My fancy, high-tech pressure zone microphone in action.

Last night (May 3rd) you could feel the tropics in the air. It felt as though the temperature just kept rising. At nine-thirty when I went out to set up the microphone on the porch, it was sixty degrees! The air felt and smelled like it had just been shipped up directly from Florida or the Caribbean. I wondered what birds might be coming along with it.

I kept thinking up reasons to go outside (garbage, forgot something in the car) just cause it felt so Springy. And I started hearing birds. Some were quite low and loud and sometimes when one 'seep' would ring out, it was as if it released the others migrating alongside to break their silence and a short chorus of 'seep's and 'seet's would echo around the neighborhood.

Then I went to bed.

It wasn't until 18 hours later that I discovered that last night was my biggest migration night so far this season. My automatic detector picked up 170 calls between about 10 PM and 4 AM! The peak of the night migration was between 2 and 3 when the computer registered 46 calls. All of the 170 calls but one (a Hermit Thrush) were sparrows and warblers.

Backing up these observations, today on the Maine Birding listserve there were many posts from people who had new spring arrivals including Black-and-white Warblers, Black-throated Green Warblers and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. I haven?t yet had a chance to go through my registry of calls to see what treasures I may find there.

To hear a short clip of a few birds recorded last night around 10:30 click here.

What the mic looks like behind the curtain.