2025 Fall Morning Flight Recap

1/5/2026

By Gautam Apte, BSBO's Morning Flight Counter

Following the success of our pilot spring season of visible migration monitoring at the Metzger Marsh Wildlife Area, the fall season was upon us in what felt like no time at all. A season of fall migration counting at the same site held some amount of uncertainty. While we had a general understanding of diurnal migratory movements along this section of lakefront in the springtime, thanks to prior studies and plenty of experienced observers, there were far fewer data on active migrants available for fall, and nobody was quite sure what to expect from the birds or their movements. Luckily for us, there was a great number of birds on the move throughout the season, and the comparison to the spring flight was an excellent addition to our understanding of migratory movements along the Lake Erie shoreline.

Bank Swallow by Gautam Apte

The beginning of the count came along with an unusually cool latter half of August, which spurred some great migratory flights along the lakefront. Species like Bank Swallows and Purple Martins pushed over the dike in droves, providing excellent opportunities to observe these aerial insectivores at close range. Early migrating warblers like Northern Yellow, Prothonotary, and Blackburnian flashed overhead on clear mornings, and small flocks of shorebirds like Semipalmated Sandpipers and Lesser Yellowlegs rocketed over the marsh on most days. Towards the end of the month, the lake itself showed signs of life, with flocks of Blue-winged Teals and the occasional Northern Pintail arriving in from the water, and a smattering of jaegers seen offshore.

As September arrived, songbird diversity really picked up. Bay-breasted and Cape May Warblers became the most abundant birds zipping over, and tiny Red-breasted Nuthatches bounded high overhead on days of busy flights. An uncommon Golden-winged Warbler was a treat to see up high against a deep blue sky one day. As October approached, Blackpoll Warblers began to outnumber Bay-breasted, and Yellow-rumped Warblers made their presence known.

Songbirds reached the peak of their migratory activity near the end of September, and waterbird action over the lake was there to take their place as the season progressed into October. Bonaparte’s Gulls made some excellent flights in early October, and waterfowl like Lesser Scaup and Northern Pintail became numerous over the lake. By October, scoters of all three species were making regular appearances, and songbirds were becoming rather scarce.

November was mostly a month of waterbirds, with plenty of ducks, cormorants, and gulls to occupy the counting hours, but we also saw a bit of a passerine resurgence in the form of winter finches. Pine Siskins and American Goldfinches winged over in huge flocks, and even a few uncommon Redpolls came past in the last few weeks of the count.

November 14th was the last day of a spectacular first season of fall migration counting, and a great opportunity to reflect on the success of the project. In three months of monitoring, we recorded 236,004 individual birds of 181 species. We also incidentally recorded 30 species of insects and 2 species of bats in active migration over the course of the season. While the cumulative bird figures are lower than the spring season, this was to be expected given the less favorable geography of the lakefront to concentrate southbound birds in fall, and the data we gathered was still of immense value. We hope to share more on the value of the migratory behavior we observed in the near future!

Silver-haired Bat by Gautam Apte

The highlights of the season were too numerous to all be listed out, but a few are listed here. Be sure to check out the photo gallery at the end for some images of these species from the count!

Jaegers were an excellent feature of the count this season, and we were lucky enough to record over two dozen individuals over the course of the season. The majority of these records came in August and September, when most juvenile birds are undertaking their migration from high Arctic breeding grounds to their wintering sites in deep tropical ocean waters. Jaegers prefer deeper offshore waters when they stop over in the Great Lakes and there were only a few historical records from the shallow Western Basin prior to the fall count season, but we’re pleased to report that they do seem to pass through the area in good numbers in the fall – even if they might not stay for long! We recorded both Long-tailed and Parasitic Jaegers this season, although most jaegers were left unidentified – identifying this group can be very tricky, and is often impossible with only distant views.

Like jaegers, scoters are another arctic-breeding, ocean-wintering group of species that are not often seen in the Western Basin. We were fortunate to record all three species of these chunky sea ducks this season, and it appears these birds may be more common than previously thought in active migration through the region.

We saw some great movements of shorebirds this season, but the most striking feature was the presence of American Golden-Plovers. This species tends to be an uncommon sight at mudflats and elsewhere on the ground in Ohio in the fall but was one of the most abundant shorebirds we observed in active migration, often first detected by their distinctive whistling call notes. Golden-Plovers flew over the count on 28% of survey days this season, and were recorded in all four months of the count, an impressive presence!

In early September, a very unusual falcon appeared over the marsh – a faded white Merlin! Pigment abnormalities are very rare in this species, and it was an exceptionally cool individual. Even more interestingly, this exact same bird had been photographed by a birder in Canada some 140 miles away just two days before it appeared at Metzger Marsh, a great example of migration tracking on an individual scale!

A rare Cave Swallow flew by on November 9th, one of only a small handful of records for Northwest Ohio! This species is known for appearing in the Great Lakes following late-season warm fronts, but most are typically seen further east. This individual was a lone highlight of an otherwise cold, rainy day.

A Golden-winged Warbler that flew by on September 3rd was an excellent addition to the season total, and an uncommon fall record of this declining species.

We saw not one, but two rare Little Gulls this season, both juvenile birds. These are scarce breeding birds in the Great Lakes region and always rare; to see multiple in a single season is very noteworthy!

In the last few days of the count, it was great to see some Tundra Swans arriving back from their Arctic breeding grounds. We’re looking forward to counting this species again when we start back up next spring!