The morning dawned bright, cool, clear and blue-skied and the birds took advantage; migration, which had been bottled up all week was released. Many of the species that appeared were first-of-the-season arrivals. In this category were some old friends: Yellow-rumped Warbler, Blue-headed Vireo, White-throated and Swamp Sparrow. Other migrants on view were Yellow-billed Cuckoo, E. Phoebe, a couple of Traill's Flycatcher-type empids (i.e. Willow or Alder Flycatcher), Red-eyed Vireo, Palm Warbler, American Redstart, Black-and-white Warbler, Common Yellowthroat (male with full black mask), at least one Baltimore Oriole, a few Tree Swallows overhead, and numbers of Black-capped Chickadees, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Song Sparrows, N Flickers, Gray Catbirds and American Robins (most of them probably migrants rather than local birds).
Considering the weather, the raptor flight was disappointing. There were a few high-flying Osprey (obvious migrants) plus a big Blue Jay row that ended when a large female Cooper's Hawk came streaking out of nowhere and, Blue Jays in hot pursuit, high-tailed it out of sight.
Eric Salzman
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