True Morning Flight Case Studies
True Morning Flight Case Studies:
The Dunes, Norfolk, Ontario - September 15, 2017
ebird checklist - google maps for location - archived weather conditions - surface map
Key Species:
1750 Blackpoll Warbler
400 Cape May Warbler
100 Bay-breasted Warbler
While this case study is not a perfect illustration of the phenomenon, it highlights the propensity of some species (such as Cape May, Blackpoll or Bay-breasted Warblers) to be more likely to undertake frequent, strong and deliberate flights during migration in the Great Lakes regardless of habitat availability or geography. This is in contrast to other common species which are very rare in to never observed in similar numbers (e.g., Magnolia Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Common Yellowthroat) Some general observations related to each of the key species are:
Bay-breasted Warbler: very strong and deliberate in morning flight in good numbers both spring and fall.
Blackpoll Warbler: moves in significant numbers in fall when present. Rarely if ever observed in significant numbers in spring? Perhaps indicating key evolutionary responses for when and where flights occur?
Cape May Warbler: very deliberate in morning flight, often later in the morning than other warblers. Appears to readily fly for less-apparent reasons than other warblers (e.g., in various circumstances, locations, directions, etc.).
Point Pelee (Blue Heron), Essex, Ontario - 2 September 2021
ebird checklist - google maps for location - archived weather conditions - surface map
Key Species:
75 Black-throated Blue Warbler
70 Magnolia Warbler
3 Wilson's Warbler
2 Olive-sided Flycatcher
The key species were specifically chosen as potential examples of possible "predator avoidance" or "habitat selection" driven species. Each is somewhat more uncommon in "morning flight" than other more numerous species in the checklist, and should in theory have ideal foraging habitat within the National Park to the south, yet flew steadily north and out of the park. The theory of raptor-avoidance is not only due to the notable abundance of Sharp-shinned Hawks, Cooper's Hawks, American Kestrels and Merlins. It is also due to how rare it is to find directional movements of similar species *along* the Great Lakes shorelines. Efforts to find similar northbound flights along Lake Huron, or even directional flights along Lake Erie (2nd example), consistently fail to find similar numbers or composition of species.
Other Checklists:
Chatham-Kent, Ontario - Sep 14, 2022: Locally significant movement of Blackpoll Warblers. Why leave Rondeau? Why would the secretive Connecticut Warblers leave the large forests and fly north into the most deforested county in Ontario?
