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nocturnal migration/moonwatch



C-birders:

Last night I found myself wide awake about 2:00am. As I debated if I should just get up and read for a while, it struck me it was a clear night with a full moon, a south wind, and it was mid April! Just right for taking a peek at the moon for nocturnal migrants. My folly of sitting in the back yard with my scope focused on the moon at 2:00am was well rewarded. I was a bit to groggy for accurate timing and counting, but I saw about a dozen birds of various shapes and sizes fly past the moon in about 20-30 minutes. It seemed to average about one bird per transit of the moon through the field of my 20X scope.

I was also hoping to here some flight calls, but the birds were either not calling or to high for me to hear them. It is amazing to think of how many birds must have been up there (and what they were!) if I saw that many in such a short time looking through such a narrow slit of sky.

Mike Schultz
sleepy in Durham, NC