Date: 8/25/26 5:44 pm From: Yaukey, Peter via groups.io <pyaukey...> Subject: Re: [ALbirds] Looking for morning flight along east side of Mobile Bay
Larry-
Thanks for your reply, I had seen your name on some of the eBird lists from that general area.
I scouted out that Village Point Park area last week, walked out to the Bayfront Park pier (and the Village Pt pier). It is beautiful forest!
After deliberations, I decided that skywatching from the pier would require staring back inland into the sun too much, so opted for the Publix position. However, it is true that birds travelling low along the immediate shore would not be visible from the Publix.
After my post, I started thinking it might be better to move upshore a bit to where the shoreline bends eastward, to see if that concentrates the flow. I may try skywatching from Church of the Highlands' parking lot, seems to be on a nice bluff (at least, as viewed in Google Streetview).
Peter H. Yaukey, Ph.D.
Departmental Chair and Professor of Biology
Department of Biological and Physical Sciences
University of Holy Cross
4123 Woodland Drive
New Orleans, LA 70131
504-398-2312 Direct
504-394-7744 Main
[cid:91D4B89B-2D58-4695-9437-0B7014880A72]
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From: <ALbirds...> <ALbirds...> on behalf of Lawrence Gardella via groups.io <lfgardella...>
Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2026 7:27 PM
To: <ALbirds...> <ALbirds...>
Subject: Re: [ALbirds] Looking for morning flight along east side of Mobile Bay
Glad that you saw so much from Publix. The road is closed, but parts of Bayfront Park remain open, including the pier. Access is from the Village Point parking lot or from the parking lot across from Moe's and then through the woods to the boardwalk though the heart of the preserve.
Early fall is a time when some migrant species move westbound through our area, heading (we presume) ultimately around the Gulf via Texas, including some species that frequently engage in morning flight (continued directional movement for the first 2-3 hours after sunrise). I have been eyeing up the eastern shoreline of Mobile Bay, wondering whether birds deflect up the shoreline from the Gulf Coast, reluctant to cross the bay, which could progressively produce a concentrated flow northward along the bayshore.
After some scouting during brief forays into the Daphne area from I-10 in my frequent drives across the area, I decided to try a skywatch at Bayfront Park Drive. The park itself is closed for renovation, but there is a substantial swath of cleared land inland from there (commercial) that allows for skywatching. I stood behind the Publix for 24 minutes this morning, scanning both toward the water and back inland.
In those 24 minutes (7:32 start) there were 106 small passerines that passed heading north. I estimate 75% were gnatcatchers, the rest warblers (Yellow most likely dominant at this date). A couple Red-headed Woodpeckers did likewise. Purple Martins were also in the flow, but I suspect they were departing a roost rather than migrating (?).
To me, this is an encouraging result. About 60% of the birds were inland from my position (so backlit by the sun to my east), so next I will try standing a bit farther inland/east, to get better light on more of the flow. The peak of early-season westward movement is likely to be in the first week of September, when kingbirds have a pretty sharp peak of passage (often one dominant day, though exactly which day is hard to predict).
