Sandy Hook 9/9--Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Philadelphia Vireo, Bay-breasted Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler

I ran an experiment with Sandy Hook this week though I was virtually positive of the results beforehand. On Thursday I putzed around the Hook all morning and part of the afternoon, covering the Road to Nowhere, the tip area, Spermaceti Cove, and Plum Island. I don't remember if the winds the previous night were propitious for migrants, but I didn't see a warbler the whole time I was there and the most interesting birds I saw were a couple of Black Terns at the northern end. I wound up with 38 species.

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher flying away.

Today, Shari & I joined Scott's and Linda's NJA field trip. We covered much of the same area as Thursday, though instead of Road to Nowhere we spent hours around the overgrown tennis courts and gardens. The winds last night apparently brought birds--much chatter on the mailing lists about the radar. So, not surprisingly, warblers were plentiful and on display. And other migrants were around, like Indigo Bunting (F), Scarlet Tanager (F), and our FOY Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. While these birds were all nicely seen, they were not stationery, so photography, especially in the woods where the camera auto-focuses on leaves and twigs instead of bird, was not really practical, as you can see from the photo on the left. Other year birds I didn't even attempt to photograph were the Philadelphia Vireo high in a tree and the flittering, fluttering, Bay-breasted Warbler and Black-throated Blue Warbler. I have to say I was shocked to find that this was my first BT Blue of the year--how did that one get by me and me not even noticing?

One bird that did sit still, so still that our group passed it by on the way out on the Death March trail to the tip, was a Common Nighthawk, sitting on the rail of the crumbling battery at the beginning of the trek.

Hiding in plain sight: Common Nighthawk

Luckily, on our way back the wonders of modern communications alerted us to its presence.

I had 14 species of warblers, some of them of the "confusing fall" variety, but all of them seen which, I said to Linda, is a lot more satisfying than spring warblers, where you hear a lot of them and let it go at that, which never makes me happy, even though sound and sight count the same. And that's all just fine if you're counting and most of the time I am. But I started out a birdwatcher (now I'm a birder, don't ya know) and I still want to see the bird more than anything else.

So the result of the experiment confirmed the adage: If you want to see good birds, go out with good birders. For the day, I had 67 species (plus a "Traill's Flycatcher), a 76% increase over Thursday.
Canada Goose 25
Mute Swan 3
Double-crested Cormorant 3
Great Blue Heron 3
Great Egret 3
Snowy Egret 4
Turkey Vulture 1
Osprey 1
Northern Harrier 1
Cooper's Hawk 1
American Oystercatcher 8
Black-bellied Plover 5
Semipalmated Plover 15
Piping Plover 1
Whimbrel 1 Heard
Sanderling 20
Buff-breasted Sandpiper 1 Spermaceti Cove
Semipalmated Sandpiper 4
Willet 2 Spermaceti Cove
Laughing Gull 30
Ring-billed Gull 1
Herring Gull 50
Great Black-backed Gull 30
Caspian Tern 2 Bookending Royal Tern Flock
Royal Tern 15
Rock Pigeon 1
Mourning Dove 1
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1
Common Nighthawk 1
Belted Kingfisher 2
Merlin 2
Eastern Wood-Pewee 5
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher 2 Exact count
Alder/Willow Flycatcher (Traill's Flycatcher) 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
White-eyed Vireo 2 Heard
Philadelphia Vireo 1
Red-eyed Vireo 2
American Crow 1 Heard
Tree Swallow 5125 Low est
Black-capped Chickadee 1 Heard
House Wren 2 Heard
Gray Catbird 2
Northern Mockingbird 2
Cedar Waxwing 4
Ovenbird 1
Blue-winged Warbler 1
Black-and-white Warbler 2
Common Yellowthroat 3
American Redstart 6
Cape May Warbler 1
Northern Parula 2
Magnolia Warbler 4
Bay-breasted Warbler 1
Chestnut-sided Warbler 1
Blackpoll Warbler 1
Black-throated Blue Warbler 1 Tennis Court
Black-throated Green Warbler 2
Canada Warbler 1
Field Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 1
Eastern Towhee 1 Heard
Scarlet Tanager 1 Tennis Court
Northern Cardinal 1
Indigo Bunting 1 Plum Island
Red-winged Blackbird 10
American Goldfinch 1