Birding while I sleep

I have been operating a nocturnal flight call station from my house in Hancock for several years, recording nocturnal migrants each spring and fall as they pass over, sight unseen. If a sparrow flies over my house and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound? The answer is yes, if the weather and radar both point to a good night for migration. And occasionally, amid the warblers and sparrows, I get a surprise or two. I have already had a few unexpected shorebirds pass over this spring, but last night, amid the assorted sparrow calls, an even bigger surprise drifted down from the inky blackness as several Long-tailed ducks passed over head on their way between coastal New England and Arctic Canada. What is not to love about bird migration? You can hear them here.

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