[MASSBIRD] October 13, 2023 Mount Auburn Cemetery – Bunch of Yellow-Rumps

[Matt S.]

Hi All,

The radar last night was crazy; it showed the average number of
migrants in flight was 5X+ over the previous high this autumn
migration. I’ve had mixed luck going out on mornings after big nights
on the radar though. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that
a bunch of migrants flying over may just mean they never landed…I
always think maybe I should look and see what the results are north of
my location and on big nights up above head out to my local spots. I
also noticed that average elevation, instead of dropping as dawn
approached actually increased, which rarely happens. So in other
words, I had no clue what I would find.

Ultimately there were a lot of birds out, finally saw some juncos and
finally saw larger groups of white-throated sparrows. I was wondering
if they would ever arrive; I think they were probably a bulk of the
radar hits, along with yellow-rump warblers which were eeeverywhere.
I think most of the other stuff that had been hanging around blew out
on the overnight winds, leaving the winter-sparrows, yellow-rumps, and
scads of kinglets. So it was a busy day bird-wise, just focused on a
couple of species. It’s always nice to see a junco again.

Today was really the first that felt completely like Autumn to me.
When the season’s change it feels more like “It was just summer” or
“summer just ended” as things cool off a bit. Today changed it to just
“it’s Autumn”. When the summer peaks the heat feels like it’s both
coming down from the Sun and somehow boiling up from inside you as
well, like a boiling pot. As it progresses towards its end, it feels
like the heat is juuust a couple inches off you. Today was the first
day I felt a chill creeping in. It wasn’t freezing but there was a
chill, that come winter will similarly feel like it’s all around you
and inside of you as well. I walked along the Ridge and more
yellow-rumps were around, and I realized that the birding-trip was
basically over, things were much quieter all of a sudden.

I think autumn migration may be well on the way to winding down.
Breadth of species dropped dramatically overnight, the air is crisper
and colder, the juncos have arrived in force. If earlier this week
was the last big push, what a great last push it was on an interesting
Autumn migration. Numbers weren’t huge overall, and I breadth of
species was down, at least for me, quite a bit. But it was a very
long migration season thanks to the Canadian wildfire kicking things
off early.

As I walked back to my car through the Dry Dell and leaves rained down
around me I had a nice moment of peace, realizing that Mount Auburn is
probably my favorite place on Earth to be bird-watching and along with
Rock Meadow one of my favorite places to be anything at all. I love
it here so much, especially in the Autumn. Everyone is here in the
spring, but many times in the fall it's just the birds and me and
maybe one or two other people here watching them as the leaves fall.
I have videos I take of it all, and come winter, I go back and watch
them and feel the same warmth of the Sun on my skin and can remember
the smell of leaves in the air.


https://ebird.org/massaudubon/checklist/S152071134

Matt S.
Newton, MA
Accip...@gmail.com

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Mt. Auburn Cemetery, Middlesex, Massachusetts, US
Oct 13, 2023 7:14 AM - 9:28 AM
Protocol: Traveling
2.37 mile(s)
35 species (+1 other taxa)

Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) 1
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) 3
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) 6
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) 1
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) 2
Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) 1
Hairy Woodpecker (Dryobates villosus) 1
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) 1
Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus) 1
Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) 22
Common Raven (Corvus corax) 2
Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) 12
Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) 8
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Corthylio calendula) 8
Golden-crowned Kinglet (Regulus satrapa) 12
White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) 1
Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) 1
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) 27
Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) 1
Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) 1
American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 24
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) 1
House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) 1
American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) 1
Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina) 4
Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) 2
White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) 8
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 8
Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) 4
Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) 5
Nashville Warbler (Leiothlypis ruficapilla) 1
Palm Warbler (Setophaga palmarum) 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata) 21
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) 5
passerine sp. (Passeriformes sp.) 8 80% certain redpolls flying
past Harvard Hill. Vibrating almost burry squeaky flight calls.

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S152071134

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)