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

Jeannette met the group at the store to join me at Sandy Point as a great Morning Flight (aka Morning Redetermined Migration) was underway, continuing since sunrise. I pulled myself away from "my office" at the bridge to take over in the parking lot, even though a steady trickle of migrants were still whipping by overhead. A brief overview of what was happening was offered by Jeannette, and then I took over.

We caught enough of the tail end of the morning flight to sample what had been passing through, with NORTHERN PARULAS and BLACKPOLL WARBLERS leading the way. Between birds overhead and in the trees, tallies were 35+ and 14+ respectively, with other passage migrants seen crossing including at least 20 NORTHERN FLICKERS, and 1 SCARLET TANAGER that alighted briefly before continuing on.

But as a group, we were most interested in what we could actually see and enjoy, and the brush, edges, and woods all produced great looks at a really nice diversity of migrants. One of the highlights were the incredible views of SWAINSON'S THRUSHES we kept enjoying; at least 8 birds in all including 3 feeding in the open together. Between some birds moving overhead, and especially those in the trees and shrubs, other tallies (most of which we saw really, really well today!) included 12 RED-EYED VIREOS, 8 BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLERS, 8 EASTERN PHOEBES, 6 COMMON YELLOWTHROATS, 3 YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS, 3 AMERICAN REDSTARTS, 3 feisty EASTERN WOOD-PEWEES, 2 BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLERS, 2 PALM WARBLERS, 1 BAY-BREASTED WARBLER, 1 TENNESSEE WARBLER, and a particularly lovely view of a PHILADELPHIA VIREO. These were all in addition to those that I counted crossing the channel earlier.

Later, a kettle of 34 BROAD-WINGED HAWKS passed overhead, followed by 3 more. Since only a couple of species of sparrows engage in the morning flight, our stroll added 2 LINCOLN'S SPARROWS and 18 WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS to my personal day list as well.

Waterbirds included a GREAT BLUE HERON and a single LAUGHING GULL, while an adult BALD EAGLE cruised low overhead. Of course, we noticed resident species two, including a pair of RED-BELLIED WOODPECKERS.