While active migration has always been my favorite bird behavior to observe, my interest in the phenomenon called “morning flight” of nocturnal migrants had been minimal due to the unfortunate reality that I lived well over an hour’s drive from the nearest known reliable observation site, Bluff Point State Park in Groton, CT. In autumn 2020, thanks to improved public access to Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison, CT, I began to explore the northern tip of Willard’s Island as a morning flight viewpoint and was pleased to find that under the right conditions a reliable flight could be observed there. The volume of birds passing through is not large (a small fraction of what passes through Bluff Point), but the flight line is consistent and can be observed under good lighting conditions. Between autumns 2020-22 I visited the site 20 times in total and recorded 27 warbler species in morning flight. All but a few of these have been photographed, often poorly! I immediately found mysel...
Ha..maybe I should ask you to take a vacation rather then give you this invite..
ReplyDeleteHowdee.
Check out the link below and let me know if you would like to join us for a bird outing.
Birders who blog, tweet and chirp
August 28th, The Charlestown Breachway and Ninigret Tidal Flats
http://dawnandjeffsblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/bwbtc-charlestown-breachway-and.html
It would all be sweeter if you guys were back here enjoying the show!
ReplyDeleteMark
saw pair of snowy plovers in Goshen,ct last week at a small pond
ReplyDeleteThanks Dawn, I'll check my schedule. August really snuck up on me.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mark. Glad it stuck around for us to see.
Anonymous...do you have any photos or description of the plovers? Snowy Plover is INCREDIBLY rare in the northeast and would be expected to turn up along the coast.