First grackle megaflock

Mixed flock of blackbirds in late fall last year (2010), post-corn-harvest. This year's corn is still green.

I hereby record that the first megaflock* of common grackles this year arrived at my Warren County home in the pre-dusk hours of September 4th. They squeaked and creaked and occupied every ash, hickory, and sycamore branch along a half-kilometer stretch of the Musconetcong River. Then they departed, flying west-ish in the typical (and typically impressive) never-ending-river-of-birds. It would be fascinating to have a map of the wanderings of these bird-herds. Maybe ebird has this in their power?

They apparently wander this way all winter, and farther north than NJ, too. Here is a photo of another megaflock feeding on my lawn when I lived in Orange County, NY (taken December 2009).

Megaflock of grackles in Goshen, Orange County, NY, December 2009.

*I made up the word, but it fits...

Casualties of migration

Found this American redstart yesterday in a Massachusetts parking lot. No trees in site. Since there are no signs of injury (although what is that thing in it's cloacal region?!) I'm guessing it landed exhausted after a night of migration and just keeled over from lack of food? But it could have just fallen off of somebody's grill. 

In a previous May, I found an ovenbird dead outside of a convenience store in an urban area. These two observations lead me to conclude that migration is: 1) difficult and 2) messy, with a certain percentage just dropping dead along the way...a percentage that is certainly higher (and rising) in this age of parking lots and convenience stores.

Nighthawks

I'm in western Massachusetts for the week. Tonight a cloud of 15-20 nighthawks swooped over the urban rush-hour mayhem of Route 33 in Chicopee. There were so many, they looked like swallows at first glance. Migrating already? Or maybe just congregating into post-breeding feeding frenzies.

Nighthawks that nest in the sandy grasslands near Lakehurst, NJ usually finish up by mid-July. For the next few weeks after that, the parents and children spend their mornings flying around he fields in flocks similar to this one, especially on overcast days. So...maybe this is just a nearby roof-top colony (it's an industrial area) in post-breeding flock mode. But, then again, there are many miles of swooping to do between here and South America, and relatively little time to get there (say by mid-October). Best to get an early start.

The dots are nighthawks.