The woods are full of birds these past damp days, and the air is full of the squeaky jangle of Gray Catbirds.

Listen to that huge flock of birds, I say to myself–and then realize once again that it’s a single catbird singing from deep in the thicket.

Untold millions of Red Admirables have been streaming through New Jersey the past couple of days, and millions of those millions have no doubt fallen prey to happy birds. Saturday at Sandy Hook we saw everything from Barn Swallows to a notably early Olive-sided Flycatcher taking the bright butterflies from the sky.

The star of Saturday's show at Sandy Hook.

The most startling act of predation I saw was committed by a Myrtle Warbler. Yellow-rumps are famously adept flycatchers, of course, but their preferred mode of hunting is the sally and the flutter, flashing out from a twiggy perch to hover for a moment or two. On Saturday, though, I was watching one fly high overhead in that stuttering, darting way they have when the bird spied a butterfly. It changed course immediately and chased the insect down in the air, twisting and turning to put any phoebe or kingbird to shame. The warbler grabbed the butterfly and returned to its aerial path, still holding the relatively huge bug as it entered the woods and flew out of sight.

To judge by the stripped butterfly wings littering the paths, I suspect that that warbler was not the only one taking advantage of the flight.