Tag Archives: American Redstart

2022 Monhegan Spring Migration Weekend Tour Report.

With so many great views of Black-billed Cuckoo(s) each day over the weekend, it was hard to argue against this being the bird of the trip. It was unusual how well, and how often, we saw this usually reclusive bird.

How about we just fast-forward to Sunday? Sunday was delightful.

After two quiet days, which I will eventually confess to, we had a bunch of birds. And no fog. And colorful birds in good light. The pre-breakfast loop was actually downright great, with a good variety of warblers. One copse of trees alone featured 3 Blackburnian Warblers, 4+ Blackpoll Warblers, 2 each of Yellow, Common Yellowthroat, Northern Parula, American Redstart, and 1 Magnolia Warbler

It was nice and birdy after breakfast as well, with more Blackburnian fun, a single Cape May Warbler, and a nice birdy walk through the woods (Winter Wren, Carolina Wren, and House Wren singing one after another) to Whitehead where we actually got to see the ocean – and a Great Cormorant for those visiting from afar. Bird activity and birdsong was pleasantly consistent throughout the day, and in most places we visited.

We caught up with a continuing immature male Orchard Oriole for all to see, and while perhaps one could argue it was still fairly slow for Monhegan by Memorial Day Weekend standards, it was a lot better than Friday and Saturday! In fact, the 59 species and 11 species of warblers was more than the first two days combined. A few of us who stayed out late even got to see an American Woodcock as it displayed over Horn Hill at dusk. It was a good day.

Blackpoll Warbler was definitely the migrant of the weekend. Besides being by far the most numerous passage migrant, they constantly offered crippling views throughout the tour. The male is above, and the female is below.

*This American Robin nesting in lobster traps was a delight to watch. The parents had to run a gauntlet of* 5 or 7 *traps to enter and exit the nest. It was a great demonstration of how lobster traps work.*

*Laura shows off her handiwork. Hey, on a slow day, I’ll take all of the birds I can get!*

Friday got off to a rocky start. Really rocky actually, as in few people were even able to keep their breakfast down on the two ferry rides. Dense fog and near-zero visibility resulted in virtually no birds being seen, and well, let’s just not talk about these boat trips anymore…it was one of the worst I have ever experienced on the way to or from. Thankfully, I am not predisposed to feeling how many people felt upon arrival, but it was still a challenge to shake it off, and all of us were moving slowly by day’s end.

*The sheltered waters of Deadman’s Cove were deceiving, but I think you get the idea!*

Of course, it didn’t help that there were so few birds around! The huge wave of birds that arrived the previous weekend had cleared out, and nothing had arrived to take their place over the last few nights. With such strong winds, it was a challenge to find sheltered pockets, and when we did, we didn’t find many with many birds. Only Blackpoll Warblers were to be seen in numbers.

That being said, what we did see – especially the aforementioned Blackpolls and the continuing world’s most cooperative Black-billed Cuckoo(s) – we saw really well. A few of us even saw the Virginia Rail for a second. The dense fog also precluded scanning the water, so our checklist is even more pitiful for the day. Ring-necked Pheasants put on a show though, from confiding snazzy males to adorable little chicks.

*There was no shortage of Cedar Waxwings this weekend, with numbers growing in the final two days of our stay.*

*We definitely took advantage of the lull in birding to do some botanizing, including taking the time*
*to stop and smell the Twinflower (Linnea).*

*What migrants were around, however, were often low, close, and confiding, such as this Red-eyed Vireo.*

I had hopes for Saturday – it really couldn’t be any worse than Friday anyway! – based on the forecast. However, only a light flight was detected on the radar overnight, despite light southerly winds. It was mostly cloudy, but I couldn’t help to wonder if we were just running out of migrants.

Rain that could have resulted in a fallout of what little was airborne overnight didn’t arrive until after sunrise, but it only caused a 20-minute delay to the start of the day. That was it though, and certainly we were lucky that Saturday was not the washout that was predicted as of a few days prior. It was still slow, but once again, we had exceedingly great looks at everything that we did encounter, including more quality cuckoo time, a stunning male Indigo Bunting that was just glowing in the soft light, Blackpoll Warblers, Northern Parulas, American Redstarts, and more colorful splashes to brighten another gray day. And it wasn’t raining.

But it’s hard to sugarcoat just how slow it was – like Mid-June-kinda slow. Luckily, the fog lifted just long enough to see some waterbirds, and we took advantage of that for an impromptu gull workshop.

*A tease. The fog returned shortly thereafter.*

It was news to me that Red-backed Salamanders were on the island. Upon finding that out, our Saturday afternoon walk in the woods featured a lot of log-rolling to sample. Apparently, they are rather widespread, as we found them throughout the spruce forest of the next few days.

*Sunsets on Monhegan are always memorable, but Saturday night’s was even more exciting*
*as it meant an end to two days of solid fog.*

*Tomorrow would be better, this scene promised. And it most certainly was!*

A brief shower at dinnertime ushered in a cold front and skies began to clear at dusk, with the fog finally lifting. That led to the delightful Sunday I was talking about. And Monday wasn’t too shabby either, as we again started the day without fog, a very light wind, and evidence of some bird migration on the radar overnight. And, with the southwesterly flow continuing, we had even higher hopes for finding the “mega” that would make up for the so-far lackluster species list.

Starting the morning with a Black-billed Cuckoo sunning itself in a tree right in front of the Trailing Yew was a solid start, and there were more Eastern Wood-Pewees and a decent number of Blackpoll Warblers around. Again, a rather slow day by Monhegan standards, but we really had more great looks at everything we did see. Today’s magic tree was by the Ice Pond, with a pair of Blackburnian Warblers, a pair of Blackpoll Warblers, Yellow Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, and finally a Bay-breasted Warbler.

We also finally had some rarity excitement. First, a Spizella sparrow flushed in front of us and a very quick glimpse in the scope suggested a Clay-colored Sparrow, which is a great bird in the spring. But just to be sure, we searched for it, but to no avail. Luckily, its identity was confirmed the next morning went it put on a show in the exact same spot it didn’t want to return to today.

Later, a female Purple Martin made an appearance…OK, fine, I could not completely rule out a Gray-breasted Martin. I was trying.

The tour officially concluded in the afternoon, but Jeannette and I remained to enjoy a 24-hour vacation. Don’t worry, you didn’t “just miss” something, as all we had new in the afternoon was a Savannah Sparrow.

*Cedar Waxwings were the most numerous passerine on the island – or at least, the most obvious, with a flock of 60 that grew to at least 150 by Tuesday afternoon.*

Also, don’t worry that you missed the day Monhegan legends are made of on Tuesday. You did not. It was still fairly slow, but we had a little uptick in diversity. The pulse of late-migrating flycatchers that I had expected finally arrived, there was a good Northern Gannet show off Lobster Cove in the morning, and a steady trickle of commuting Atlantic Puffins in a small sample of afternoon Lobster Cove seawatching.

We picked up three Willets well offshore to the south from Lobster Cove in the morning, eventually following them into the harbor where they landed for a spell. As for that “probable” Clay-colored Sparrow that was nagging me all afternoon and night, well, I am thankful that it returned to the exact same spot as where we first glimpsed it. I received a text that it had been observed, photographed, and confirmed by others, and it obligingly remained long enough for us to catch back up with it.

Overall, there were many fewer warblers around on Tuesday, likely as many of the passage migrants had departed overnight. But it would have been nice if this diverse day with several quality birds and good seawatching fell during the official tour!

The 11 species we added after the group tour ended therefore were as follows:

Savannah Sparrow
White-winged Scoter
Surf Scoter
Atlantic Puffin
WILLET
Alder Flycatcher
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Bobolink
Pine Siskin
Hermit Thrush
Red-bellied Woodpecker (where were you hiding these past 4 days?)

*Ring-necked Pheasant. No need to work on primary projection beyond the tertial step to identify this one!*

Furthermore, on the Hardy Boat back to New Harbor, we added 2 Red-necked Phalaropes (personal first-of-year) and a Razorbill. With those 13 species, we had a total of 88 species over the 5 days, with a couple of more “quality” birds and that would have produced a much more respectable tour list! But alas.

So yes, by Monhegan standards, it was a pretty slow weekend. In fact, the 75 species on Friday through Monday was a record low (by two) for this annual tour. 16 species of warblers wasn’t too bad (last year’s soaker only produced 10), and we had some great birds. We also had such good looks at so many things, especially those – like Black-billed Cuckoo – that just don’t give such great looks very often, let alone daily!

Here is the official trip list (not including the 13 additional species from Monday afternoon through Tuesday evening when we got off the boat in New Harbor):

*denotes ferry ride only
	27-May	28-May	30-May	31-May

American Black Duck	1+chicks	1+chicks	1+chicks	1+chicks
Mallard	14+chicks	16+chicks	12+chicks	10+chicks
Common Eider	x	x	x	x
Ring-necked Pheasant	6+chicks	6+chicks	4+chicks	5+chicks
Mourning Dove	8	10	6	16
Black-billed Cuckoo	1	1	2	1
Chimney Swift	0	0	1	0
Ruby-throated Hummingbird	1	1	2	1
Virginia Rail	1	h.o.	h.o.	2
Sora	0	h.o.	h.o.	h.o.
Greater Yellowlegs	0	1	0	1
American Woodcock	0	0	1	0
Black Guillemot	x	8	30	50
Laughing Gull	x*	1	6	4
Herring Gull	x	x	x	x
Great Black-backed Gull	x	x	x	x
Northern Gannet	1*	0	1	0
Double-crested Cormorant	x	x	x	x
Great Cormorant	0	0	1	1
Osprey	0	0	1	3
Belted Kingfisher	0	0	1	1
Merlin	0	0	1	0
Eastern Kingbird	4	4	6	6
Eastern Wood-Pewee	1	1	3	8
Willow Flycatcher	0	1	2	2
Blue-headed Vireo	0	0	h.o.	0
Red-eyed Vireo	2	3	4	10
Blue Jay	4	4	14	8
American Crow	x	x	x	x
Common Raven	0	0	0	1
Black-capped Chickadee	x	x	x	x
PURPLE MARTIN	0	0	0	1
Barn Swallow	0	0	2	2
Golden-crowned Kinglet	0	10	8	1
Cedar Waxwing	60	60	60	80
Red-breasted Nuthatch	0	2	2	1
House Wren	2	2	4	2
Winter Wren	0	0	h.o.	0
Carolina Wren	0	h.o.	2	1
Gray Catbird	x	x	x	x
Brown Thrasher	0	0	2	2
European Starling	x	x	x	x
Eastern Bluebird	0	0	0	1
Swainson’s Thrush	0	h.o.	0	0
American Robin	8	8	8	x
Purple Finch	0	1	2	1
American Goldfinch	6	8	10	15
Chipping Sparrow	0	0	1	0
CLAY-COLORED SPARROW	0	0	0	1
Song Sparrow	x	x	x	x
Red-winged Blackbird	8	15	15	15
Common Grackle	x	x	x	x
ORCHARD ORIOLE	0	0	1	1
Baltimore Oriole	0	0	1	0
Ovenbird	0	0	0	1
Northern Waterthrush	0	h.o.	0	0
Black-and-white Warbler	0	1	3	2
American Redstart	5	6	12	8
Common Yellowthroat	10	15	15	15
Cape May Warbler	0	0	1	0
Northern Parula	4	8	10	8
Magnolia Warbler	1	1	6	3
Bay-breasted Warbler	0	0	0	1
Blackburnian Warbler	0	0	4	3
Yellow Warbler	3	4	8	10
Chestnut-sided Warbler	0	0	2	1
Blackpoll Warbler	10	8	30	20
Black-throated Blue Warbler	0	0	h.o.	0
Black-throated Green Warbler	0	4	1	4
Canada Warbler	0	1	0	0
Northern Cardinal	6	4	4	5
Indigo Bunting	h.o.	1	1	2

Day Total	37	48	62	59
Warbler Day Total	6	10	12	12

4-Day Tour Total=	75
Total Warblers=	16

*A cuckoo a day keeps the birders….coming back.*

Derek’s Birding This Week, 11/14-20.

A Record-Shattering 5 Days at Sandy Point!

3 Replies

NOPA
Northern Parulas were certainly the “bird of the week” at Sandy Point.

It was a special five-day run at Sandy Point Beach on Cousin’s Island in Yarmouth. It was a record-shattering run in fact, in which I tallied nearly 18,000 migrants engaging in the “Morning Flight,” or “morning re-determined migration” when nocturnally-migrating passerines relocate (to drastically oversimplify things) come sunrise.
SandyPoint_sunrise,9-13-17

(To learn more about Sandy Point, check out the site entry in Birdwatching in Maine: A Site Guide, and for more on nocturnal migration, interpreting the radar, and the “morning flight” phenomena, check out Chapter 5 in my first book, How to Be a Better Birder. Whaddya mean you don’t have these two books!?)

I’ve had a handful of four-day runs, but I cannot think of a time when conditions were favorable – and I was actually present, and not leading tours on Monhegan for example – for five straight days. But I have most certainly never had five days like this!

I recorded 72 species “deemed migrating” through here, not including migrants that were in the bushes, such as the Gray Catbirds and Song Sparrows that are so abundant in the brush here. It does not include species like Osprey, in which some of the many I saw this week were likely southbound, but impossible to separate from the still-locals. And this tally did not include all of the waterbirds, from Common Eiders to herds of dabbling American Black Ducks, and from Bald Eagles to hunting Great Blue Herons, as well as resident species.

I tallied 25 species of warblers, including a single Connecticut Warbler, one of the most sought-after parulids in Maine. A Northern Mockingbird was only my 5^th ever noted here, and two passing Dickcissels are always a treat. But certainly the icing on the cake of this great week was the Lark Sparrow found by the group in the parking lot on the relatively quiet morning of 9/13. This was a first record for Sandy Point, and my personal 184^th species here.
LASP, Becky

But it was the morning of the 11^th that will go down in Sandy Point history! 8,185 migrants was not only a new record, but almost doubled the previous record (4,346 on Sept 21, 2010). It was incredible. More on that epic morning later.

A number of records for high counts for individual species were set, and I am sure even more would have been shattered if I had a higher rate of identification during the onslaught of the 11^th. Other trends, typical of the season, were evident, such as the slow but steady change in the composition of the flight. The early migrants like Magnolia Warblers were giving way to a growing percentage of Yellow-rumped Warbles and Blackpoll Warblers for example. But it sure seems like we’re not yet running our of Yellow Warblers and American Restarts, however!
AMRE
immature male American Redstart

YWAR
Yellow Warbler, adult male

So first, here’s the numbers (bold font indicates a new daily record).

	9/9	9/10	9/11	9/12	9/13
Blue-winged Teal	3	0	0	0	0
Unidentified teal	0	0	4	0	0
Surf Scoter	3	0	0	0	0
Common Loon	4	0	0	3	0
Northern Harrier	0	1	0	0	0
Killdeer	0	1	0	0	0
Lesser Yellowlegs	0	0	0	1	0
Mourning Dove	0	1	0	1	1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird	2	0	0	1	1
Hairy Woodpecker	0	1	0	0	0
Northern Flicker	1	256	68	26	12
Pileated Woodpecker	0	1	0	1	0
American Kestrel	0	0	3	0	1
Merlin	1	1	0	1	2
Eastern Wood-Pewee	3	4	0	0	0
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher	1	0	0	0	0
“Traill’s” Flycatcher	2	0	0	0	0
Least Flycatcher	9	11	3	2	0
Unidentified Empidonax	5	0	0	1	0
Eastern Phoebe	1	3	2	2	2
Eastern Kingbird	2	1	0	0	0
Unidentified flycatcher	6	1	1	0	0
Blue-headed Vireo	1	3	1	2	0
Philadelphia Vireo	3	4	2	1	0
Red-eyed Vireo	42	49	30	9	4
Unidentified vireo	1	2	0	0	0
Blue Jay	0	0	0	2	5
Barn Swallow	1	0	0	0	0
Red-breasted Nuthatch	1	1	2	1	0
Golden-crowned Kinglet	0	0	0	1	0
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	2	1	5	4	0
Swainson’s Thrush	10	0	0	2	0
American Robin	4	3	1	2	0
Unidentified thrush	0	1	0	0	0
Northern Mockingbird	0	1	0	0	0
Cedar Waxwing	21	265	377	54	0
Ovenbird	0	0	0	0	1
Northern Waterthrush	0	0	0	1	0
Black-and-white Warbler	33	59	41	32	5
Tennessee Warbler	4	2	2	8	0
Nashville Warbler	8	8	10	4	0
CONNECTICUT WARBLER	1	0	0	0	0
Mourning Warbler	0	1	0	0	0
Common Yellowthroat	2	1	5	5	2
American Redstart	602	550	844	119	16
Cape May Warbler	18	5	8	5	0
Northern Parula	705	630	692	612	205
Magnolia Warbler	66	117	32	23	2
Bay-breasted Warbler	5	3	1	1	0
Blackburnian Warbler	7	6	1	0	0
Yellow Warbler	19	52	38	67	8
Chestnut-sided Warbler	5	2	0	2	0
Blackpoll Warbler	9	3	27	25	35
Black-throated Blue Warbler	8	7	4	4	0
Palm Warbler	0	0	0	1	0
“Western” Palm Warbler	1	0	0	0	0
Pine Warbler	0	0	0	1	0
Yellow-rumped Warbler	3	6	3	19	11
Prairie Warbler	1	2	1	1	0
Black-throated Green Warbler	118	63	73	57	26
Canada Warbler	6	0	1	0	0
Wilson’s Warbler	12	17	7	4	0
Chipping Sparrow	2	0	1	3	1
LARK SPARROW	0	0	0	0	1
White-throated Sparrow	1	0	0	0	0
Savannah Sparrow	2	0	0	0	0
Scarlet Tanager	1	1	4	1	0
Rose-breasted Grosbeak	3	1	0	0	0
Indigo Bunting	0	0	1	1	0
DICKCISSEL	0	0	1	0	1
Bobolink	1	2	0	0	0
Red-winged Blackbird	1	2	0	0	0
Rusty Blackbird	0	1	0	0	0
Baltimore Oriole	2	1	1	1	1
House Finch	0	0	0	1	1
Purple Finch	0	0	0	8	0
American Goldfinch	5	12	3	6	4
Unidentified	1915	1887	5893	737	192

*TOTAL*	3705	4057	*8185*	1866	540

Now, let’s take a look at the radar. Here are the density and velocity images from 1am (as a sample) on 9/9 and 9/10. That’s a ton of birds on the radar.
1amRadar,9-09-17
1amVelocity,9-09-17

1amRadar,9-10-17
1amVelocity,9-10-17

And even as late as 4:00am on each day, a lot of birds were visible, and a lot of birds were offshore.
4amRadar,9-09-17
4amRadar,9-10-17

The night of 9/8 through 9/9 featured light westerly winds, shifting to northwest by sunrise. And on the next night, light north winds became northwest overnight. Both, as expected, produced great flights over and through Sandy Point some dawn.

Weather patterns, especially at this time of year, rarely produce three great nights for migrants in a row. And when they do, it often results in fewer birds overnight (and therefore at Sandy Point) come sunrise; essentially, the well temporarily runs dry.

And as you can see by the 1:00am radar image from September 11^th, the density was nowhere near the previous two nights, despite mostly light westerly winds overnight.
1amRadar,9-11-17
1amVelocity,9-11-17

And by 4:00am, it was rather quiet.
4amRadar,9-11-17

Light northwesterly winds in the evening slowly gave way to light north, before becoming light and variable. After midnight, they became west but didn’t really increase until after 2:00am. Coupled with a lackluster radar return, this was not a recipe for a huge flight.

Nonetheless with a light westerly wind at sunrise, I was heading to Sandy Point anyway. If only because it was a day off, and I won’t have many more chances to visit “my office” this month. A milky sunrise further clouded (sorry) my optimism for a big flight, but there were plenty of birds in the air.
Sunrise_on_big_day_atSP,9-11-17

And then all hell broke loose.

It was incredible. It was frustrating. It was beautiful. It was painful. It was amazing. It was indeed overwhelming, and at times, my only hopes at quantifying the flood was to skip attempting identification and just click my unidentified clicker as fast as I could.

And I really can’t explain it. It “shouldn’t” have been this amazing.

Come nightfall, with high pressure remaining in control, and with light westerly winds and clear skies once again, a moderate to strong flight occurred overnight. Here are the 1:00am and 4:00am radar images from the wee hours of 9/12:
1amRadar,9-12-17
1amVelocity,9-12-17

4amRadar,9-12-17

With light westerly winds come dawn, I was once again stationed at the bridge, and what was – prior to three days ago! – considered a very good flight passed over and through. It was even downright relaxing – and manageable – after the chaos of the previous morning. I had fun.

Not surprisingly, after four consecutive nights, the flight was much lighter overnight on the 12^th into the 13^th, as evidenced once again by the 1:00am and 4:00am images.
1amRadar,9-13-17
1amVelocity,9-13-17

4amRadar,9-13-17

And despite very light westerly winds in the morning, and clear skies, only a light flight was to pass through the point. Of course, that Lark Sparrow more than made up for it. It was also nice to enjoy a slower flight – and identify many more birds than not!

So almost every morning made sense: radar plus weather conditions correctly predicted the intensity of the flight. Except for one. The Big One. And I can’t explain it. But, I am OK (mostly) with that – it’s one of the fascinating and flabbergasting aspects of documenting the morning redetermined migration!

Winds turned to the south during the day on the 13^th, and continued light and southerly overnight, bringing the streak of five great nights of migration to an end. Come morning, I also slept in – relatively speaking – and then went for a massage. As my therapist began to work on my aching neck, she simply uttered, “Wow” and got to work. I felt the same on Monday morning when the greatest flight I have ever recorded passed through Sandy Point.

IMG_6455-edited-edited
Species, such as this Swainson’s Thrush, that can be rather secretive in migration, are sometimes seen really well at Sandy Point!

A Record-setting First Day of the Season at Sandy Point

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Maine Birding Field Notes

Trip Reports, Essays, Rare Bird Reports, and More from Derek Lovitch's and Freeport Wild Bird Supply's birding in Maine and beyond.