Altona Marsh Morning

The unseasonably warm and muggy weather at Altona Marsh, Jefferson County, yesterday morning was made worse by the complete absence of any breeze whatsoever. To this displaced northerner from Michigan by way of Alaska, it hardly felt like fall migration weather. Still, there was a good movement of birds. I didn’t detect any warbler waves, but had good numbers of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, American Cows, Blue Jays, Tree Swallows, American Robins, Gray Catbirds, and Red-winged Blackbirds. The complete list of 32 species:

American Kestrel 3
Northern Bobwhite 4 (2 seen, 2 others heard)
Rock Dove 3
Mourning Dove 20
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 3
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 20
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 8
Eastern Wood-Pewee 3
Eastern Phoebe 5
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Blue Jay 50
American Crow 30
Tree Swallow 106 (a dawn migratory movement)
Carolina Chickadee 4
Tufted Titmouse 3
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Carolina Wren 5
American Robin 54
Gray Catbird 20
Northern Mockingbird 17
Brown Thrasher 3
European Starling 163
Northern Parula 1
Common Yellowthroat 4
Eastern Towhee 2
Song Sparrow 13
Northern Cardinal 12
Red-winged Blackbird 155
Common Grackle 5
House Finch 3
American Goldfinch 30 (feeding on thistles, what else?)