I Should have added that there has been a very large flight of Bobolinks over the park this year, and yesterday we estimated that there was well over 1000. In fact, they seemed to make up the majority of the migrating passerines. Also, 8 Monk Parakeets circled the park. Quite a few RT Humingbirds moving through as well. Don ____________________________________ From: Mntncougar@aol.com To: ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org Sent: 9/6/2013 7:50:23 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time Subj: Lighthouse Point hawk Watch, Thursday, 9/5 With a decent northwest breeze the activity picked up a little Thursday for the first time. The definite highlight is the Osprey migration, and things are very different this year. Normally at this time, very few of the Osprey are migrating, although we see lots of them, flying lazy circles around the park and most all carrying a fish (usually menhaden aka bunker) which they eat on the fly. Yesterday almost every Osprey we saw was heading west and no mistaking it. We counted 50 birds and only one was carrying a fish. It was a flounder. Other years, even if we saw 50 only a very small number would have been counted as migrating. Several weeks ago there was a report on CTBirds that the supply of bait fish in the Sound was very low, and apparently that is still true, and these birds are leaving early in hopes of finding "greener pastures". It may not bode well for this year's fledglings, as some may be left alone before they are able to fully fend for themselves. Perhaps because of the wind there seemed to be a pattern that many followed yesterday. They spiraled steeply up over the marsh to the east, and when high enough set their wings and headed due west with hardly another flap of the wings. We had one group of 9 that showed up together and did exactly that, streaming west in a line after getting several hundred feet high. The other birds seen yesterday were in small numbers, a few Kestrels, Sharp-shinned Hawks, etc. The most notable was and adult Bald Eagle, first of the season I believe. Actually we spotted an immature eagle on Wednesday, but it went off to the east and was not counted. In addition to migrators we saw 2 Black Vultures and a Glossy Ibis, which was heading west until intercepted by the current "park" Merlin, and then quickly made tracks back to the east. There is also a pair of Broad-winged Hawks which seem to be just hanging around the park. Don Morgan Coventry