Friday, September 4, 2009

NW winds 3 a.m.-11 a.m.; Roseate, Sandwich, Merlin, More

I just noticed that the National Weather Service is calling (unexpectedly) for NW winds from 3 a.m. to 11 a.m. tomorrow. Hmm. NW = good in fall. Immature female and immature male American Redstarts were displaying zugenruhe - migration restlessness - in my yard tonight. Hmm. It's kind of a weird weather pattern, no front, just high pressure building in.

The hawk flight today was light but diverse, with a Merlin capping the day, at least for me, shortly before 5 p.m.. A few kestrels, a few eagles, a few broadwings, a few coops, a couple sharpies, red-tails and ospreys on a changeable but mostly east wind. Both yellowlegs lingered on Bunker Pond, and all the peep except Baird's were flybys, as was a Pectoral Sandpiper and a Stilt Sandpiper with some yellowlegs.

Bob Fogg found a juv. Roseate Tern on the beach in Cape May today, which was seen again this evening at St. Peters. I met someone who gave a very convincing description of a Sandwich Tern on the beach at Cape May Point, seen mid-afternoon today. All six swallows were present around the hawk watch during the day, with Cliff being much the scarcest. Brown Pelicans sailed through periodically this morning, and the Pied-billed Grebe continues on Bunker Pond.

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