Birdwalk Highlights for 9/19: Sandy Point Beach, Cousin's Island, Yarmouth.

Jeannette once again delivered the birdwalk group to the point, and I pulled myself away from the bridge. But the flight continued, with flickers and robins in particular continue to flow by. There was enough activity in the scrub and parking lot trees to keep us occupied, however. In fact, as usual, there were more Red-eyed Vireos, sparrows, and Swainson's Thrushes on the ground than in morning flight. While we mostly just took in the show, and people laughed at my desperate attempts to count things zipping overhead while simultaneously describing something perched in a tree, we had some great looks at a number of things such as the most-cooperative-possible Philadelphia Vireo, several Scarlet Tanagers, and much more. We also added a few species to the morning's tally that I had not seen from the bridge, including Indigo Bunting, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, and a Greater Yellowlegs along the shore.

My notes were already a mess before I tried to separate out the birdwalk observations, so I'll just simply post the entire list for the morning. The birdwalk group only saw a fraction of the tally, but it was a very representative sample.

6:22-10:10am. Joined by Saturday Morning Birdwalk group at 8:22 39F, mostly clear, NW 6.7 to 9.8mph.

1261 Northern Flickers (*New record high*) 1246 Unidentified *1 335 Northern Parulas 292 American Robins *2 119 Yellow-rumped Warblers 69 Cedar Waxwings 57 Black-throated Green Warblers 43 Dark-eyed Juncos *3 36 Blackpoll Warblers 34 Red-breasted Nuthatches *4 34 Purple Finches *5 22 Cape May Warblers 18 American Redstarts 16 White-throated Sparrows 13 Blue Jays 13 Red-eyed Vireos 12 American Goldfinches 11 Eastern Phoebes 11 Tennessee Warblers 9 Swainson's Thrushes 9 Magnolia Warblers 8 Ospreys 8 Scarlet Tanagers 8 Black-throated Blue Warblers 6 Sharp-shinned Hawks 6 Chipping Sparrows 6 Savannah Sparrows 5 Black-and-white Warblers 5 Rusty Blackbirds 4 Nashville Warblers 4 Yellow Warblers 4 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks 3 Eastern Wood-Pewees 3 unidentified flycatchers 3 Blue-headeed Vireos 3 unidentified vireos 3 White-breasted Nuthatches (* tied 3rd highest*) 3 Ruby-crowned Kinglets 3 Bay-breasted Warblers 3 Chestnut-sided Warblers 2 Semipalmated Sandpipers 2 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers 2 Philadelphia Vireo 2 Golden-crowned Kinglets 2 Wilson's Warblers 2 Palm Warblers 1 Cooper's Hawk 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Hairy Woodpecker 1 unidentified catharus 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1 American Pipit 1 Ovenbird 1 Indigo Bunting 1 Baltimore Oriole 1 Pine Siskin (First of season) x Common Yellowthroats 4+ hunting Merlins

T= 3802 (7th Highest All-time Tally)

*1 High due to height of flight, waves of birds, and inability to see through all of the flickers. *2 Also seems very early for such a large number - drought and/or mountain-ash failure? *3 Unusual numbers of DEJU for this early in the season for second flight in a row. *4 Incredible irruption continues. *5 Here come the finches!