The first week of September has ended on a hot note with temps in the mid 90's with humidity as we endure a late season heat wave. I already covered the first three days of the month in an earlier post so this one will cover the end of the first week. I mainly focused on warblers with a total of 24 species so far. With that said I found lots of other species with the big highlight being a couple White rumped Warblers in Hadley this morning after I got out of work. The fog was a bit of hinderance in seeing the birds well although it would occasionally lift. I started started scanning through the distant shorebirds and noticed a long winged peep that I initially thought was a Baird's Sandpiper and then a White rumped Sandpiper and then a Baird's again. A Peregrine Falcon swooped in and scattered all the shorebirds for a bit. Eventually a number returned including the long winged peep that was joined by another. I got some photos in the poor lighting and after looking at them later decided White rumped Sandpiper fit better and thankfully Scott and Mary stopped by the spot later and got better views and confirmed the White rumped Sandpiper identification. I had a total of ten species of shorebirds at the location and added a number of species for the month. I was not intending to try for another big monthly total after scattering by record for any August in the county last month but I now stand at 135 species for the county for the first week which puts me at one above my previous best first week for September that I had in 2021 and I ended that month with my highest total ever with 171 species. I also stand at a very respectful 227 species for the year so far in the county. We shall see what the rest of the year brings.
As an update to a portion of a post a few days regarding the influx of American Flamingos following Hurricane Idalia the locations reporting the species has increased and a couple were reported in Pennsylvania. Will they make it into the northeast? Who knows? In other tropical news Hurricane Lee out in the Atlantic well east of the Lesser Antilles is just below major hurricane status with winds of 105 MPH. It is expected to become a major hurricane at any time and may make it to Cat 5 strength as it continues to move northwest. The forecast track keeps it north of the Antilles but where it goes after that is up in the air. It will eventually curve out but when that happens will determine if it directly impacts New England or Atlantic Canada. Certainly worth keeping an eye on the storm.
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