There was a significant push of nocturnal migrants last night, so I got out into my yard pretty early this morning to see what might be around come the morning light. At 5:45 AM I was listening to mostly Swainson's Thrushes overhead, but there were a few other calls that I could not identify too. A Barred Owl called, and I heard a Veery too - but beyond 2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets and a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, there was not much else to speak of.
At around 7:30, an adult Bald Eagle flew low over the yard headed towards Oneida Lake. As I watched it through my binoculars, I noticed a small group of Blue Jays headed east to west, following the north shore line of Oneida Lake to get around it. Then I noticed some more. Just for fun, I started to count them. By 7:45 I was up to 700 Jays. By 8:10 I added 1,041 more. By 8:30 I had counted 2,262 Blue Jays migrating around the lake. At 8:30 I paid less attention to the Blue Jays and started to look for other migrants, but I still kept my eye to the sky for the Jays. At 9:30 I went inside, but not before adding another 547 Blue Jays for a grand total of 2,809 - and I am very sure that I did not count them all. I did manage to find a few other migrants among the Blue Jays. There were Cedar Waxwings and Bluebirds moving as well, but in much smaller numbers. I also had 6 Red-breasted Nuthatches, 3 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 5 Double-crested Cormorants, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, 3 Yellow-rumped Warblers, 1 Blackburnian Warbler and a Wilson's Warbler. Mickey Scilingo Constantia Oswego County, NY [email protected] 315-679-6299 -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
