[Birdtalk] Re: BIG night migrant movement - Sept 1st morning

[Colby Neuman]

Hi all,

I thought Sunday night was going to offer us our first push of Yellow-rumped
Warblers into the lowland areas, but I stand corrected.  It's quite apparent
by yesterday's showing of warblers at the Salt Lake International Center
that many of the high pitched 'seeps' from yesterday morning must have been
coming from MacGillivray's Warblers with Nashvilles (the highest of the thin
'seeps'?) presumably giving the next most common call.  Given the number of
Yellow Warblers around the SLIC, I'm surprised that I didn't hear more of
their calls so I wonder if they're giving a non buzzy high pitched 'seep'
call...or the more likely scenario, I was becoming confused by their call as
well.

Although there were fewer calls than yesterday, there were still a number of
migrants calling this morning as they came into land.  I heard a very
distinct dry and lower pitched Wilson's Warbler type call that sounded
similar to the daytime 'cluck' call of a Hermit Thrush.  I think it was a
warbler, and probably an abbarent Wilson's at that, but it was certainly an
interesting call nonetheless.

Colby

On Mon, Sep 1, 2008 at 7:21 AM, Colby Neuman <colby.neuman at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I was near the airport this morning in a loud and well lit place, and while
> my focus was not listening for night migrants, I was outside enough to hear
> the largest night migrant movement I've witnessed in Utah!  I'd say that
> towards 5am there were birds calling about every 15-30 seconds on average.
> It picked up towards 5:30am where there was a nearly continual stream of
> migrants calling somewhere overhead.  There were just an incredible number
> of seeps, and a few chips and zeeps, etc..
>
> Highlights included at least...
>
> 3 WILSON'S WARBLERS...nocturnal call heard well...very different from
> daytime call
> 5 CHIPPING SPARROWS...I suspect a frequent seep/chip call I heard often was
> this species as well
> 2 LAZULI BUNTINGS...their buzzy (daytime, too) call
> 1-2 possible SWAINSON'S THRUSHES...don't know if they came from a something
> else like building creaking, etc, but these were the closest I've had to
> this species in Utah
> several buzzy seeps...1 of which fit well with Northern Waterthrush, B&W
> Warbler, etc. if I remember correctly...others were likely Yellow Warblers.
> dozens of high thin 'seeps'
> 1 KILLDEER
>
> The number of 'seep' calls was astounding with several varieties heard...I
> suspect Yellow-rumped Warblers were the main culprit, but there were
> definitely a few others that likely fit well with Nashville (most
> likely?)/Orange-crowned(next most common?)/Virginia and MacGillivray's (?).
> I will definitely get out later today to see what is exactly on the ground
> to figure out ratios.  With it still raining this morning in Utah County,
> I'd suspect these migrants were piling up somewhere between Salt Lake City
> and there.
>
> I'm not sure how I'm going to do it given my schedule, but I'd suspect
> tonight will be another big night for migrants so let me know if you're
> interested in listening somewhere.
>
> Colby
>
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