Tremendous monarch day and Western Kingbird

With last Saturday’s movement of Monarchs, we thought we had perhaps reached the peak. But yesterday’s spectacle surpassed that event considerably. A tremendous lift off was seen at mid day with many dozens and then hundreds rising out of the trees and low shrubbery. I tallied 1829 for the day, a conservative number certainly. And if Steve had remembered to bring his camera, we might have had some photos! I believe the season total is some wheres around 4500.

Amid a pretty decent raptor flight yesterday on strong NW winds, a Western Kingbird made its way along the lake shore, westward into the wind. According to Steve Baker, this semi-rare vagrant from the west has been seen at Point LaBarbe a couple of times before.

The raptor migration on the strong winds was mainly TVs, Sharpies and Bald Eagles. These three species account for about 900 of the 1300 birds tallied for the season thus far.