Thank you to everyone who joined us for another fall migratory bird count! It was a blustery October morning, and we were so happy to see such a great group come out anyway.
The wind kept things pretty quiet during our point counts, and going in, we weren’t sure how our numbers would turn out. In the end, we found 49 species on the official count. That’s still above the fall average of about 41 species, and a nice jump from last year’s 41.
Some of the best sightings of the day included a Cooper’s hawk getting chased by a group of sparrows out at Hay Harbor, a bald eagle flying over Four Corners, and a huge flock of tree swallows, around 300 to 350 birds, that followed us from Race Point all the way to the end of the island.
It was also good to see some old friends come back. Last fall we were missing yellow warblers, swallows, and most of our sparrows. This year they all showed up, with chipping, field, savannah, swamp, and white-throated sparrows joining the song sparrows. We even picked up a few birds by sound alone, including a great horned owl, a hairy woodpecker, and a royal tern.
We kept a running list through the weekend as well, which added 9 more species, among them a common loon, a belted kingfisher, and a little blue heron. That puts our unofficial total at 58.
A big thank you to Dr. Adam Mitchell and Naomi for leading the count again.
Every year we do this, we add to a long-term picture of how birds move through Fishers Island during migration. Those records help us notice changes over time and support the conservation work happening here, and they’re a good reminder of how much life passes through this little island each season. We’ll see you in the spring!
Species marked with an asterisk were seen outside of the official count.
| Fall 2026 Bird Count |
|---|
| 1. American crow |
| 2. American goldfinch |
| 3. American kestrel |
| 4. American pipit |
| 5. American robin |
| 6. Bald eagle |
| 7. Belted kingfisher* |
| 8. Black-and-white warbler |
| 9. Black-capped chickadee |
| 10. Blue jay |
| 11. Canada goose |
| 12. Chipping sparrow |
| 13. Common eider |
| 14. Common loon* |
| 15. Common raven |
| 16. Common tern* |
| 17. Common yellowthroat |
| 18. Cooper's hawk |
| 19. Double-crested cormorant |
| 20. Downy woodpecker |
| 21. Eastern phoebe |
| 22. Eastern towhee |
| 23. Eastern wood peewee* |
| 24. European starling |
| 25. Field sparrow |
| 26. Gray catbird |
| 27. Great blue heron |
| 28. Great egret* |
| 29. Great-crested flycatcher |
| 30. Greater black-back gull |
| 31. Greater yellowlegs |
| 32. Great-horned owl (Audio confirmed) |
| 33. Hairy woodpecker (Audio confirmed) |
| 34. Herring gull |
| 35. House finch |
| 36. House sparrow* |
| 37. Least flycatcher* |
| 38. Little blue heron* |
| 39. Mallard |
| 40. Mourning dove |
| 41. Mute swan |
| 42. Northern flicker |
| 43. Northern cardinal |
| 44. Northern harrier |
| 45. Northern mockingbird |
| 46. Northern yellow warbler |
| 47. Osprey |
| 48. Peregrine falcon |
| 49. Red-bellied woodpecker |
| 50. Rock dove* |
| 51. Royal tern (Audio confirmed) |
| 52. Savannah sparrow |
| 53. Song sparrow |
| 54. Swamp sparrow |
| 55. Tennessee warbler |
| 56. Tree swallow |
| 57. White-breasted nuthatch |
| 58. White-throated sparrow |
| 59. Yellow-rumped warbler |