CPK 5/3 (Acadian, Cape May)

I often feel like Accuweather let the 16-year old interns play with the forecast, so I wasn't totally surprised on Monday evening to see that Sunday's forecast for the week was wrong and Tuesday had prospects for a good migration day.

And so it was.

Entering Strawberry Fields at 7:15am I saw three Great Blue Herons migrating north. Isn't that a little late for them ? I had Great Blues migrating over the ocean on 3/26. Also in Strawberry were a lot of Gray Catbirds (as in: 7 in one small tree, many elsewhere). Outnumbering the Catbirds were White-throated Sparrows, which were there in the hundreds. Common Yellowthroat also put in a strong showing today too, and I saw at least twenty.

There were rarities about, but I only put my eyes on a few really interesting birds. The high point for me was an Acadian Flycatcher in Strawberry Fields (greenish, long-billed, long-primary projection). Acadian was my #1 park nemesis bird for many years - I've heard a few over the years - but compared to the Least Flycatchers I saw later the difference was quite marked. Marked, that is, for an Empidonax. Other nice birds included multiple singing White-crowned Sparrows (never common there), Cape May Warbler, Hooded Warbler. I also picked up Rose-breasted Grosbeak and American Redstart as year birds along with the Cape May Warbler, Acadian and Least Flycatchers. One of the better nn-FOY birds was Louisiana Waterthrush which stood out since the supercilium was indeed "the whitest thing on the bird". Lots of Northern Waterthrushes too. 17 warber species in all - pretty good going for a day originally forecast as rainy.


Great Blue Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Chimney Swift
Acadian Flycatcher
Least Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
White-eyed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Veery
Hermit Thrush
Wood Thrush
Gray Catbird
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Louisiana Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
White-crowned Sparrow
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Baltimore Oriole