[Maine-birds] The G.O.A.T Flight at Sandy Point, 9/11/

Hi all,

Superlatives fall short today. While Tom Brady might not have played like the G.O.A.T last week, today's Morning Flight over and through Sandy Point Beach, Cousin's Island, Yarmouth, was in fact, the hands-down Greatest Of All Time. OK, at least the greatest since I started counting here in 2006.

By 7:00am, I had already surpassed my record for unidentified. I felt liberated, really, and basically gave up really trying to identify the majority of birds zipping by from all directions, including large waves well overhead, and a constant stream below me. It is always the case that the "identified" count should be taken as little more than a sample of the composition of the overall flight, but today it was a very, very small sample!

It's rare for there to be three great flights in a row here. It's almost unprecedented that the third day was even better than the previous two combined. And it was even more surprising given the fact that the overnight radar density did not seem to be as strong as the preceding nights.

This one was special. I just wish I was better at this and could identify a greater percentage of this epic flight.

6:16-9:55am.
54F, partly cloudy to clear, light west increasing to NW 10.4
Jeannette arrived for backup at 7:40am.

5,893 unidentified *(new record)
844 American Redstarts *(new record)
692 Northern Parulas *(tied for third)
377 Cedar Waxwings
73 Black-throated Green Warblers
68 Northern Flickers
41 Black-and-white Warblers
38 Yellow Warblers
32 Magnolia Warblers
30 Red-eyed Vireos
27 Blackpoll Warblers
10 Nashville Warblers
8 Cape May Warblers
7 Wilson's Warblers
5 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
5 Common Yellowthroats
4 unidentified teal
4 Black-throated Blue Warblers
4 Scarlet Tanagers
3 American Kestrels
3 Least Flycatchers
3 Yellow-rumped Warblers
3 American Goldfinches
2 Eastern Phoebes
2 Philadelphia Vireos
2 Red-breasted Nuthatches
2 Tennessee Warblers
1 Merlin (snagged a redstart)
1 unidentified flycatcher
1 Blue-headed Vireo
1 American Robin
1 Prairie Warbler
1 Blackburnian Warbler
1 Bay-breasted Warbler
1 Canada Warbler
1 Chipping Sparrow
1 Indigo Bunting
1 DICKCISSEL
1 Baltimore Oriole

TOTAL = 8,185 *(NEW RECORD! And the old record was a quaint 4,345 on 9/21/2010)

-Derek

 

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 Derek and Jeannette Lovitch

 Freeport Wild Bird Supply

 541 Route One, Suite 10

 Freeport, ME 04032

 207-865-6000

 www.freeportwildbirdsupply.com  

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