Willard's morning flight - 22 Aug 2025

I'm still here!

Blog activity is down to a trickle at best, but I do hope to keep this going at some level. I still believe this type of space serves a purpose on the interwebs, though there are now many ways to share media & reports (eBird, social media, Cloudbirders etc). I enjoy having a space that is 1) my own, 2) no account needed to access, and 3) easily searchable.

Yesterday morning I made my first visit of the season to Willard's Island at Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison, CT. This has proven to be a reliable and fun location to witness the "morning flight" of warblers during autumn migration.

The weather setup was a bit unusual with well-offshore Hurricane Erin, rather than a classic autumn cold front, providing a north wind. I tallied 233 individual warblers of 10 species, nine of which actively engaged in morning flight. For perspective, pretty much any morning with 100+ birds I consider a solid day here. This is not Bluff Point (Groton, CT), where several hundred to several thousand birds is the norm in classic conditions. So, I was pretty thrilled with the flight. Plus, the first morning flight of the season is always invigorating no matter the number of birds involved. It felt great to be out there at sunrise as the birds began to pour through. I missed it!

I've noticed over my few years of scattered visits that the warbler flights in the second half of August can be impressively diverse. Good days regularly net 10+ warbler species. I've had as many as 12 species as early as August 15th. I feel that locally the second half of August is underappreciated when it comes to passerine migration. Most birders seem still locked into shorebird & tern mode, and for good reason, as this is peak season for diversity of those groups! Still, landbirds should not be ignored.

If you are interested in mor information regarding morning flight at this location, an article will be published in this coming October's issue of The Connecticut Warbler, quarterly journal of the Connecticut Ornithological Association. Join COA today!

Here are some images from the morning.

Black-and-white Warbler

American Redstarts

Yellow Warbler

American Redstarts

Cape May Warbler

Cape May Warbler

Prairie Warbler (top) with American Redstart

Prairie Warbler (plus the next two)



Northern Parula

Nashville Warbler

 - Nick

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