Cape May, Higbee Fields and 400 Coral Avenue

After the exhausting last couple of days witnessing an incredible migration, today has been a quieter day.  The vast numbers of passerines have virtually all cleared out, leaving singletons and just a few species reaching double figures.  Most notable birds today include Red-breasted Nuthatch, 213 of which were noted this morning at Higbee Dike alone. I saw at least 12 at Coral Avenue in one tree.  Flocks of Cedar Waxwing were darting around whilst Parula Warbler numbers were up (119 at Higbee).  Northern Flickers were being chased through the woods by Cooper's Hawks.

We left Higbee at 10.30 and spent a couple hours at the raptor view point.  Five Bald Eagle moved south with good numbers of Turkey Vulture, American Kestrel, Osprey and Sharp-shinned Hawk.  Lesser numbers of Red-tailed Hawk and Broad-winged Hawk were also seen.  Someone then mentioned that a decent gathering of warblers, kinglets and nuthatches were feeding in one tree at number 400, Coral Avenue.  We arrived to find an incredible gathering of birds feeding in and around the Siberian Elm tree.  Apparently this tree oozes sap once a year and attracts the insects. 

We managed to see four Black-throated Blue Warblers, Tennessee, Prairie, Magnolia, Yellowthroat, Black-throated Green, American Redstart, Parula, Brown Creeper, Blackpolls, two Cape May Warbler, Pine, Black & White, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and the Red-breasted Nuthatch.

Pair of adult Killdeers roosting in the car park at the raptor viewpoint!

Red-tailed Hawk

Brown Thrasher - seen daily in ones and twos.

Cape May Warbler

Ad male Red-breasted Nuthatch - unusually high numbers recorded this year

Magnolia Warbler

Two Black-throated Blue Warbler and two Red-breasted Nuthatch in the same shot!