September 8 - Fall Migration Monitoring

The most notable increase in migrants at Iona today were shorebirds. The Red-necked Phalarope was gone, but a Wandering Tattler showed up (or one of the original ones?) out past the second shelter on the south jetty, and almost 37 Long-billed Dowitchers, 14 Pectoral Sandpipers, 1 Spotted Sandpiper, 3 Least Sandpiper, and 1 Semi-palmated Sandpiper, plus the usual both yellowlegs and Killdeer.

Small numbers of Fox, Song and White-crowned Sparrows continue to be banded, but larger numbers of those plus Savannah Sparrow are present in the sewage lagoons. Another unusual bird, for Iona that is, was a Red-breasted Nuthatch. Bank Swallows continue to be seen in small numbers, though they will likely vanish with the next cold front, as the Purple Martins did with the last. The incoming cold front could be causing some birds to move south ahead of it, explaining the six Golden-crowned Kinglets banded today. Perhaps these are the vanguard of the kinglet army marching south...