My full-scale monitoring of nocturnal migration for the autumn of 2019 began on the night of 15 July 2019 at my usual monitoring station at Beaver River. This site, while only a couple of hundred meters from the coastal ponds, had just a few shorebirds throughout the week. These included 3 Least Sandpipers and 3 Spotted Sandpipers.
The first songbird in nocturnal migration was a Savannah Sparrow at 0142 hours on 22 July. A White-throated Sparrow followed about a half hour later and then 2 Yellow-rumped Warblers. These birds are not likely true migrants but are undertaking post-breeding movements across the landscape in search of foraging areas. In fact, the main migration of these three species comes relatively late in the autumn.