Park. Now, usually, I walk this park, see few (land)birds, and wonder why I keep checking it (answer: the habitat and geography of the location give me pangs of potential rarity fever!). Today, however, I was rewarded with a very good mix of migrants – although not in any noteworthy numbers. My first Chestnut-sided Warbler and Brown Thrasher were singing away, a Glossy Ibis and two Eastern Bluebirds passed overhead, and 14 White-throated Sparrows and a goodly 8 Gray Catbirds were in the brush.

Mill Creek Park -a far cry from high-quality warbler habitat – hosted 5 species of warblers today, including an American Redstart and Prairie Warbler, giving me 13 species of warbler for my day list. Rarely do I see this kind of diversity in places like Joe’s Pond and Mill Creek with at least some sort of fallout-action.

Lastly, I checked “Mercy Pond” and “Mercy Woods” off of the Commercial Street Extension in Portland. A smattering of migrants here – including about 10 Chipping Sparrows and 8 Savannah Sparrows at the pond’s edge and a handful of warblers in the woods, further proved the theory that a decent amount of birds arrived overnight.

Jeannette was at Florida Lake and Bayview Preserve this morning, and she noted a handful of new arrivals, but overall not a ton of birds. I'd be very curious to hear what people saw in their neck of the woods this morning to try and get a better handle on the events of last night.

Here at the store's feeders for example, it seems we had more birds leave than arrive. Although a Yellow Warbler showed up this morning, we had much less under the feeders. By day's end yesterday, we were hosting 6 species of saprrows (!), including 9 Chipping, our continuing 2 resident Song, and 1 each of White-crowned, White-throated, Savannah, and Field. Today: our 2 Songs, 4 Chipping, and once each of White-crowned and White-throated.

With clear skies and light winds predicted for tonight, I’m expecting another excellent flight. But, with no fronts slated to pass through, I’m guessing there won’t be any unusual concentrations. But, just about every day now will produce at least some turnover, and a few new arrivals, so now’s not the time to be sleeping in!