Light winds of Monday continue at this hour (03:30) along with light
rain that started a couple hours ago.
There are a few migrants setting down but no siginificant numbers.
This is a storm petrel night.
The LEACHES STORM PETRELS go to and from their nests every few
nights.
Although lots are here every night, there are some nights, especially
calm nights like tonight when the numbers jump way up.
These are the nights when it's fun to spend time outside just standing
quietly.
The air is filled with their unmistakable chuckling and you catch
their equally unmistakable and addictive scent.
You get fleeting glimpses as they flutter around you and, if you are
really lucky, one may actually land on you.
Yesterday (Monday) proved to be more birdy that I expected, likely
because of the nearly flat calm of the afternoon.
In number, COMMON YELLOWTHROATS & female REDSTARTS seemed best
represented but YELLOW, MAGNOLIA & BLACKBURNIAN WARBLERS were also
easy to find and I noticed females-only for a few other species like
BLACK POLL.
The Blackburnians were especially busy in the calm afternoon as they
repeatedly targeted the abundant butterflies. As best I could
discern, the majority of the victims were mostly PAINTED LADYs & RED
ADMIRALS.
1 or 2 CATBIRDS were around but they were very uncharacteristicly shy,
reclusive and diving for cover if anyone got within a mile of them.
Also around in 1s and 2s were OVENBIRD, HUMMINGBIRD, WOOD THRUSH,
SWAINSON'S THRUSH, LEAST FLYCATCHER & SWAMP SPARROW.
Raptors were represented by the 2 ubiquitous EAGLES and 1 PEREGRINE
FALCON. (Sunday we had a HARRIER).
Four GANNETS were seen today at the nesting site, 2 were seen
copulating and nesting material was brought.
I don't know if there is a second nest as I don't want to bother the
birds if it's avoidable. There is already disturbance caused by
research and other activity.
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