Birdwalk Highlights for 10/25: Wolfe's Neck Center, Freeport.

While we found surprisingly few migrants on the ground today, the visible migration overhead more than made up for it! What an interesting day it was.

As usual, we began and ended at the cove, with the incoming tide beginning to cover the mudflats and concentrating birds before us. 6 GREATER YELLOWLEGS and a total of 3 GREAT BLUE HERONS worked the stream, while 4 GREEN-WINGED TEAL joined 32 AMERICAN BLACK DUCKS on the mudflat. A goodly late season tally of 52 LAUGHING GULLS joined HERRING and mostly RING-BILLED GULLS on the flats as well, with 5 BONAPARTE'S GULLS flying by. Later, 10 RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS and a WHITE-WINGED SCOTER drifted into view.

The gardens and edge were surprisingly quiet, however, with very few sparrows considering the date and the action on the radar overnight. Totals of landbirds throughout the farm included 16 SAVANNAHS SPARROWS, 13 SONG SPARROWS, 8 DARK-EYED JUNCOS, 7 EASTERN BLUEBIRDS, 3 RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES, 2 WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS, and one each of CAROLINA WREN, NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD, and SWAMP SPARROWS. Happily, we only found evidence of one recent bird strike on the Smith Center - but one too many, however, especially given recent rains likely cleaned off other traces of the death toll.

Overhead, however, was a much different manner. At first, I was surprised by not seeing much overhead at all. Just a few YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS and a total of 7 PURPLE FINCHES. A total of 4 AMERICAN PIPITS flew overhead as well, and we had a single migrant NORTHERN HARRIER. But at around 9:30, apparently the blackbird floodgates opened, and large flocks of COMMON GRACKLES started flowing overhead, with RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS mixed in among them. Painfully conservative estimates of 1420 grackles and 117 Red-wings were made, including a flock of at least 700 grackles that many thought could easily have been over a thousand. It was quite impressive! 34 AMERICAN ROBINS, a bird I expected more of all morning, were noted flying overhead with the blackbirds, in small flocks on their own, but wow, those blackbird masses were pretty cool to see!