This year’s fall migration count got underway under partly cloudy skies that nearly obscured the morning’s gorgeous gibbous moon:
But the morning stayed nice and cool, thanks to the clouds, which had turned to light rain in my area by the end of the morning. There weren’t too many migrants at Lake Ida Park this year; Atlantic Dunes Park over on the beach was a bit better for migrants, but not for warblers. I saw one single warbler today, and it flew into the sea grapes bordering I-95, where I couldn’t follow it, so I tallied zero warblers on this migration count.
On the other hand, I got Piping and Black-bellied plovers, along with a couple of Ruddy Turnstones and nearly two dozen Sanderlings over at Atlantic Dunes Park, so that was fun.
Here’s a photo gallery:
The species tally today (high counts or unusual species for my area in red):
Brown Pelican 15
Anhinga 15
Great Blue Heron 3
Great Egret 3
Tricolored Heron 3
Green Heron 1
Least Bittern 1
White Ibis 46
Muscovy Duck 4
Mottled Duck 7
Osprey 3
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Limpkin 4
Common Moorhen 16
Black-bellied Plover 6
Piping Plover 2
Ruddy Turnstone 2
Sanderling 18
Ring-billed Gull 4
Caspian Tern 7
Royal Tern 3
Rock Pigeon 17
Eurasian Collared-Dove 12
Mourning Dove 4
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 5
Blue Jay 12
Fish Crow 92
European Starling 17
Northern Cardinal 2
Red-winged Blackbird 22
Boat-tailed Grackle 38