Hey everyone,

Wow. All I can say is wow. This morning was by far the greatest morning of spring migration 2015. I was hoping that last night's storm would prove beneficial for migrants, but I did not quite expect to have such an explosive morning. I finally hit a jackpot, the one part of spring migration this year that I have been missing the most. After wondering where all the big mixed foraging flocks were, it was great to finally have one this spring. 

I rode my bike down to Mink Brook this morning and as soon as I arrived at the entrance to the dirt road leading to the wetland trail, I was greeted with a huge mixed flock that was working the tops of the trees- highlights included Tennessee Warbler, Cape May Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak, all my first of the season. I stayed with this flock (which pretty much stayed in the same area for a long time) for about half an hour and after working it hard I left to check the Quinn Trail. There I relocated the male Mourning Warbler, which was near the entrance to the trail. Skulky bird, my second time trying to get a pic without any luck. At the end of the Quinn Trail I had a calling Northern Waterthrush and a gorgeous Canada Warbler, a FOS for me; almost the same location as the one last year along this short stretch. Also in this area was a Swainson's Thrush. [On a short funny note, when I was observing the Swainson's I heard a thrush vocalization; but it was the call of a Veery and I became very confused. What was going on? A couple minutes later a Veery flew from the ground between me and where the Swainson's had been- lol! Thought I was going crazy for a minute.]

I then returned to the migrant flock, with many of the same birds still working the same trees; but the flock was moving along Brook Rd, so I followed these birds for some time before heading out to Mink Brook Preserve to try to pick up some other migrants. Highlights here included another Swainson's Thrush (this one giving its high pitched whining call), another Canada Warbler, another Magnolia Warbler (love these guys), and a Wilson's Warbler. 

On an interesting note, all of the new warblers I had this morning (the FOS) arrived a day earlier this year compared to last year, which all arrived for me on May 13th (except for Blackpoll, which was the 14th last year). Pretty interesting! Most of the other migrants have been averaging about a week early this migration.

Below is a list of all the migrants/birds of note I had this morning. Perhaps the most unusual bird was an adult Common Loon that flew over Brook Rd. I also have my 2 eBird checklists for this morning. Since much of the migrant flock that I initially encountered started on the side of Mink Brook wetlands and then moved over towards Quinn Trail, I lumped all the birds along this stretch under Mink Brook wetlands. All in all, I had 20 species of warbler along part of Mink Brook in a span of about 2 hours- that's pretty awesome!!

Highlights/migrants:

Common Loon- 1 flyover near Quinn Trail

Least Flycatcher- 4

Great Crested Flycatcher- 1

Eastern Kingbird- 2

Blue-headed Vireo- 2

Red-eyed Vireo- 1

Veery- 4

Swainson's Thrush- 2 one bird was giving its high pitched whining call

Ovenbird- 3

Louisiana Waterthrush- 2

Northern Waterthrush- 1

Black-and-white Warbler- 4

Tennessee Warbler- 2 FOS

Mourning Warbler- 1 continuing male Quinn Trail

Common Yellowthroat- 2

American Redstart- 8

Cape May Warbler- 2 FOS

Northern Parula- 6

Magnolia Warbler- 3

Bay-breasted Warbler- 6 FOS

Yellow Warbler- 4

Chestnut-sided Warbler- 10

Blackpoll Warbler- 2 FOS

Pine Warbler- 1

Yellow-rumped Warbler- 20

Black-throated Green Warbler- 7

Canada Warbler- 2 (or 3) FOS

Wilson's Warbler- 1

Scarlet Tanager- 1

Rose-breasted Grosbeak- 5+ FOS, one male

Baltimore Oriole- 1

Pine Siskin- 4

Happy spring migration!!

Cheers,

Kyle Kittelberger

Dartmouth College