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| Eastern Kingbirds in Rivers Point Plantation -- Charleston, SC -- September 11, 2015 |
Migration can bring interesting and unexpected events close to home. I was just minding my own business, fork raised to take my first bite of dinner (and I was hangry hungry) when the phone rang. It was Carl. He said, "Get your binoculars and your camera and come downstairs." He had been at the grocery store and so I assumed he had just arrived home and had seen something cool that needed documenting. Supper could wait. As I descended to the garage barefoot, I found him in his car outside of the garage. He motioned for me to get in the car. Oops --no shoes and I was being taken birding! Then he told me, "I just saw a flock of about 100 Eastern Kingbirds around the corner!" Thus, he drove me to that part of the neighbood, and yes, there they were. By the time we arrived, they were not as thickly clustered in the tops of the trees like they had been moments before. Now they were a bit more spread out. Still it was indeed a pretty cool sight!
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| Eastern Kingbirds in Rivers Point Plantation -- Charleston, SC -- September 11, 2015 |
Though I have seen family groups of Eastern Kingbirds, I had never seen a flock before. After consulting Birds of North America, we learned that they do migrate in large flocks along the Atlantic Seaboard. These flycatchers overwinter in South America (as far south as northern Argentina) and travel in small to moderate-sized flocks (10-60 individuals) in the Fall. Flocks may become larger (hundreds to thousands of birds) before crossing a water mass or when traveling through a narrow passage. It was also reported that they may make a stopover for several days to a week in parts of Central America to forage on fruits. It was noted that flocks are generally larger along the Atlantic coast with the largest flock reported at 500,000 individuals in Florida in 1964! It seemed that our birds were possibly staging for a flight fueling up on the berries from the hackberry (or sugarberry trees) right there in our neighborhood.
After marveling at this sight and taking a few photos, we headed home where I found my much appreciated supper! It was tastier for the wait and well worth the delay since it involved birds! Thanks to the birds and Carl editing my photos for the eBird post, I had quick content for a blog post! My work hours will not be conducive to much birding during this wonderful migration season so I am quite happy when one of these fabulous, enjoyable, quick-to-see events occurs so close to home!
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| Eastern Kingbirds in Rivers Point Plantation -- Charleston, SC -- September 11, 2015 |
Well worth the time and attention. I appreciate a reminder of the extra beauty of season change by our feathered friends world.
ReplyDeleteI had a group of at least 8 in the tops of my trees in my yard on Saturday, Sept. 5. I had never seen more than one or two previously.
ReplyDeleteA few days earlier, 9-5-15 I had a similar spectacular viewing of Eastern Kingbirds at Patriots. I recorded approx. 170 as they streamed overhead towards the harbor, this was my first encounter and a noisy one indeed. Your post reminded me of how fortunate we are to witness this! Thank you
ReplyDeleteCongrats! I was just at Magnolia Cemetery and I saw my first Kingbirds there. They(only about 4) were feeding over the water there. I took lots of pics, but none were extremely in focus!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your heads up on Eastern Kingbirds flocking during fall migration--a great migration behavioral observation. We had a modest flock of a dozen or so on Bulls Island on Thursday's survey, and I've just now (Sat 19 Sept 2015 at 2 PM) had a small flock of about half-a-dozen EAKI in my yard (peninsula Charleston).
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