I got back out to Monhegan this afternoon just to catch the last couple hours of the most epic fallout I have ever seen. If you missed the radar last night I put a snapshot up on monheganbirds.com; with my computer working again I hope to be making daily updates on island happenings. That mass of birds being put down by the lousy weather combined with an east wind made for a perfect Monhegan fallout situation. Birds were literally everywhere, most yards were covered by either Palm Warblers or Savannah Sparrows (I lost count around 60 for SAVS in my yard).
Highlights:
Selasphorus sp - my parents have been seeing this bird in our yard and it made one brief appearance just after I arrived today. Looks pale on the throat and belly but obvious rufous on the flanks (Rufous/Allen's?). Unfortunately no photos today but hopefully it'll still be here tomorrow.
Caspian Tern - finally! My 200th species for the island!
10 species of warblers - dominated by Palm Warblers, most of which were Eastern/Yellow.
Savannah Sparrows were easily the most numerous bird on the island; I made a conservative estimate of 800 on the walk from my house to Lobster Cove. Only two Clay-colored Sparrows in the lot...
Full checklist from my 2 hours before sunset: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S11716462
Rain should continue tonight until 3am, hopefully keeping birds on the island. If you can, get out here.
Good birding!
Doug Hitchcox
Hollis, ME
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