As a result of today's postings by Greg, Meredith, Glenn, and others, I snuck out locally to Stratford locations late afternoon (4:30-6:00) 10/5: McKinney Refuge, Long Beach, Short Beach. I found much of the same, tons of E. Phoebes (15), Palm Warblers (20), Yellow-rumped Warblers (15), as well as a few RC Kinglets, 1 BT Blue, 1 Am. Redstart, 1 juv. Sapsucker (first of fall), 2 unid. Sharp-tailed sparrows, 1 imm. White-crowned Sparrow (first of fall), tons of Song, Savannah, and Swamp Sparrows, 1 Osprey, 4 Yellow-crowned Night Herons, flocks of Sanderlings. And a note of caution. I've seen a number of postings of yellow-bellied flycatchers. This species comes through CT mostly the 1st week in August through the last week in Sept. I would just caution birders to make sure they are not misidentifying juvenile Eastern Phoebes, which exhibit a nice yellow belly. Frank Mantlik Stratford

Hi Frank I hope you are exaggerating about the birds. If 15 phoebes make up a ton, and a ton is 2000 lbs. that means each phoebe weighs on average 133 lbs. Either they are very big or very fat. Either way it must have been quite a sight. In humor Dennis Varza Fairfield On Oct 5, 2008, at 7:21 PM, Frank Mantlik wrote: > As a result of today's postings by Greg, Meredith, Glenn, and > others, I snuck out locally to Stratford locations late afternoon > (4:30-6:00) 10/5: McKinney Refuge, Long Beach, Short Beach. I > found much of the same, tons of E. Phoebes (15), Palm Warblers > (20), Yellow-rumped Warblers (15), as well as a few RC Kinglets, 1 > BT Blue, 1 Am. Redstart, 1 juv. Sapsucker (first of fall), 2 unid. > Sharp-tailed sparrows, 1 imm. White-crowned Sparrow (first of > fall), tons of Song, Savannah, and Swamp Sparrows, 1 Osprey, 4 > Yellow-crowned Night Herons, flocks of Sanderlings. > > And a note of caution. I've seen a number of postings of yellow- > bellied flycatchers. This species comes through CT mostly the 1st > week in August through the last week in Sept. I would just caution > birders to make sure they are not misidentifying juvenile Eastern > Phoebes, which exhibit a nice yellow belly. > > Frank Mantlik > Stratford > > _______________________________________________ > This list is provided by the Connecticut Ornithological Association > (COA) for the discussion of birds and birding in Connecticut. > For subscription information visit http://lists.ctbirding.org/ > mailman/listinfo/ctbirds_lists.ctbirding.org