View from the Cape

Nice Weather and Nice Birds

2012-01-28T17:33:00.000-05:00

It was a day of fine weather today with sun and mostly cloudless skies at the point - as well as a good number of birders out in the field it seems! Though temperatures were only around 48F with a cooling breeze, it was much warmer in sheltered corners and there was certainly a feeling of spring in the air. Cape May Point State Park was the place to be today with the lingering Yellow-breasted Chat and Orange-crowned Warbler being joined by Nashville Warbler and Common Yellowthroat. I also heard tell of two Short-eared Owls reported from there early morning. A Pacific Loon was found by Jim McConnell at very close range at St Peter's on 26th but unfortunately the message didn't get out to active birders, though Jim did report the bird promptly. This is the first record of this species at Cape May that wasn't a brief seawatch fly-by so there's many who will be hoping that it resurfaces...

January 27th saw an Eastern Phoebe appear at the Willow Pond at The Beanery and both Canvasback and Eurasian Wigeon were at the Corbin City Impoundments. Back to today though, and what was most interesting was that Tom Reed reported another Nashville Warbler at the Mauricetown Bridge - two in one day - are they moving? What is presumably the male Eurasian Wigeon that had been in the state park until the turn of the year was found at Pond Creek Marsh lunchtime and finally, a little further away but of interest, two Iceland Gulls were reported from Barnegat Light this afternoon.

Red-headed Woodpeckers continue to be reported from Cox Hall Creek WMA, including this smart adult [photo by Debbie Hudson].

A fine portrait of the two color morphs of Lesser Snow Goose. The darker form - often called a Blue Goose - is most common in eastern populations of the Lesser Snow Goose. Though it occurs in the Greater Snow Goose too, it is much less common in that subspecies, whilst 'blue' Ross's Geese are rarest of all. These two birds were photographed by Karl Lukens at Brigantine recently.

This female Common Goldeneye spent three days on Lake Lily this week but was not reported today.

New Arrivals

2012-01-25T19:00:00.000-05:00

It is usual to presume that not much is happening in the way of bird movements in Cape May in January, but the last 24 hours has suggested otherwise. Hottest news involves a male Western Tanager, found at the intersection of Cape Avenue and W. Lake Drive around 4PM this afternoon. Unfortunately it flew off westward all too soon but may well still be in the area and will be looked for tomorrow. It headed off between Oak and Alexander Avenues into an area that was too well wooded and scrubby to get into. On Lake Lily, at least 25 Hooded Mergansers were present today (there having only been four there recently until now) as well as a female Common Goldeneye - a scarce bird south of the canal. The Cackling Goose, male Greater Scaup, juvenile Common Merganser and female Redhead continue on Lake Lily today.

Just as intriguing as the tanager comes a report of an adult male Painted Bunting at a backyard feeder in Cape May which first appeared on 21st and was still present on 24th. The site is currently unviewable but news will be put out if the bird moves to a better location. It is tempting to think that this may be the same bird that was on Bayshore Road back in early December and has perhaps been lurking somewhere ever since; but perhaps it - and the tanager - are evidence of bird movements here even at this time of the year.

Interestingly, I noticed at least four Gray Catbirds calling in the last 24 hours after having had none for several weeks, as well as two Fox Sparrows at Higbee's Beach this morning and calling Golden-crowned Kinglets at Higbee's and the state park. Warren Cairo reported a Yellow-breasted Chat still present at the state park today.

Gray Days Hold Off The Birders

2012-01-24T16:42:00.000-05:00

A run of dreary, gray days seems to have kept people away as messages of local birds have been a little thin on the ground lately. Despite the weather, though, there has been a few goodies around, starting with the gulls that Tony posted about on Saturday. It was a strange day - three good gull species in a Cape May contect, yet none of them really hung around to be seen again. The Black-legged Kittiwake hasn't been reported since it moved off south on Saturday, the Iceland Gull turned into a mere fly-by (though Chris Hajduk had what was probably the same bird again on Monday at the Coastguard Unit, but viewing conditions were poor). The Glaucous Gull did stay for a while but was selective in who it showed itself to and hasn't been reported since Saturday.

Continuing birds include a Lark Sparrow in Ocean City, along the dune edge at the end of Seaview Road and Waverly Boulevard, up to nine Snow Buntings, two Orange-crowned Warblers and a Yellow-breasted Chat at the state park, Yellow-breasted Chat at The Beanery, two Tree Swallows at Cape May Point, the Dickcissel on Harvard Avenue and the three Eurasian Collared Doves along Whilldin Avenue and environs. The Rufous Hummingbird was still at Goshen at least to January 21st and at least one Black-headed Gull continues along the bayshore in Villas/North Cape May.

The first round of our winter raptor survey on Sunday 22nd produced a rather thin collection of wintering raptors, but I'm tempted to think that this is more to do with a mild winter than a real drop in population numbers. Time will tell. Having birders out in a concerted effort to count raptors always pays dividens in other ways though and reports of interest that evening included Tricolored Heron and American Bittern at Avalon Boulevard and House Wren and Palm Warbler at Dennis Creek WMA. Also of interest, Tom Reed had at least two Red-headed Woodpeckers along Cooks Beach Road on 20th and Clay Sutton reported a Golden Eagle at Corbin City Impoundments the same day.

Finally, a large whale was sadly beached at Ocean City on the 23rd and, I presume, is now dead. There were pictures on the web but not from the right angle to see which species was involved.

So, quiet for birders, but still things to be enjoyed out there - indeed, the topsy turvy mild winter continues to produce surprises with Orange Sulphurs still flying today - Will Kerling had two, I had one at Higbee's Beach and Jimmy Dowdell reported one from Bivalve in Cumberland County - our first record outside of Cape May County this winter. Will Kerling reported seeing a dead Black Rat Snake on the road a week or so back which I presumed could have been an individual that was wintering in a basement or somewhere else relatively warm as it seems pretty early for any reptiles to be about, but I was amazed to see the head of a turtle (presumed either Red-bellied or Painted) taking air in Lake Lily today! Anything is possible it seems!

Gulls at Miami Beach and elsewhere

2012-01-21T11:05:00.003-05:00

Don Freiday started things off this morning, texting at 8:26 that the adult Black-headed Gull that has been wandering the southern Cape May County Bayshore was with Bonaparte's Gulls off Miami Ave. in Villas. I quickly bounced out of my house to find it, as I had been looking from the yard quite extensively this month without seeing the beast. It was raining, visibility was not the best and I could not find much in the way of small gulls; I went back inside.

Then, Larry Scacchetti texted at 9:17 that there was a Black-legged Kittiwake at Miami Ave. with the Bonaparte's Gulls! I bounced out again and, lo and behold, there was an adult Kittiwake! While occasionally seen from Cape May Point and other sites on Cape Island, kittiwakes are quite rare up the Bayshore. Sam Galick got some nice pictures of the bird, one of which is below.

Shortly after seeing the Black-legged Kittiwake, I found the adult Black-headed Gull flying into the gulls on the spit north of Miami Ave. It eventually started heading south, so I bolted into the house to get my camera and managed to get back out to the back deck just in time for the bird to fly right by (see below).

Then, Mike Crewe found an Iceland Gull flying south past Sunset Beach a bit before 11:00, which Scott Whittle later found on the beach at St. Peter's, Cape May Point. Now, a quick update, the white-winged gull at St. Peter's is, apparently, a Glaucous Gull. Also there were the two Tree Swallows that have been lingering in the area since before Christmas. Updates to come.

No beginning, no end...

2012-01-20T09:57:00.000-05:00

Somewhere in the dark depths of our overwhelming desire to have everything orderly, organized and explained, we feel the need to categorize and label the days, the months, the years. Of course this makes sense; we need reference points by which we can arrange to meet each other ("Let's meet up again next Thursday at 10:00am to continue this discussion") and reference points by which we can record history ("Christopher Columbus arrived in North America in 1492"). But though it would appear to be pretty straightforward to define a day, and maybe even a week or a month, defining a year seems far more tricky.

What am I babbling about? Well, I had a short conversation with Will Kerling yesterday lunchtime and we touched on the issue of exactly when the old year ends and the new one starts. And we meant in the context of natural history; in other words, the wildlife's clock, not ours. What had inspired this conversation? Essentially, this winter's weather. Wildlife neither knows nor needs such rigid calendars as ours. Animals and plants live their lives day by day, responding to conditions on a daily basis, which can result in some real puzzlers for us as we try to work it all out. Yes, the shortest day of the year for those of us in the Northern temperate zone falls in mid- late December, but the coldest, darkest days of winter probably occur in late February for most of us here. So when exactly does the wildlife 'turn around'?

In essence we have a complete overlap of wildlife events and Will and I were drawn to this by the Orange Sulphurs that are flying around the Wild Radish at Cape May and by the Skunk-cabbage flowers that were already blooming by December 12th. In our rigid world, we would record the butterflies as the 'first of the year' and yet, as Will pointed out, they are still flying from last year, they haven't stopped yet. In contrast, the Skunk-cabbage may be recorded as our last flower of the year, and yet it is actually the first, as Skunk-cabbage pushes its sinister maroon flowers up well before its leaves unfurl.

Such apparent contradictions in the natural world are of course all part of what makes it so fascinating and with trends in regional weather patterns well-recorded as being on a long-term shift (so-called climate change), recording such events is an extremely useful way to record such long-term changes. So what's happening in your part of the planet right now?!

Orange Sulphurs readily survive a mild winter and will continue to do so as long as their is nectar available from introduced plants in gardens and fields. (This one was photographed back in September when the leaves were still green!) Such species of butterfly are actuall continual-brooded in the south where food is available all year, so don't really have a start and an end to their year [photo by Mike Crewe].

The somewhat sinister dark purple-maroon flowers of Skunk-cabbage are out in the woods right now. Look for them in wet, shady areas along streams. [Photo by Mike Crewe]

Water is essential right now
Though the winter in Cape May has so far been relatively mild, we have still had a few spells of consecutive days with temperatures below freezing. During such periods, it is very difficult for animals to get water - particularly when there is no snow to eat as a substitute. Do make sure that if you feed birds you provide them with a source of water during such periods. This may mean regular trips into the garden to replenish frozen birdbaths (and remember that electrically-heated ones are not environmentally friendly!) but our little feathered friends are worth the effort aren't they?

I filled our birdbath recently and within minutes counted 18 House Sparrows in it (here just 13 and a cowbird)! It took them less than six minutes to completely drain it - most of it finished up on the grass - and they clearly were in need of a good drink and a rinse. [Photo by Mike Crewe]

Who says House Sparrows are bullies? Well, as a Brit, all I can do is apologize for the behavior of my compatriots. Yes, this male House Sparrow really is standing on top of the only White-throated Sparrow that braved a dip in the tub! [Photo by Mike Crewe]

A Weekend of Winter Warmers

2012-01-17T12:25:00.002-05:00

This weekend just past saw a merry band of us out and about around cape May for our Winter Warmers workshop - and boy did we need those warmers! You would think that spending two whole days in temperatures that never once got above freezing point (coupled with a keen wind most of the time) would be off-putting - and you would be right! But we persevered and had some wonderful birding moments. Saturday morning started with an adult Bald Eagle as pretty much the first bird of the weekend and continued with a party of 12 Snow Buntings which alighted in the middle of the parking lot. Continuing with close comparisons of Lesser and Greater Scaup along with amazing close views of the wintering Dickcissel, the day was turning out well! Our second day along the barrier islands provided similar great experiences with plenty of shorebirds to study, including four Marbled Godwits in an American Oystercatcher roost and wonderful close views of both Red-throated and Common Loons. Though Avalon appeared to almost completely devoid of seaducks, we nevertheless had excellent close views of displaying Long-tailed Ducks and spectacularly close Purple Sandpipers. Add onto that all the other winter wonders that came our way and we certainly all went home happy!

The great thing about birding, of course, is that every day, month or year is different to those that went before and you just never know what is going to happen next. Since my last post (time flies when you are busy!) there has been a nice range of birds reported, the presence of which could certainly be attributed mostly to the mild winter we having (at least up until last Saturday!). Sam Galick reported an Osprey passing over Middle Township on 13th, Vince Elia found a Tricolored Heron at Bivalve in Cumberland County on 14th and the Bell's Vireo was reported at The Beanery again on 15th - along with an over-wintering Yellow-breasted Chat. An Orange-crowned Warbler has been reported on several occasions along the red trail in Cape May Point State Park, though generally remains elusive and two Tree Swallows are currently moving around Cape May Point, mostly in the St Mary's area. Also riding out the cold weather of the weekend was our female Rufous Hummingbird at our Center for Research and Education at Goshen.

Yellow-breasted Chat in a typical thick tangle at The Beanery [photo by Roger & Kathy Horn].

Reports from further afield include a Golden Eagle at Brigantine on 14th, two female King Eiders at Barnegat Light, a Short-eared Owl at Jake's Landing on 15th and a few Rough-legged Hawks around, including two at Tuckahoe WMA (Corbin City side) and three at Mott's Creek near Brigantine.

Finally, back on the 'you never know what you are going to see when you get up in the morning' line, Karl Lukens had a young Red-headed Woodpecker in his yard on 15th - an intriguing record south of the canal for this time of year. At least four and perhaps as many as seven of these birds are being reported regularly from Cox Hall Creek WMA so maybe they're moving around a bit more with the changing weather.

Red-headed Woodpecker at Cox Hall Creek WMA. The birds at this site are displaying interesting caching behavior of pieces of wood... [photo by Karl Lukens].

River Otters are rare in Cape May County and most sightings from birders probably involve just one or perhaps two family units. This individual was at Cox Hall Creek recently. [Photo by Roger & Kathy Horn]

Lake Lily's Good Run Continues

2012-01-12T16:42:00.001-05:00

Lake Lily at Cape May Point continues to provide both visiting and resident birders with some great viewing experiences. Though duck numbers have dwindled this past few days, the first-winter Common Merganser continues to hang out there and what appears to be a genuine Cackling Goose (as opposed to the small, but larger-billed bird that has also been around) was present today. A Tree Swallow flew over the lake lunchtime and was perhaps one of two seen shortly after along the beachfront near Harvard Avenue - where the male Dickcissel continues to consort with the House Sparrows. Two Tree Swallows were also in the area on 11th.

Two Glossy Ibises appear to be overwintering at the South Cape May Meadows and get reported periodically, while today produced a fairly major Tundra Swan movement, with Chris Vogel reporting 10 over the point late morning, Michael O'Brien noting 50 west over Stevens Street and Tony Leukering reporting at least 70 heading west to the north of Miami Beach on the bayshore.

Along the bayshore, a Black-headed Gull continues to be reported sporadically in the North Cape May area (today off Beverly Road in Town Bank) and Tony Leukering totalled 295 Bonaparte's Gulls and seven Forster's Terns at Miami Beach on 11th. Tom Johnson sneaked back into the area today I discovered, by virtue of the fact that he reported a light morph Rough-legged Hawk near mile marker 21.2 on the Garden State Parkway. Perhaps most surprising is the continued reporting of Monarchs, with one noted in flight by Michael O'Brien at the point today.

First-winter male Greater Scaup on Lake Lily. This can be a tough bird to pick out amongst Lesser Scaups, as many of the oft-quoted field features (such as more rounded head, color of sheen on head etc) can be subjective and often affected by light conditions and the birds behavior. One reliable feature when seen close enough is the color of the tip of the bill. On Greater Scaup, the black of the nail at the very tip of the bill spills over onto the bill sides a little and can just be made out here. [Photo by Mike Crewe]

First-winter Great Blue Heron enjoying Bullfrog - a local delicacy at Lake Lily! Herons are hardened predators and will eat a very wide range of animals, including mammals and birds [photo by Beth Polvino].

Despite some pretty frosty nights, the two Rufous Hummingbirds being reported from CMBO's Goshen Center and along New England Road in Lower Township continue to hang tough. If the truth be known, however, the New England Road bird (seen above) has so far evaded the best attempts to confirm it conclusively to species [photo by Tony Leukering].

This male Dickcissel has become very confiding along Harvard Avenue, usually on the corner of the vacant plot at the intersection with Whilldin Avenue [photo by Mike Crewe].

A Wealth of Birds

2012-01-10T10:13:00.001-05:00

The weather doesn't quite seem to know what to do at the moment as it bounces between unseasonably mild and flurries of snow, then back again. Overall, though it is certainly a vast improvement on the last two winters when we have had over two feet of snow at Cape May - not much for those of you up north or out west I know, but far from expected here at the cape. Certainly mildness prevails, as shown by reports of a Monarch at Cape May Point State Park on January 1st and another (or the same?) feeding at pansies in a wildlife garden at Cape May Point on the 8th. Orange Sulphurs continue to be seen too, though no dragonflies have been reported to me so far this year.

Winter is all about raptors and waterbirds and, though the mild weather is probably keeping total numbers relatively low, there is certainly an excellent range of species of both groups around. Ar least two Rough-legged Hawks are being regularly seen at Tuckahoe WMA and good numbers of Northern Harriers and Red-shouldered Hawks are wintering with us. Reed's Beach has good numbers of Common Goldeneye (51 counted by Sam Galick on 7th) and Greater Scaup offshore and all can be enjoyed against a wonderful background of displaying and whistling Black Scoter. Lake Lily continues to attract a range of interesting waterbirds, including a male Greater Scaup as well as all the previously-mentioned goodies. Occasional reports of a Cackling Goose from there appear to involve a rahter odd, small Canada Goose judging from photos I've seen. The male Eurasian Wigeon keeps moving around for some reason but of late has mostly been on Bunker Pond in the state park.

The male Dickcissel continues to hang out aong Harvard Avenue with the local House Sparrow flock while a female was at the Northwood Center feeders on 6th and seen briefly early morning on 7th. Later on 7th, two were seen at the south end of Lake Lily. Perhaps thanks to the mild weather, a few birds are hanging on that we would normally expect to be well south of here in January. These include the Bell's Vireo at The Beanery (to 7th at least), Northern Waterthrush at Cape Island Preserve (7th), three Palm Warblers at The Beanery (8th) (two western, one eastern form) and a juvenile Little Blue Heron at Two-mile Landing (8th). Slightly less unexpected are a Yellow-breasted Chat at The Beanery (to 8th at least) and an Eastern Phoebe at Goshen (2nd).

In contrast, 'hard weather' birds are thin on the ground with six American Tree Sparrows being noted at Tuckahoe WMA but none noted so far around the point, and very few Fox Sparrows around. Indeed, I have had several phone calls about backyard feeders being left untouched and the food going to waste. But don't worry, the birds haven't all suddenly plummeted in number, they are just enjoying themselves further north, or out in the backwoods where there is plenty of natural food for them. If you have few birds at your feeder, put less food out and keep it somewhere cool and dry where it will last until the birds need it.

Black-headed Gull at North Cape May on the bayshore.

Back to 'typical' winter reports, a Razorbill was seen by Don Freiday on the water just off Two-mile Beach on 8th and Black-headed Gulls were reported by Jim Dowdell at Heislerville on 3rd and by Michael O'Brien on the beach in North Cape May on 8th. Finally, a Common (or Eurasian) Teal was reported from the South Cape May Meadows on 7th according to Jerseybirds but there has been no further details or sightings so far.

Below are some fine photos taken around Cape May recently by Beth Polvino...

Common Loons are very adept at catching and dealing with small crabs. Note the bird's large, angular head which rules out Red-throated Loon.

When is a female Hooded Merganser not a female Hooded Merganser? Answer - when it's a first-winter male! The males of many duck species have a female-type plumage in their first fall, which is partially replaced gradually during their first winter. This bird shows several clues to it being a young male: an all dark bill, a pale eye and some black and white markings creeping in on the breast sides and wing coverts.

A classic adult male Hooded Merganser - hood up and ready for action!

Another one of those first-year male ducks! Here, three Common Eiders are joined by a young male Surf Scoter (front right). Though brown like a female, note the size and color of the bill which is starting to develop the features of a typical male bill.

Plugging A Gaping Hole!

2012-01-07T11:56:00.003-05:00

Take a peak at any keen birder's list of species seen, and I am willing to bet that, on most of them, there will be a couple of gaping holes; a couple of extended runs of blank spaces just waiting to be plugged up with big fat ticks. Those gaps - I'm willing to bet a fair amount on - will fall shortly after the ducks and before the herony things and right in the middle, just before the pigeons. Here, of course, we will find those sneaky birds that prefer to be out there beyond the horizon, in far 'eastern' New Jersey, beyond the land-based eyes of mankind.

Help is at hand, however, and your next opportunity to boost your New Jersey, Cape May, or even your Life List could well be on February 4th. On that date, staunch CMBO supporter Paul Guris will be heading out on the Atlantic Star from Wildwood, with a full day offshore seeking out seabirds and other marine life. Similar trips in the past have produced excellent numbers of Dovekies and Razorbills (and it seems to be a good year for both species this winter off New Jersey) and possibilities for Northern Fulmar, Great Skua, Manx Shearwater, Common and Thick-billed Murres and a nice range of whales and dolphins.

I would strongly recommend this trip if you want a real shot at seeing some of these fabulous birds - but don't forget, there are no guarantees! On the other hand, if you don't go, you certainly won't see them!!

For fuller details and booking information, visit: the Paulagics website.

Chilly Weather...

2012-01-05T11:15:00.001-05:00

A cold spell has descended on Cape May and we awoke to a sprinkle of snow this morning. Not the heaps we had the last two winters, but temperatures have dropped as low as 16F the last couple of nights which is enough to make many a skunk cough a little! The Rufous Hummingbird at CMBO's Center for Research and Education at Goshen was struggling yesterday, as freshly-filled feeders were freezing within a half hour of being put out, but she made it through the day and has been seen again today. Pat Young tells me that the other Rufous Hummingbird that is wintering just south of the Cape May canal along New England Road was also still around on Wednesday morning at least.

As of this morning, the female Common Merganser and female Redhead continue to show well from the warmth of the Northwood Center, amongst a gathering of some 200 Gadwall and a mix of Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Northern Shoveler, American Wigeon, American Coot and other waterbirds - including at least six Great Egrets. The feeders here are currently attracting at least one Fox Sparrow - in short supply here in this relatively mild winter - and a male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.

Talking of winter birds reminds me that our 'Winter Warmers' Workshop will be upon us soon and still has just a few places left. This always gives us a great opportunity to get out and learn the winter specialties of the Cape May region and mixes field birding with an indoor session to help all that information make sense. Indeed, with a great range of birds around at the moment and the forecast of relatively mild weather on the way, this year could be the right year to do this workshop - see you there!

Kicking Off The Year List!

2012-01-01T19:11:00.002-05:00

Our annual 'Kick Off Your Year List' event took place today and we really did have a great day out under almost cloudless skies and mild weather. We started at Cape May Point State Park - more from habit than because of anything unusual in the area and we were soon adding up a nice list of the commoner birds of Cape May. Some of the highlights included four Baltimore Orioles feeding on Juniper berries with an American Robin flock, Great Blue Heron (the first of four seen today) and a nicely perched Red-shouldered Hawk - yes, it really was a Red-shoulder folks, despite some confusion at first! At least a dozen Forster's Terns were in The Rips, along with one or two Northern Gannets, Black Scoter and Red-throated Loons. A walk through to Lake Lily via Lighthouse Pond added various ducks, including Ring-necked Duck, Hooded Merganser and the female Common Merganser that has been around for a few days now. We walked back to the state park via Harvard Avenue where a Dickcissel that has been hanging out with a House Sparrow flock showed amazingly well. The morning was already running away from us but there was still time to visit The Beanery where - against all bets - the Bell's Vireo appeared almost immediately and showed in full view for some 20 minutes in front of the whole group.

Time for lunch, then we met back up again at Avalon where we checked out the avian goodies in Townsend's Inlet. With continuing mild weather, duck numbers are fairly low here this winter, but we still had a nice tally, with Long-tailed Duck, Surf Scoter and Common Eider, several Common Loons and three Horned Grebes, while I also heard of a White-winged Scoter seen by some of the group. Purple Sandpipers were on the rocks too. A short drive brought us to Stone Harbor Point where the beach was buzzing with activity as usual. Sanderling and Dunlin dominated, but two Red Knots and a few Black-bellied Plovers were here too. Our day was closing fast so we finished off on Nummy's Island. Here we added Great Cormorant, three Buffleheads and a distant Peregrine to our lists then watched the sun set behind a gathering shorebird roost that included several American Oystercatchers and five Marbled Godwits. A great day, and many special thanks to all those who took part and made this yet another very special Cape May experience. I've put a full bird list for the day on our Field Trip Reports page.

Other bird news
With many of Cape May's resident and visiting birders out in the field today, the text messaging services were doing their best to up the economy! Some of today's highlights included:

Least Flycatcher on the red trail at Cape May Point State Park; Osprey at mile marker 3.8 on the Garden State Parkway, five Marbled Godwits and three Short-billed Dowitchers on Champagne Island off Stone Harbor Point; Whimbrel and Glaucous Gull at Turkey Point in Cumberland County; Glossy Ibis at South Cape May Meadows; adult Black-headed Gull at Miami Beach in Villas.

A few recent birds were NOT reported today, but would be expected to still be in the area as they were noted the day before. These include the three Euraisan Collared Doves and one White-winged Dove around Cape May Point and the male Eurasian Wigeon on Lighthouse Pond/Lake Lily. The male King Eider wasn't seen today or yesterday, neither was the White Ibis - as far as I know...

The Harvard Avenue Dickcissel and the Bell's Vireo at The Beanery both performed very well for our group and provided several people with new birds - a great way to start the year! [Photos by walk participant Carl Marcus]

Festive Birds

2011-12-29T15:54:00.000-05:00

The Holiday Season causes some minor upheaval in the flow of information from Cape May, as people head off to reunite themselves with family and friends. But the birds carried on regardless and ensured some happy times in the field over the past two weeks. Having been away during this period, I returned to a stack of emails (now mostly worked through!) and amongst them were a few photos which I've posted here.

As of today, the male King Eider remains at Avalon and the Bell's Vireo is present but elusive still, by the entrance gate to The Beanery. Today's big new arrival was an immature White Ibis reported by Glen Davis which showed up on Lake Lily, along with a Great Egret and a Great Blue Heron. This is a real oddball bird to turn up in late December but a nice end of year present for those lucky enough to see it. The bird flew off NW around 2:15PM but may well show up again at some point. Lake Lily down here at Cape May Point holds a great array of ducks at present (including Redhead and Eurasian Wigeon) and is certainly worth a visit.

Other birds this past few days include a Dovekie at Atlantic City beachfront on 27th and another which flew into Hereford Inlet (between Stone Harbor and North Wildwood) on 28th. A Dickcissel has been hanging out with House Sparrows at 105 Harvard Avenue at Cape May Point for several days now and two Baltimore Orioles were at the Hawkwatch on 28th. A Glossy Ibis and up to four or five Blue-winged Teal continue to hang on at the point and Tom Reed reported two Rough-legged Hawks at Tuckahoe WMA today.

White Ibis on the island in Lake Lily today. The bird flew off towards Pond Creek Marsh early afternoon but may still be in the area [photo by Mike Crewe].

This Dickcissel continues to lurk in rose bushes along Harvard Avenue, just behind the dune in Cape May Point [photo by Karl Lukens].

Jimmy Dowdell and Clay Sutton found this Lark Sparrow at Ocean City, at the end of Seaview Road, on December 22nd [photo by Pat Sutton].

Avalon's King Eider is putting on a good show for its admirers [photo by Pat Sutton].

Avalon sea ducks and a few updates

2011-12-26T14:01:00.008-05:00

[Photographs are copyright by Tony Leukering 2011.]

The spectacular adult male King Eider continues in the mixed eider/scoter flock at the Seawatch at Avalon, being seen this morning between the Seawatch and the inlet by Vince Elia. Yesterday, it put on a great show, providing incredible looks right in front of Seawatch. The flock of ducks with which it is associating is dominated by Common Eiders, which number nearly 80 (I counted 71 yesterday, Don Freiday counted ~80 the day before). As the flock is often close, it provides enjoyable opportunities to practice ageing and sexing of the various species, with the Common Eiders being most interesting in that regard (at least, in my opinion).

Yesterday, I noted a female Common Eider that was much grayer and more-strongly marked than most or all of the others, so was wondering about a different subspecies (dresseri, breeding from n. Quebec to Maine, is the regular form here; borealis from farther north, breeding from e. Nunavut east to Labrador, is the next best option). Unfortunately, my camera decided not to work, so I got no pictures and hadn't, yet, figured out how to separate them. Others may want to work on that; The Sibley Guide provides some good pointers, with his 'Atlantic' birds being dresseri and his 'East Arctic' form being borealis. Note overall color differences and the extent of the bill lobes and eye placement. Keep in mind that even in dresseri, adult and breeding-season females are grayer than juvenile and non-breeding females -- generally.

Unlike previous years when scoters dominated the Avalon wintering flock, the number of scoters this winter is very low, with no White-winged Scoters. Yesterday, I counted just 24 Surf Scoters and five Black Scoters (though I did see flocks of Blacks flying by). A male Long-tailed Duck with the flock (the only one with the flock then) had a neck that was nearly all blackish -- already well on its way in changing plumage to the one that male Long-taileds wear in spring. Finally, I counted five Purple Sandpipers on the jetty in front of the Seawatch.

Speaking of Seawatch, itself, the season's count ended -- as per usual -- on 22 December, so you're on your own there, until the start of next year's waterbird count on 22 September.

Jim Dowdell has been tracking the occurrence of a juvenile Great Cormorant that has been loafing and roosting at a most unusual location: Lake Champlain in southern Villas (Champlain Dr. east of Bay Dr.). He has seen the bird most times that he has visited the site since late October, though I hadn't seen it either of the two times that I'd visited, once each in November and December. This morning, Jim called to say that it was there, along with a Cackling Goose, which made Jim's first record of the species there in the 16 or so years that he's been visiting the site. I bopped on down and, lo and behold, both birds were still there, along with some 16 Hooded Mergansers and a variety of other waterbirds. The Cackling Goose was almost certainly the same bird as has been noted a few times recently just a flap or two away at the Cox Hall Creek WMA.

2011 Cape May CBC

2011-12-25T12:53:00.006-05:00

For many birders in the New World, the event of the year is the Christmas Bird Count, a program run since 1900 by the National Audubon Society and conducted these days in local 15 mile-diameter circles between 14 December and 5 January, inclusive. Due to extensive and intensive effort to find and count birds during the CBC season, a large number of rarities are turned up, continent-wide, as a result. What would this year's Cape May count uncover?

With no significant cold spells this fall and early winter in Cape May, there were high hopes for a high count, with visions of barely-hardy warblers and other wee beasties to get the blood racing. In the days leading up to the count, conducted 18 December, a goodly number of interesting/locally rare birds were found or noted as continuing (e.g., Redheads in a couple places, the Cape May Point White-winged Dove, the Cape Island Preserve Ash-throated Flycatcher, and the Beanery Bell's Vireo). Unfortunately, the White-winged Dove and Ash-throated Flycatcher went missing even before count week (three days on either side of count day), but the Redheads and Bell's Vireo stayed put to be tallied.

What was probably the best among individual birds found on count day (that is, not known to be present previously) was the Western Kingbird seen well in flight at the Coral Ave. crossover on Cape May Point by Glen Davis. Unfortunately, it apparently kept going and was not seen again. A bird heard calling at the Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge (aka 'The Meadows') that may have been a King Rail was reported by Rick Mellon and company. As far as I know, the final verdict on that remains up in the air. A Common Merganser was a good find on Lily Lake. A hummingbird seen four times by Melissa Roach and Tom Johnson, but exceedingly briefly each time, went unidentified in the town of Cape May. There were no other unexpected surprises (if that's not too redundant of a term) and the tally included only four species of warbler (Orange-crowned - which were more numerous than usual, Yellow-rumped, Pine, and Palm.

The number of staked-out goodies bagged for the count were many and varied and included: Cackling Goose, Eurasian Wigeon, a Plegadis ibis of uncertain species, Osprey,Eurasian Collared-Dove, Rufous Hummingbird, Red-headed Woodpecker, and the aforementioned Bell's Vireo.

However, a number of species were notable by their absence on the count: Tricolored Heron, Semipalmated Plover, Willet, Least Sandpiper, Laughing Gull, Eastern Phoebe, Horned Lark, Common Yellowthroat, White-crowned Sparrow, Snow Bunting, Purple Finch, and Pine Siskin. Considering the large number of lingering Great Egrets counted, the lack of a Tricolored Heron in any of the extensive back bays seems incredibly odd, as the species is not all that rare here in winter. And given the benign fall, the lack of Eastern Phoebes -- a species that is present here in even atrocious winters -- is doubly odd.

So, the day ended with a fairly average count of 151 species. Still, that total will be one of only two count totals exceeding 150 species north of 38 degrees N latitude and away from the West Coast, and the other is south of us (Ocean City, MD). As per usual in an area as well birded as Cape May, the list of count-week species -- those found within the period on three days either side of the count, but not on count day -- is long: Laughing Gull, Common Tern, Tree Swallow, House Wren, Common Yellowthroat, Dickcissel, and White-winged Crossbill are the ones that come to mind at the moment.

Ah, perhaps next year we'll get back over 160!

Catching Up

2011-12-24T14:10:00.003-05:00

On behalf of Mike and the blog team, I apologize for the lack of recent updates. 'Tis the season, after all, and the holidays are a busy time for us too. So, let me catch you up on what's been happening on the Cape recently-

The main attraction is currently a King Eider that joined the seaduck flock at the Avalon Seawatch on Thursday. It was still being seen this morning, and as the photo below demonstrates, it is truly worth going to see!

[King Eider (left) and Common Eider in front of the Avalon Seawatch on Thursday.
Photo by Karl Lukens; click to enlarge.]

Also at the Seawatch on Thursday was a fly-by Black Guillemot, quite possibly the same individual seen flying south along New Jersey's north shore the afternoon before. That bird hasn't been seen again. Other Seawatch sightings included another handful of Razorbills, a couple Red-necked Grebes and a few Black-legged Kittiwakes- not a bad way to end the season!

Speaking of Kittiwakes, a few have also been seen recently from Cape May Point. The past month has provided a surprisingly high number of Kittiwake sightings from shore, and it will be interesting to see if the trend continues into the new year.

The Cape May Christmas Bird Count was held last Sunday, and as always, it provided a number of highlights. Among these were the Beanery's Bell's Vireo (which hasn't been reported in the past few days), an unidentified hummingbird in Cape May, a lingering Glossy Ibis on Cape Island, the continuing Eurasian Wigeon(s) on the Point ponds, several Orange-crowned Warblers, Marbled Godwits at Stone Harbor Point, and a few other birds I'm sure I've forgotten.

Other recent goodies included a Lark Sparrow on Thursday, found by Jim Dowdell at the end of Seaview Road in Ocean City; continuing Cackling Goose and Red-headed Woodpecker at Villas/Cox Hall Creek WMA; and a handful of lingering Palm Warblers at the Beanery as of yesterday.

We wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

One of those "You Never Know" moments...

2011-12-14T15:11:00.004-05:00

You know what birding is like; you get up in the morning and you never quite know what is going to happen - that's what elevates birding above plane spotting (no offence to plane spotters but, you know, if you have a timetable you pretty much know what you're gonna see that day!!). This morning was just like any other December morning when it started - until two kind birders strolled into the Northwood Center and revealed that they had just refound the Bell's Vireo! Yes, the Bell's Vireo, that had been right at the entrance gate to The Beanery for just one day - December 3rd - and hadn't been seen since! Surely not? Surely it can't have been lurking there all this time ... unseen ...well, it seems that it can!!

I gave it a good shot on an early lunch break - an hour at the gate and no sign. Plenty of other stuff; both Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets, Winter Wren, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Northern Flicker (all good fodder for the forthcoming Christmas Bird Count this weekend), but no vireo. I missed it before as its appearance coincided with our annual trip up to Barnegat Light for the wonderful Harlequin Ducks. Now I was missing it again. After an hour I left Karl Lukens who spent another 30 minutes there, still with no luck. But then Glen Davies gave it a shot and the message was out - Bell's Vireo at the gate and showing well!!

It seems that the Bell's Vireo likes to spend a lot of time feeding low amongst dense vegetation, so do bear this in mind if you come looking for the bird. Today it spent a fair amount of time hunting insects on the ground or very low amongst stands of Common Reed stems, just west of the entrance gate at The Beanery, on the north side of the first field, but also ventured east of Bayshore Road on the hedgeline that runs along the old railroad track. Please be aware that this is private farmland on the east side of Bayshore Road.

Bell's Vireo at The Beanery today [photo by Mike Crewe]

Other bird news
Time has flown by and it's been a few days since I posted latest news, but December can be a little quiet of course. As is to be expected, the keen eyes of Tom Reed have been turning up the goods at the Avalon Seawatch and it's certainly been a good season so far for Razorbill sightings with small numbers seen on several dates of the past few days. Both Little and Black-headed Gulls have been seen, but perhaps the highlight has been a Humpback Whale which has been feeding and hanging out off Avalon for several days to December 12th at least. The Ash-throated Flycatcher was last reported on December 10th, when it seemed to be ranging even more widely and had moved on to nearby private land. The three Eurasian Collared Doves continue to hang out in the vicinity of Whilldin Avenue and the White-winged Dove was reported again today (14th) after a brief disappearing act and is currently being seen on Stites Avenue.

A little further afield, Dave Lord reported the resident Sandhill Crane flock at Husted's Landing on 11th and two Tricolored Herons were noted at Barnegat Bay on 10th.

On a very different topic, this apparent Trumpeter Swan has been causing consternation it seems since at least late November at Brigantine. This species has a checkered history on the East coast; on the face of it, a true vagrant from the relatively small and threatened wild population that breeds in the north-western States and western Canada seems unlikely. Yet there are vagrancy records from many parts of the US so such an occurance should not be dismissed out of hand. Alternatively, we have to consider the possibility both of possible escapes from captivity or even possible hybrids with Tundra Swan. There are currently no accepted records of wild Trumpeter Swans in New Jersey - so this bird is open to offers... [photo by Marvin Hyett, December 8th ].

Lingering Birds...

2011-12-09T11:51:00.001-05:00

It's been a fairly quiet few days at the back end of this week, though a stormy north-westerly on Wednesday night probably shook a few things up, as will have the white frosting on the ground that I discovered in the garden this morning. Our bird bath was frozen over for the first time this season and such temperature changes are likely to get things on the move again. The adult male Painted Bunting was not seen this morning (Friday) for the first time during its stay; it's a little early in the day to know whether it has left for certain yet, but it is a least a break in routine. We will keep you posted. I hear that the female Rufous Hummingbird is still visiting feeders up at our Goshen Center - tomorrow will make seven weeks that this bird has been around (and I still haven't seen it!!). There has been no word for a couple of days on the female south of the canal but it may still be around. It has been seen at various feeders and red-flowered Pineapple Sage plants in gardens around the Foster Avenue/Batts Lane area and adjoining part of New England Road.

At the Seawatch, Razorbills continue to be hot news with two settling on the water off 8th street this morning. A small whale reported off Avalon on 7th turned out to be a small Humpback, with a second whale seen briefly further out. Despite poor weather conditions, several observers managed to see this animal from shore. Avalon also produced late Brown Pelican and at least three Parasitic Jaegers on 6th and a fly-by Harlequin Duck on 7th. A Dickcissel was at a backyard feeder in Del Haven on 7th and 8th at least and a very late Osprey flew over The Beanery on 8th.

It seems likely that, if nothing else, this cold snap will put paid to the amazing late run of butterfly and insect records around Cape May County. Will Kerling tells me that 10 butterfly species have been recorded in the county this month and Will finally tracked down a Citrine Forktail for the month too. The butterflies recorded are: Small White, Clouded Sulphur, Orange Sulphur (by far the commonest species), Monarch, American Lady, Sachem, Fiery Skipper, Common Buckeye, Mourning Cloak, Red Admiral.

Tagging gives insight into migration routes
I've been looking for a lull to mention reports made during the Fall of wing-tagged Great Egrets around Cape May - and finally I have that moment! Thanks to Pam Higginbotham for alerting me to the presence of at least two wing-tagged Great Egrets, both of which appear to have been tagged at breeding grounds on Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, near the communities of Collingwood and Southampton, Ontario - north and north-west of Toronto, Canada. Bird banding has long been used as a method for collecting data from birds during their lifespan, but colored patagial tags with a series of numbers and letters are far more visible to the casual birdwatcher and thus give a greater chance of sightings being made in the field. Such tags are used a lot for larger birds such as raptors and waterbirds and can give us a lot of information on movements of birds, including their migration routes and their breeding grounds.

Wing-tagged Great Egret (green tag with white 19M) at Cape May on October 27th. The same day, bird 18K was also in the county. Movement of feathers can make the alphanumerics difficult to read but it is worth persevering as the more accurate the data you can collect, the more useful it is to the researchers. [photo taken by phone by Pam Higginbotham]

Heading to Brigantine

2011-12-06T13:13:00.000-05:00

This coming Saturday, December 10th, sees the first of our two regular winter excursions to Brigantine (or the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge (Brigantine Division) if you want its full name!). This is a full day birding excursion and - as usual - promises to be a great day out. Brigantine hosts large numbers of Black Ducks, Snow Geese and a whole host of other waterfowl during the winter and never fails to provide some nice surprises. On a recent trip there recently with friends, we enjoyed a super adult male Lapland Longspur at point blank range on the main trail. Our trip finishes overlooking Mott's Creek which over the years has been one of the more reliable sites for wintering Short-eared Owls. A couple of recent cancellations has left us with a few spare places, so if you want to be in on the fun, contact Chris Tonkinson at 609-861-0700 for registration details.

Other bird news
Most of the messages of the last few days have involved the male Painted Bunting which continues today on Bayshore Road, just north of the Hidden Valley Riding Center. The Ash-throated Flycatcher continues today at Cape Island Preserve and at least one adult male Eurasian Wigeon is on Lighthouse Pond East with Blue-winged Teals. Baltimore Orioles continue to pop up in a variety of places (one is outside my Northwood Center window right now in fact!) and Jim Dowdell reported a very late Northern Waterthrush at the Cape Island Preserve today.

The Avalon Seawatch continues to produce a trickle of Razorbills with Tom Reed reporting eight this morning. Yesterday, an unidentified whale species was close inshore off Townsend's Inlet but hasn't been reported yet today. It was accompanied by three Parasitic Jaegers.

A December Day To Remember

2011-12-04T16:41:00.001-05:00

Saturday December 3rd was a real day to remember in Cape May, with three major rarities and a strong supporting cast all south of the canal. Top award for bird of the day goes to the Bell's Vireo that was at The Beanery near the parking lot for most of the day, last being seen around 4PM on the woodland edge at the north side of parking area, right beside Bayshore Road. Unfortunately, though the bird was looked for today, it was not refound - though it may still be in the area of course. A mere 400 yards away from this bird, the stunning adult male Painted Bunting remained all day and showed well on and off at backyard feeders on Bayshore Road, just north of the entrance to the Hidden Valley Riding Center. Bronze medal of the day goes to the long-staying Ash-throated Flycatcher which, though elusive at times, remains relatively faithful to the south field at Cape Island Preserve off Wilson Street. Both the bunting and the flycatcher showed well today too.

Bell's Vireo at The Beanery on Bayshore Road on Saturday. [Photos copyright Michael O'Brien]

Other long-stayers around all weekend included the White-winged and three Eurasian Collared Doves at Cape May Point, up to three Eurasian Wigeon on Lighthouse Pond and at least one Cave Swallow still at the state park. Vince Elia reported 40 Snow Buntings flying past Cape May Point this morning and at just after 4PM today, Tom Reed reported a first-winter Iceland Gull seen from the Avalon Seawatch as it headed into the gull roost at the south end of Sea Isle City.

Some of us missed the vireo yesterday, but we were nevertheless enjoying ourselves on our annual early December Barnegat Bay trip for Harlequin Ducks. For pictures and to see how we got on click here.

Painted Bunting, Bird News & Some Record-breaking Insects

2011-12-02T17:42:00.000-05:00

Hot news today involves the discovery of a stunning adult male Painted Bunting at private feeders along Bayshore Road, just north of the Hidden Valley Ranch turn. At least, I say hot news, as it transpires that the bird was first photographed by a curious home-owner on Monday! Such situations always help to put things in context and remind us that there must surely be an aweful lot of birds that escape the avid rarity-hunters eyes! If you go looking for this bird over the weekend, please do respect the privacy of local home-owners and obey any on-site instructions.

Always a stunner! The adult male Painted Bunting on Bayshore Road today [photo by Karl Lukens].

Other recent news involves a good run of birds at The Beanery - which included Yellow-breasted Chat, two Blackpoll Warblers, Lincoln's Sparrow, Orange-crowned Warbler and four Palm Warblers, followed by four Baltimore Orioles there today. The Cape Island Preserve Ash-throated Flycatcher was last reported on November 30th but may still be worth looking for while the weather remains mild. The Rufous Hummingbird was still at our Goshen store on route 47 on November 30th at least. The state park continues to provide good views of parties of Lesser Scaup along with the other expected species there, as well as up to four Eurasian Wigeon (two male/two female at various times) and a female Redhead. One Eurasian Wigeon was briefly reported from Lake Lily too.

Blackpoll Warblers have certainly made the bird news here at Cape May with higher than expected numbers hanging around through November and feeding heavily on Porcelainberry fruits. [Photo by Tony Leukering]

A single Barn Swallow was at the state park on November 30th and at least three Cave Swallows were there on December 1st with a handful of Tree Swallows. A Dickcissel was reported flying over Cape May Point by Sam Galick this morning and Chuck and MJ Slugg enjoyed three Red-headed Woodpeckers at Cox Hall Creek WMA today. These birds have been hanging there for a while now and seem to be best looked for pretty much in the very middle of the site. While raptor passage is pretty much over for the season now, a few birds still find there way down to the point and it was intriguing to see some 80 Turkey Vultures and five Black Vultures thermaling over the point today.

Tom Reed continues to feed me little gems of information from the Avalon seawatch and sightings there today included two Red-necked Grebe, Harlequin Duck, King Eider and Razorbill. Further afield, it was nice to hear from Loralea Kirby at Egg Harbor Township, just outside our usual reporting area in Ocean County. Loralea had both Ruby-throated Hummingbird and a female Indigo Bunting in her yard on November 29th.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird at Egg Harbor Township [photo by Loralea Kirby].

Indigo Bunting at Egg Harbor Township on November 29th [photo by Loralea Kirby].

Record-breaking Insects.
Will Kerling has done more than most in furthering our knowledge of butterflies around Cape May this year and has also been known to turn his hand to dragonflies and damselflies. Aware of published data on latest dates for various species, Will and I have both been looking at trying to set new latest dates for any species that may happen to be around. Being from the UK, the very act of looking for such insects in December is pretty weird to me but, with temperatures not exactly warm at around 50F today, we did check a few places in bright sunshine and little wind at lunchtime and we did set some records - or at least the insects did! Will Kerling and Sam Galick both independently recorded Sachems today, while I found a very tatty-looking Fiery Skipper in Bill and Eddie Schul's front yard (unbeknown to me at the time, Bill had already left me a message about this individual, as well as two Monarchs). As far as we are aware, these constitute the first records of any skipper species for December in New Jersey - though there will of course be people with notebooks from earlier years still waiting to be published!! Bring out your sightings and we'll turn them into records!

Fiery Skipper at Cape May Point today [photo by Mike Crewe].

Turning to dragonflies and damselflies, the excellent New Jersey Odes website gives just one species as recorded in New Jersey in December - the ubiquitous Green Darner. Three damselfly species known to be common around Cape May Point all have latest dates of November 1st, so it seemed there was work to be done here! This is a fairly new data set so record-setting is perhaps not too difficult at the moment, but Will and I are still both pleased to have kept tabs on these three species of damselfly throughout November, with two of them making it into December. Pictures follow...

Male Rambur's Forktail at the Plover Pond on TNC property at the South Cape May Meadows, December 2nd [photo by Mike Crewe].

Male Familiar Bluet at the Plover Pond on TNC property at the South Cape May Meadows, December 2nd [photo by Mike Crewe]. Will Kerling also found one at Lighthouse Pond in Cape May Point State Park.

Male Citrine Forktail at TNC's South Cape May Meadows, November 26th [photo by Mike Crewe]. This species still eludes us in December at the moment!

Hawkwatch Officially Over

2011-12-01T16:36:00.001-05:00

It's always a sad day at Cape May. The first of December that is. Why? Because that is the first day since the end of August that you can go to the Hawkwatch Platform at Cape May Point State Park and see - well, no-one. I went down to the platform lunchtime under a chilly but sunny sky and was greeted by a telling sight. A car with Wisconsin plates, loaded to the brim with gear. This could mean only one thing - the last of our wonderful team of seasonal staff was heading out of town.

All packed up and ready to go. The time to head out of town is here.

If you only ever come to Cape May during the peak of migration, this is certainly a sight you are unlikely to ever see - a lunchtime hawkwatch looking like the poop deck of the Marie Celeste...

So how has the season been? Well, expert statisticians will do a better job than I, but you can make your own minds up by casting an eye down the seasonal totals for this year and comparing them with those of previous years. Most obvious to me are the figures for American Kestrel. This year's total for the whole season was not that much more than the record one-day count, set back in 1999. Not that long ago and a very worrying trend for this species. Compare too the seasonal totals (left hand column) with record totals (far right column) for Osprey, Northern Harrier, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk and Merlin...

Seasonal totals at the Hawkwatch (click on picture to enlarge)

Of course, one cannot draw conclusions from a single set of data - it might just have been a poor year weather-wise this year for drifting birds to the coast. But there are figures here that should at least have us all asking questions and seeking out more data for answers. Once duly processed and analyized, it is data such as these that allow important environmental and conservation decisions to be made which benefit not only wildlife, but the planet we live on - and therefore us...

Long term projects such as the Cape May Hawkwatch and Avalon Seawatch form part of the very backbone of what Cape May Bird Observatory is all about. And none of this would be possible without the help and cooperation from our neighbors and sponsors. We thank the Cape May Point State Park and their staff for allowing us to operate the Hawkwatch within their boundaries and we especially thank our sponsors - this year Swarovski Optik - for their greatly appreciated support.

But wait....

It's not over for all of us though; don't forget that birding continues year-round at Cape May and you can bet we are looking forward to the forthcoming Chrsitmas Bird Count (give us a call if you want to help!) and the excitement of the winter season. See you in the field!!

Some Recent Bits and Pieces

2011-11-29T12:27:00.000-05:00

As the season rolls on, the text messages thin out, but there's still plenty to keep us occupied with here. The weekend saw the three Eurasian Collared Doves on Lincoln Avenue finally behaving themselves and, though they have been here for several months now, I reckon this was the first weekend when they could actually be called 'easy to find'! This is the first time that this species has stayed for such a protracted length of time at Cape May and (provided they're not all boys or all girls!) it must surely be time to speculate on whether they will stay here and breed now. Perhaps the answer will lie in the weather we get over the winter period. To me, it is certainly interesting that I have not heard a single territorial call out of any of them yet. Along with the collared doves, a White-winged Dove appeared on Saturday too and hung out for most of the day on the corner of Lehigh and Lincoln Avenues. This may be the bird that was on Seagrove Avenue recently, but it appears to now have a chest injury of some sort.

White-winged Dove at Cape May Point on Saturday, looking a little under the weather [photo by Mike Crewe].

Close scrutiny of the White-winged Dove revealed an open injury on its chest (just visible here) [photo by Mike Crewe].

The young male Redhead continued on Lighthouse Pond over the weekend and a female and two male Eurasian Wigeons were also present there. The Ash-throated Flycatcher at Cape Island Preserve continued to at least 26th and the same day saw another one found by Pat Sutton at Woodcock Lane. This location is a nice, walkable section of the Cape May National Wildlife Refuge and is situated on Rte 47 at the small settlement of Dias Creek. Staying with flycatchers, a Western Kingbird was found on 26th at Exit 13 on the Parkway - that's the turn off for Avalon.

Ash-throated Flycatcher at Woodcock Lane on the Cape May National Wildlife Refuge [photo by Pat Sutton].

Stone Harbor Point continues to hold good numbers of Snow Buntings, though as ever they can be elusive. Kevin Karlson reported 80 there on 26th, along with two Short-eared Owls. Late news broke of a Northern Shrike photographed at Thompson's Beach on 27th, while the Avalon Seawatch continues to produce some wonderful birding experiences with another two Black-legged Kittiwakes in the mix this morning and Northern Gannets in large numbers. For me, an interesting sign of the times was that I saw 24 gulls on the South Cape May beach on Saturday and three of them were Lesser Black-backs - a remarkable percentage!

Purple Sandpipers are arriving on Cape May's stone jetties right now - this one was at Avalon at the weekend [photo by Beth Polvino].

As the autumn hawkwatch season starts to wind right down now, spare a thought for Melissa, doggedly sitting it out until the end of the month to round off this year's figures. But there's still a few raptors out there, as these wonderful photos show - and which I felt deserved a wider audience, in celebration of Cape May's spectacular annual raptor passage:

Adult male Northern Harrier checks out the platform [photo by Tony Leukering]

The Peregrine serves as a logo for Cape May Bird Observatory for a reason; this species is a common autumn migrant through here, having recovered spectacularly from the bad old days of DDT, they are awesome to watch and truly magnificent to watch. And when you get a close encounter like this...

... well, what else is there to say!! [Both Peregrine photos copyright Tom Johnson]

Thanksgiving Gifts

2011-11-26T10:52:00.000-05:00

Well, Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday gave us some nice birds to be thankful for, the highlight of which was undoubtedly the very obliging Le Conte's Sparrow - though sadly it appears to have been a one-day wonder. For me personally, Thanksgiving Day also gave me my 160th bird species fror my yard list - an Orange-crowned Warbler, which hung around long enough for photos! It seems to have been a good autumn for the latter species, with occasional reports from a number of sites over the past several weeks. If you are still looking for one, I would suggest checking weedy field edges where there is plenty of seeding goldenrod or Frost Aster; regular sites lately have been Cape May Point State Park, Cox Hall Creek WMA and Cape Island Preserve, but there is plenty of suitable habitat elsewhere too.

Le Conte's Sparrow at Higbee's Beach WMA on Thanksgiving Day. The small Ammodramus sparrows are inveterate skulkers, making identification potentially pretty tough. However, with patience and an ounce of luck, you can work your way into their world and study the finer details. Here, the combination of gray ear coverts and a shawl of chestnut spots on the nape, rules out all other species. [Photo by Mike Crewe]

Orange-crowned Warblers are typically late-season migrants through Cape May. This one graced my yard on Thanksgiving Day and was followed by an awesome roast turkey dinner with good friends - what a day! [Photo by Mike Crewe]

This morning I tried my luck at St Mary's as there has been something of a trickle of Black-legged Kittiwakes at Avalon of late as well as one seen by Tom Johnson off Higbee's Beach on 22nd. I had no luck with that species but there was a reasonable backwards and forwards of Black and Surf Scoters, a few Long-tailed Ducks, Bonaparte's Gulls and Forster's Terns and plenty of Northern Gannets. Though it was relatively short, there was also a nice overhead movement of American Robins, Cedar Waxwings, Red-winged Blackbirds, American Godlfinches, House Finches and Eastern Bluebirds this morning and a Red-breasted Nuthatch was on Lincoln Avenue, which reminded me that this was only my third one for the fall!

Black-legged Kittiwakes are worth looking for offshore right now. Note the 'dipped in ink' wing tips and dark shawl behind the head [photo by Tom Johnson].

Something of a holy grail at Cape May, this Northern Fulmar was photographed on 19th during an offshore boat trip to the southeast, so was perhaps in Delaware waters. Though this species is commonly seen from land further north in its range, down here they seem to prefer to stay well offshore [photo by Tom Johnson].

The seawatch at Avalon has been remarkable all week - rather than repeat all of Tom Reed's counts, I would suggest you check out his posts on our View from the Field blog. I can't believe that there are any more Red-throated Loons north of us, they must just be sneaking round the back and flying by repeatedly just to annoy us!! Perhaps the most interesting bird at the seawatch this week (on 22nd) was an odd-looking gull which may well prove to be a Black-headed x Ring-billed Gull hybrid. Such birds have been reported before and, though it seems like a weird combination pairing, the features of the bird would support this idea. Stone Harbor Point seems to be holding good numbers of Snow Buntings right now, with a high count so far of 90 on 24th, when a Lapland Longspur was also with them. Up to six Ipswich Sparrows are also at Stone Harbor Point. The occasional single Cave Swallow gets reported from the state park, but so far there has been no notable movement of this species recorded this year. Down at the point, recent reports have also included a scattering of Baltimore Orioles (two up at Del Haven on the bayshore too), a male Redhead and a second male Eurasian Wigeon on Bunker/Lighthouse Ponds on at least 24th and 25th, and a Short-eared Owl flying offshore on 24th.

The above two photos show the odd gull off Avalon on November 22nd. The overall appearance is of a Black-headed Gull, but note the darker upperparts, extensive dark smudging on the head, the slightly heavy-looking bill and that odd, dark streak towards the tip of the outer primaries [photos by Tom Johnson].

Finally, I hear that the highly elusive Ash-throated Flycatcher was re-found at Cape Island Preserve this morning (26th).

Le Conte's Sparrow today

2011-11-24T15:50:00.003-05:00

This morning, Chris Vogel found a Le Conte's Sparrow at Higbee Beach that remained in the same spot all day long. The bird was in southwestern corner of the the northeastern-most field at Higbee - if you need a map, there's one below. The sparrow was hanging out in the grass along the path, marked on the map with a green arrow. This bird, very rare in Cape May, is extremely secretive but is confiding once located.

Le Conte's Sparrow (Higbee Beach, Cape May). 24 November 2011. photo copyright Tom Johnson

Map showing the location of the Le Conte's Sparrow at Higbee Beach (marked by green arrow). This is only a few hundred feet south of the parking lot at the west end of New England Rd. in Cape May.

Winter Lurks Around The Corner

2011-11-22T11:56:00.001-05:00

Leaves falling from the trees is the one big sign that autumn is waning and that means that winter is not far away. But what is the first real sign of winter for you? For me here at Cape May, it's hearing a strange, chattering noise outside, somewhere around 8:30PM, well after it's dark. Even over the sound of the music I'm playing it's audible. Then I remember the date - it's the second half of November. It's not yet another group of beer-laden youngsters heading down to the canal woods, it's the first serious movement of Snow Geese passing over the point. And last night was a serious movement! Snow Geese were calling overhead in the evening later on when I went to bed; I awoke to their sounds a couple of times in the night and they were calling overhead when I got up for breakfast this morning. Indeed, skeins were still heading south as I checked the bay off Sunset Beach before work this morning.

Snow Geese over the Delaware Bay today - I think they're trying to spell out a message.... [photo by Mike Crewe].

Though so far it is only a small sample size, I couldn't help notice very few youngsters amongst the Snow Geese that I've seen this November. Of course, geese are relatively long-lived for birds and the odd poor season is not the end of the world, but it is worth getting into the habit of keeping a record of the percentage of young birds in a flock as a longterm guide to the health of the species. Arctic breeding birds have a cycle which centers around the boom-and-bust years of lemming populations. When lemmings are abundant, predators such as Arctic Foxes and jaegers feed on them, which means the goslings get left alone (they're harder to catch, usually because of the protection of their parents). In poor lemming years, goslings are top of the dining list! In the UK, these predater-prey relationships have been studied closely for some years and good breeding seasons for Brant, for example, are often apparent when the birds arrive to winter there from Russian breeding grounds. In poor lemming years, there is also often an earlier-than-usual passage of skuas as they head south to find better feeding areas (which usually means hassling Sandwich Terns along the UK coastline!).

The Avalon Seawatch also offers a great insight into the advance of winter, as Double-crested Cormorants are replaced by loons, and scoter are replaced by Long-tailed Ducks and Common Eider. This past two days, the seawatch has been truly spectacular and I was glad to have been there Monday afternoon and helping to count the total of 16,851 Red-throated Loons that we counted passing south - a new day record for the CMBO Seawatch. Check out Tom Reed's report of the events on our View From The Field postings. And yes, they were pretty much all counted, as groups were not big enough to have to estimate numbers, but continued pretty much non-stop all day at around 2,000 birds per hour on average. Now that is Migration Magic!!!

Other news from the past few days: The Nature Conservancy's Cape Island Preserve has been in the news since the Ash-throated Flycatcher showed up there on Friday and stayed - somewhat elusively - to at least 21st. Visitors there also added Orange-crowned Warbler and Vesper and Grasshopper Sparrows, while Melissa Roach reported a Yellow-billed Cuckoo there this morning. This preserve doesn't get mentioned too much by us, but it is for a reason. There are no visitor facilities there and there is almost no parking so it's not an ideal place to encourage great numbers of people to. However, a small trickle of folk is manageable and the site is accessed at the east end of Wilson Street, off Seashore Road just north of West Cape May. One or two Purple Sandpipers and Great Cormorants can now be found at favored sites; the former at stone jetties anywhere along the coast, the latter most recently at Lake Champlain in Villas and on the concrete ship.

A late Least Flycatcher at the state park on 19th caused a few hearts to flutter temporarily with thoughts of Dusky Flycatcher, but it wasn't to be it seems. One or perhaps two Cave Swallows graced the Hawkwatch area over the weekend and reports of good bird numbers at Cox Hall Creek WMA included Red-headed Woodpecker, Orange-crowned Warbler and plenty of Eastern Towhees - the latter also showed up at my feeder, along with a female Purple Finch. Returning where we started, with winter birds, Tom Johnson reported a Black-legged Kittiwake flying north off Higbee's Beach this morning, while a couple of evenings ago, I took one of my regular strolls down to Higbee's Beach at dusk and counted 15 American Woodcock whirling around against a setting sun. There's birds out there - let's go birding!!

It's that man again!

2011-11-18T18:44:00.003-05:00

Yes, it's that man again - Jimmy Dowdell, taking his dog for a walk and finding the first Ash-throated Flycatcher of the year south of the canal. I wouldn't mind so much if it wasn't for the fact that the rest of us have been tearing the place apart looking for one for weeks! Today's bird graced the western edge of The Nature Conservancy's Cape Island Preserve. This is a smallish tract of land, accessed from the east end of Wilson Street, off Seashore Road in West Cape May. If you go looking for this bird, please note that there is no parking area here and just a small amount of room for on-street parking.

Among other news this last couple of days, Cedar Waxwings, American Robins and Eastern Bluebirds continue to flock around the point and provide a fabulous spectacle. Best numbers seem to be around the state park and Cape May Point itself, as well as in the open areas around Cox Hall Creek WMA. Three Eurasian Collared Doves continue around Lincoln Avenue at the point and reports of single Nashville Warblers have come from the state park and Cox Hall Creek, with Blackpoll Warbler also still lingering at the state park and an Orange-crowned Warbler at Cape Island Preserve today. One or two Purple Finches are starting to turn up at local feeders now, after a few days of high-flying birds overhead. Continued diligence at the Hawkwatch Platform today produced five species of swallow (Bank, Cave, Tree, Northern Rough-wing and Barn) and a passing Golden Eagle, while Bald Eagles continued a presence at several sites - at least three could be seen over The Beanery at lunchtime for example. The Rufous Hummingbird was still present at CRE, Goshen today and Bob Fogg reported a Clay-colored Sparrow at the Schellenger Tract off Bayshore Road in Del Haven.

The Seawatch at Avalon continues to produce daily good sightings at the moment and I'm indebted to Tom Reed for keeping me kept up to date on sightings there. At least two King Eiders, three Razorbills, Black-headed Gull, two Red-necked Grebes, White-rumped Sandpiper and Marbled Godwit have all been logged in the last three days and large movements of Ring-billed Gulls and Northern Gannets have been enjoyed.

Ash-throated Flycatcher at Cape Island Preserve. For east coast birders used to bright yellow Great Crested Flycatchers, this can often appear a rather drab species [photo by Mike Crewe].

Bank Swallow - one of an impressive list of five species of swallow at the Hawkwatch Platform today [photo by Tony Leukering].

Waxwings continue - and other observations

2011-11-16T17:18:00.001-05:00

The wonderful flight of Cedar Waxwings continued today, though in lesser numbers than yesterday. Check out this link on youtube which Jenny Isaacs sent me. It was taken in Avalon and shows a wonderful gathering of Cedar Waxwings, coming to drink at a broken water pipe. Our Wednesday morning walk saw several hundred birds wheeeling around the state park, along with American Robins, European Starlings, Brown-headed Cowbirds and smaller numbers of Eastern Bluebirds, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Common Grackles and House Finches. Four Tundra Swans were noted (one on the Plover Ponds - which as been around for a few days - and three flying over) and a juvenile Bald Eagle was hanging out on the beach scaring all the Great Black-backed Gulls - about time someone did that! Just after the walk, single Blackpoll and Nashville Warblers and a Red-breasted Nuthatch were by the Hawkwatch Platform.

With all the American Robins around at the moment, someone was bound to spot a weird one! This spotty robin with a patchwork of white feathers on its upperparts was at Cape May Point on Tuesday. [Photo by Scott Whittle]

Ducks continue to be the main attraction at the state park right now and those who have been on my recent walks there will know that I like to use the white belly on a female Gadwall as a nice feature that separates them from the rather similar female Mallards. This photo, taken from the Hawkwatch Platform shows that feature very nicely in a great action shot taken by Tony Leukering.

Small numbers of Blackpoll Warblers still hang on around Cape May Point as a reminder of what a fabulous fall it was for them here. This bird, looking for food amongst garden weeds is a fine example of just how tolerant they have been of photographer's lenses! [Photo by Tony Leukering]

Despite all their misdemeanors, Brown-headed Cowbirds are pretty smart birds when you see them close up. A large flock of several hundred birds is currently in the state park with even larger numbers of European Starlings. When seen feeding together, look for the cowbirds' telltale sticky up tail! [Photo by Mike Crewe]

I got home a few nights ago to the sound of much rustling in the leaf litter right outside the back door, so went to investigate after first grabbing the camera (well you would, wouldn't you!). I was faced by this little stripey-faced chappie poking out from under our garden shed...

The great thing about skunks (yes, I really did write that!) is that their eyesight is pretty poor so you can stand six feet away from them and they don't even seem to know you are there - though I wouldn't recommend suddenly startling them! Striped Skunks are very variable in color and this one is well towards the whitest end of the spectrum of variation. Last night I saw the complete opposite in Cape May - a skunk that was completely black but for a tiny white tip to its tail!

November - a time to be out there!

2011-11-15T16:02:00.002-05:00

There';s certainly a feeling that 'the season' is over at Cape May on the last day of October; the tourists and birders finally drift away, CMBO's program of walks and events starts to wind down in earnest and it can be tricky finding somewhere to eat out during the week. And yet those of us who live here know about - November! It's an exciting time; every songbird you see might be your last one of that species for the year - unless it's an incoming Snow Bunting, then it's even better - your first-of-season! Ducks are pouring by offshore, along with Northern Gannets and a scattering of loons and grebes and there's always that slight chance that you are going to find the big one! That major rarity that puts your name into the record books for all time!

Today is one of those other outstanding November days; no rarity outside my window, but a major migration event. Pretty much right from the moment I got up this morning, there's been a high-pitched ringing in my ears. No, not tinitis, but the calls of Cedar Waxwings, and I can still hear them now, hundreds of them, right outside the office window, laying into every berry bush and tree they can get to. On a fairly quick walk round the state park and a short drive past Lake Lily I reckon I set my eyes on some 5,000 Cedar Waxwings. I'm told that flocks are scattered throughout the county as far north as Goshen at least, along with similar numbers of American Robins. Just being out there is truly spectacular right now.

So what's been happening these past few days? Well, the Avalon Seawatch - as might be expected - has been producing a lot of good birding with highlights including three Red-necked Grebes on 12th and the same day producing a fabulous passage of Buffleheads, Green-winged Teal and Greater Scaup. So far today, the highlight there has been a fabulous inshore movement of Northern Gannets - and an American Coot on the sea. The latter is more interesting than it may at first seem, since most coot species really don't seem to enjoy saltwater at all and seeing one on the open sea is not a common event. Still on November 12th, a dapper male Eurasian Wigeon turned up on Lighthouse Pond and is still currently present and well worth seeing, three Snow Buntings on South Cape May beach increased to eight this morning and three Baltimore Orioles were seen on a single lot on Lincoln Avenue at Cape May Point. The same afternoon, a male Wilson's Warbler was on the north side of 6th Avenue in West Cape May and two Fox Sparrows were the first-of-season for the Northwood Center. Highlights on the 13th included a Rose-breasted Grosbeak at the state park, two Short-eared Owls at Jake's Landing and a flock of 80 Snow Buntings at Stone Harbor Point.

The two or three Eurasian Collared Doves are presumably still present at the point, but there has been no report of the White-winged Dove since November 12th. Hummingbirds remain in the news with a Ruby-throated in Villas on 13th, while the New England Road bird has so far refused to give itself up totally to the identification brigade, though Rufous seems most likely. Single Cave Swallows were reported on 14th and 15th and single Nashville Warblers on the same two dates. My own House Sparrow flock in the side yard attracted two adult White-crowned Sparrows on 13th and a Dickcissel on 14th.

This smart, adult male Eurasian Wigeon can currently be found most reliably on the west half of Lighthouse Pond. At least one female remains (seemingly paired to a local!) but tends to commute between Lighthouse Pond and Bunker Pond, making it tricky to pin down sometimes.

Karl Lukens did a good job getting this shot of the Selasphorus hummingbird on Cape Island - here seen at Foster Avenue. The appearance of molt in the upperparts and the pattern on the cheeks seem to suggest that this is an adult female rather than a young bird. The rufous at the base of the tail (which rules out Ruby-throated) can be seen here, while that white-tipped outer tail feather looks pretty broad and may be enough to rule out Allen's but perhaps not the highly unlikely yet not impossible Broad-tailed Hummingbird. This bird is still present today.

One of three Baltimore Orioles found together at Cape May Point by Chuck Crunkleton on November 12th [photo by Tony Leukering].

Snow Buntings are putting in a good showing at the moment. Tom Johnson captured these two images of a bird feeding on Beach Goldenrod seeds at South Cape May Beach on November 6th.

House Sparrows may not be popular, but if you have a resident flock in your yard, they may well bring in a few strays for you! This Dickcissel appeared in my own yard on 13th [photo by Mike Crewe].

When it's raining Cedar Waxwings, you don't mind getting wet! Numbers of these wonderful birds are at least into five figures today... [photo by Mike Crewe]

With so many Cedar Waxwings around at the moment, it's worth keeping an eye out for birds with orange instead of yellow tail tips. Such birds crop up fairly regularly (though not always as spectacularly-colored as this one!) and it is believed that the color change is due to pigmentation in the birds food at the time that the feathers are forming. [Photo by Mike Crewe]

Cape May Hot and Cold!

2011-11-11T17:35:00.001-05:00

It's been a strange few days since my last post here at Cape May; Wednesday saw a wonderfully calm and warm, sunny day with temperatures reaching 70F, while today (Friday) the trees are thrashing around in a pretty chilly north-west wind and it's really not that pleasant out there! Wednesday's warm weather was perhaps best demonstrated by Will Kerling who managed to find 11 species of butterfly around Cape May Point that day - here's his list: American Snout, White-M Hairstreak, Common Buckeye, Monarch, Sachem, Fiery Skipper, American Lady, Red Admiral, Questionmark, Small White, Orange Sulphur. The first two are particularly remarkable, especially the snout, which one would not normally expect to see here past August or early September, and yet this was a fresh individual. In addition to the butterflies, Will has been finding late dragonflies and damselflies in the area, with his November list so far including Green Darner, Carolina Saddlebags (I have heard of a Black Saddlebags from Melissa Roach too), Yellow-legged Meadowhawk (Jimmie Dowdell also reported a Blue-faced Meadowhawk to me), Citrine Forktail, Rambur's Forktail and Familiar Bluet. While the larger dragonflies will be southbound migrants, the smaller damsels probably hang on as long as they can until a particularly nasty frost finishes off either them or their food supply (and thus them indirectly!).

American Snout feeding at Buddleia x weyerana on November 9th on Lighthouse Avenue [photo by Mike Crewe]

Citrine Forktail at Cape May Point on November 2nd - another individual was seen on November 3rd [photo by Will Kerling].

A very fresh-looking White-M Hairstreak on Lighthouse Avenue on November 9th [photo by Will Kerling].

Male Rambur's Forktail at Cape May Point on November 9th [photo by Will Kerling].

And so to the birds of the last few days; several 'stayers' con tinue to be reported including at least three of the Eurasian Collared Doves around the general area of the eastern end of Lincoln Avenue, the White-winged Dove on Seagrove Avenue (though not reported today) and a surprising number of Blackpoll Warblers - I saw three today without trying! American Coots reamin in three-figure numbers around the ponit and several reports of small groups of Tundra Swans filtered through today. Up to three American Moorhens have been reported on and off at the state park since 7th and American Bitterns continue to show really well on occasion - including one that we saw swimming one of the open channels on our Wednesday morning walk!

The Rufous Hummingbird continued at least until 10th at Goshen and an as yet unidentified Selasphorus hummingbird was reported on New England Road, just south of the canal on 10th and was still present today. One of the hottest reports of the week came from Jimmy Dowdell, who found a Sedge Wren that stayed for at November 9th and 10th at the south end of the west field at Hidden Valley, off New England Road. There was also an American Tree Sparrow there on 9th. A good movement of Ring-billed Gulls off the Seawatch at Avalon produced a report of a California Gull heading south - now there's something to look for tomorrow! Tom Reed also added an adult Little Gull heading south with Bonaparte's Gull at the same location. Finally, nice to see that Higbee's Beach was being checked this late in the season, with Bob Brown reporting a male Black-throated Blue Warbler as well as a good-sized feeding flock of American Pipits in the Rye that has been sown in the first field.

Plenty of birds around to be found and, with a Snowy Owl now lurking up in Warren County in North Jersey, who knows what might pop up this weekend - get out and enjoy it!

Visitors from Afar

2011-11-08T13:11:00.002-05:00

So far, we are seeing a typical November, with late fall migration continuing and the assival of winter birds - and all sprinkled now and again with a wanderer from some far off, distant location. The ponds at the point continue to fill up with ducks, though for some reason the two female Eurasian Wigeons don't appear to be drawing the cameras in quite the way that the males did last year!! I'm calling them females as they appear to both be paired with male American Wigeons, but as their molt continues this month, we'll see what happens!

The Avalon Seawatch continues to produce pretty much all of the sightings away from the immediate Cape May Point area at the moment, with Tom Reed reporting some pretty spectacular scoter movements this past week - check out some of the day count figures on our View From The Field blog and you will see what I mean! As well as late fall birds, there's a push towards the winterers now too, with Tom today reporting the first Black-headed Gull of the season, pretty much in line with the five Snow Buntings first seen at the point on 6th and still present on 7th at least, along with an 'Ipswich' Savannah Sparrow.

Stragglers from the fall also always feature during November and occasional reports of Yellow-breasted Chat (to 7th at least), Baltimore Oriole (7th), Blackpoll Warbler (8th) and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (in my yard on 7th!) continue to filter in, while both kinglet species are readily found around the point still.

Despite being present for several days, the Rufous Hummingbird at our Center for Research and Education at Goshen has generally been rather flighty and camera shy, so Kevin Bolton did a great job in capturing this image of it. Though the critical tail features cannot be seen here, Ruby-throated can be ruled out by the extensive rusty wash to the flanks. This bird is still present as of today.

This Western Kingbird performed really well for three days on Sunset Boulevard to a steady stream of admirers - some of them curious passers-by! [Photo by Mike Crewe]

Karl Lukens won the latest round of the pigeon lottery with this White-winged Dove which initially was seen along the dunes at The Meadows, then at the Hawkwatch. This individual is currently being seen along Seagrove Avenue, either on roadside wires, or in Karl's feeder tray!

Singletons and small parties of Snow Buntings are turning up at coastal sites now, brightening many a chilly, morning stroll this bird was just north of Millman Boulevard in Del Haven on 7th [photo by Peter Bosak].

American Bitterns have been passing through Cape May Point in good numbers this fall and a few continue to be reported from local ponds. This bird drained the batteries of several Canons and Nikons at Lighthouse Pond this morning as it hunted right alongside the boardwalk near the viewing platform on the red trail [photo by Mike Crewe].

When you have put a lot of effort into starting a wildlife garden, it is always rewarding when the wildife actually decides to start using it! These five Eastern Bluebirds (look hard!) were part of a gang of 21 that fed on pokeweed and sumach berries in our front yard on 7th - so much better for them than the boring, labor-intensive lawn that had previously been there! [Photo by Mike Crewe]

Owls are a tricky topic at Cape May; they benefit best from not being disturbed at daytime roosts, but have a sneaky habit of being out and about when we are not, ie, after dark! Whilst we do not publicize the whereabouts of owl roost sites, you can sometimes get lucky if you just remember that November is a great month for owls and migrants may be active at dusk. If you are down this way during early November, it is always worth checking at the Northwood Center to see if the owl banders are offering any viewing opportunities. Above is a photo of my lifer Northern Saw-whet Owl, proudly being held by owl-bander Katy Duffy [photo by Mike Crewe].

A Farewell to Bebop

2011-11-05T11:11:00.001-04:00

Most people will know by now, but I wanted to wait, just to be sure - our Brown Booby has finally left us. She was first spotted in Jarvis Sound in a blaze of glory, sitting atop the now-famous channel marker number 475 in glorious sunshine on August 20th. A wonderful apparition in brown and white with sassy, pale yellow feet. Panic ensued; we all had to rush over there as soon as possible to catch a glimpse before this exceptionally rare Cape May bird departed. Queues formed for boat trips out into the sound; Two-mile Landing did rather distant lip service for those without the time for a boat trip. Then everything calmed down; the bird stayed. She (for those face markings make this a she) became part of the scenery, became chummy with the local Double-crested Cormorants and moved back to hang out with them on some nearby wooden pilings. We could all relax, go back for better views, better photo opportunities.

Sadly, the inevitable day of departure had to come. A change in the weather, a big drop in nighttime temperatures and the anticipated message came through. On our Monday boat trip on October 31st, Bob Lubberman of The Osprey told us:

"AND SHE'S OUTTA HERE! This morning's totally awesome trip was highlighted by a meeting with a very determined looking Brown Booby passing us, going under the Two Mile Bridge and heading out towards the inlet and the Ocean. Apparently all the white slippery stuff associated with this morning's hard frost might have finally turned on a light bulb in our hopefully former resident booby's head that there are some differences between Jarvis Sound and The Caribbean Sea. Tell your friends in the Carolinas because I think she's on her way. She was not seen in the remainder of that trip or on the afternoon trip."

Bob later added:

"Assuming she doesn't show again it couldn't be a cooler ending. She didn't just disappear. We were coming in from the inlet and she came down past the fishing boats in an area we had never seen her, went straight under the bridge past the dredge and headed straight out the inlet. We turned around and went back under the bridge up to the turn marker and looked in all directions but saw nothing. Ditto for all of her usual haunts in Jarvis on that trip and the next trip."

Though this was the first ever 'twitchable' Brown Booby in Cape May County, she probably never really achieved the heady status of our Ivory Gull of two years ago. Yet she gave great pleasure to so many and channel marker 475 (and sometimes 473!) will long be remembered for its famous visitor. Much thanks goes out to the captains of The Osprey and The Skimmer for keeping us updated on Bebop's presence and whereabouts and for ensuring people got great looks while respecting the bird's personal space. Oh, you may be wondering why she became known as Bebop... Well, on a number of occasions, folks using predictive text on the phones discovered that the four-letter banding code for Brown Booby - BRBO - would get changed to Bebop by their not-so-smart smart phones - so Bebop it is!

Going...

...going...

...gone. Farewell and Bon Voyage!! [Photos by Mike Crewe]

With Hallow'een only just behind us, we'll finish with a photo from Ginny Powell of The Skimmer - Bebop with a full moon.

Western Kingbird - finally!

2011-11-04T15:50:00.004-04:00

After a fall without Western Kingbirds, there have been two photographed at Land's End in the last week. Today, one spent all day hawking insects and eating fruit along Sunset Boulevard in the vicinity of 616 Sunset (just east of the intersection of Sunset and Lighthouse Ave). This bird was originally found by Mike Maurer this morning, and remained cooperative for many to see.

Hawkwatch rarity photos

2011-11-03T17:48:00.007-04:00

Here are a few photos of interesting birds of the last few days. On November 1st, Vince Elia found a pale-lored adult White-crowned Sparrow at the hawkwatch at Cape May Point State Park, and yesterday (November 2nd), Melissa Roach located a White-winged Dove that ended up flying right over the hawkwatch platform and perching in the open for a good view before disappearing to wherever vagrants go. Here are some photos with a bit of discussion on the sparrow.

The White-winged Dove showed us what it's working with just before it disappeared at Cape May Point State Park yesterday morning.

This adult White-crowned Sparrow is a candidate for the subspecies gambelii (Gambel's or West Taiga White-crowned Sparrow). The pale gray lores and small, orange-ish bill are suggestive of a "different" White-crown: the standard local birds are of the subspecies leucophrys with pinkish bills and black interruptions in the lores. The problem with calling such a bird a Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow outright is that there is lots of intergradation between breeding gambelii and leucophrys along Hudson Bay (one of the reasons these taxa aren't split out as separate species is that they freely interbreed where their ranges meet) - indeed, this bird's bill had some ambiguous pink tinges, and there was at least some suggestion of small bits of black in the lores, especially when its head feathers were fully flared out. Anyway, this is probably an unsolvable problem at the moment, but we can feel confident with at the very least calling it a White-crowned Sparrow with characteristics of Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow. David Sibley has some more extensive discussion of White-crowned Sparrow identification on his website).

[photos copyright Tom Johnson]

Slightly Looking Backwards

2011-11-03T15:24:00.001-04:00

Copious amounts of dust are finally settling around us all at the bird observatory as we recover from another great Autumn of birds and birding, and we catch up on ceaseless emails and all those other everyday items that were put on temporary hold. After the hideous Nor'easter of last Saturday, the weather has been pretty gentle on us here at Cape May, though our New Jersey Audubon headquarters up in Bernardsville is still without utilities, so please do bear with us if you experience communication difficulties. With a steady north-east flow of cold air and some ground frosts in the area, we are experiencing birds shipping out in good numbers at the moment. Typical birds of the season showing up now include Orange-crowned Warblers (ever-elusive!), Golden-crowned Kinglets and Vesper, Lincoln's and Nelson's Sparrows along with large numbers of other sparrow species and Yellow-rumped Warblers. One or two Common Eiders are appearing with the scoter flocks and Golden Eagles are brightening up the hawkwatch counts. A scattering of Baltimore Orioles and Yellow-breasted Chats lurk in Porcelainberry tangles and there was a report of a possible Sedge Wren in the state park on November 1st, though I have no further details of that bird. An individual of the distinctive Gambel's form of White-crowned Sparrow was at the Hawkwatch on November 1st and a White-winged Dove put in a brief appearance there on 2nd. This may well be the same bird that was seen briefly on October 28th, so it's worth keeping an eye out around the point. Two female (apparently from their behavior!) Eurasian Wigeons continue on Bunker Pond and the Rufous Hummingbird was still present at Goshen on November 1st but I've had no reports as yet since. Finally for now, a couple of Red-breasted Nuthatches put in an appearance by the Hawkwatch Platform on Wednesday, reminding us that they have been very obvious by their absence so far this season.

Flashing back to the storm on Saturday, October 29th, I think that this picture from Sam Galick sums the day up! Believe it or not, this is Nummy's Island on an astronomically high tide - no island, just swimming Brant and a Great Black-backed Gull!

Blackpoll Warblers have been a real feature of the late October period at Cape May this year with good numbers noted daily for some time now. Many birds have been observed eating Porcelainberry or - as here - Virginia Juniper (Eastern Red Cedar if you prefer!) berries and it is this ability to switch from insects to fruit that enables certain warbler species to leave their southward migration until a little later than some other species are able to do. [Photo by Tony Leukering]

The king is crowned! Golden-crowned Kinglets are now calling from evergreen patches all over Cape May Point. This picture from Tony Leukering does a nice job in showing that wonderful, yellow head stripe.

Tony Leukering has a habit of capturing the unusual with his camera! Here, a passing ibis is doing a peculiar head rub against his neck whilst in flight - see if you can do it, it's not easy!

The Osprey nesting platform near the beach at the South Cape May Meadows has never yet been favored for its intended purpose, but raptors use it as a look out perch frequently - as here with this passing Peregrine during one of our Meadows walks.

Merlins continue to pass the Hawkwatch in fair numbers, and some are even managing to find a few straggling Green Darners to tuck into. [Photo by Tony Leukering]

Late October and - especially - November are prime times to look for Golden Eagles at Cape May. When they are youngsters with this amount of white at the base of the primaries, identifying them is not too hard [photo by Tony Leukering].

Rail duet: coots and moorhens differ from most other members of the rail family in being primarily birds that spend a lot of time swimming, rather than lurking in thick vegetation. American Moorhen (right) remains a scarce but regular stray this far north and most birds are youngsters with a poorly-defined white flank streak and pale faces.

A sure sign of winter on the horizon - a trickle of Bonaparte's Gulls has been witessed around the point this past week so keep an eye along the tideline anywhere along the beaches. [Photo by Tony Leukering]

Ever present at the ponit these days it seems, Lesser Black-backed Gulls still linger in ones and twos but will most likely have shipped south by the end of this month. [Photo by Karl Lukens]

A friend in need... The Cattle Egret continues to hang out at The Beanery and now has to settle for sharing time with the only other birds that like the grassy meadows there - the local gun club's plastic decoy geese!! [Photo by Mike Crewe]

Perhaps the most elusive of the regular warblers at Cape May is Orange-crowned Warbler. Even if one is located, it seems to be unusual for it to still be around once other birders arrive on the scene! This bird spent several days in a hedgeline at The Beanery but was never easy to watch, often flitting from hedge to weeds to trees then off across the field and being lost until mysteriously reappearing back where you last saw it again! [Photo by Mike Crewe]

A good sign that the season is fast drawing on is when you suddenly realize that all the Palm Warblers you are seeing are yellow on all the underparts and are thus of the easterm form hypochrysea. These birds are plentiful here at present and spend a fair amount of time feeding on the ground in fields and dunes. [Photo by Mike Crewe]

Another Awesome Autumn Weekend!

2011-10-30T22:49:00.000-04:00

Well the dust hasn't settled in the parking lots, but general agreement appears to have been settled upon - it was another great Autumn Weekend here at Cape May; I dread to think just how many photos were taken over the past three days, and just how long it's going to take for all those bird pictures to be catalogued and filed away! As forecast, Saturday turned out to be a pretty dreadful day weather-wise but, to be honest, it could have been worse - we certainly didn't get the foot and a half of snow that some places in North Jersey got! Some localized flooding from astronomically high tides affected the barrier islands and a few roads had to be closed for a while, but somehow our Autumn Weekend kept going. Yes, the boat trips had to be cancelled, but it was impressive the way the weekend participants soldiered on and I particularly liked the way that a variety of impromptu seawatches seemed to spring up anywhere that there was places to stand out of the wind and rain. Also worthy of high commendation was the way that our volunteer leaders turned up in such dreadful conditions, just in case there was anyone wanting a walk - thanks guys!

My Saturday was rather strange as it started with me singularly failing to find my waterproofs and having to travel to good old Walmart for another set! But it was well worth as Saturday proved to be a great day for birds. Early morning walks that did go ahead produced an interesting array of sparrows (presumably mostly hangovers from the day before), while the Cape May Point walk produced the bizarre site of a shearwater which did a turn high over the state park before disappearing back out into the bay... At Cape May Airport, shorebirds escaping the flooded coastline included sone 200 or so Black-bellied Plover and a few Dunlin. The seawatch at the Grand Hotel (5th floor, great view!) produced a couple of Common Eider and the season's first Snow Bunting was reported from Brigantine. My own seawatching experience took place at Sunset Beach with my wife and refugees from the rained out Beanery and Meadows walks. We managed three Horned Grebes, two Parasitic Jaegers, four Red-throated Loons, a male Long-tailed Duck, two Bonaparte's Gulls and plenty of Northern Gannets and Royal Terns. At least three Great Blue Herons slowly beat their way back in off the bay against the rain and two American Pipits were feeding on the tideline.

Indoor events were understandably popular in such stormy conditions - but surely would have been popular in their own right; Kevin Karlson, Michael O'Brien, Pete Dunne, John Kricher, Ted Floyd, Kenn Kaufman - an amazing team of speakers with a wealth of knowledge, humor and insight to impart.

Sunday was certainly a release for us outdoor types as we headed back out for the final day of events. After a day of stormy conditions, birds were hungry and eager to be out feeding. Sparrows were very much the order of the day at most locations and great waves of birds scurried for cover in front of appreciative groups. Kenn Kaufman's group at The Beanery enjoyed a very late Orchard Oriole and the same site also produced Cattle Egret, Golden Eagle, up to three Bald Eagles, two Vesper Sparrows, Yellow-breasted Chat and Tennessee and Black-and-white Warblers. A Yellow-billed Cuckoo was still at Higbee's Beach and at least three Baltimore Orioles, various fly-over Rusty Blackbirds and oodles of both Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets were around - many at amazingly close range. The Rufous Hummingbird at Goshen was joined by a Ruby-throated and the afternoon's Stone Harbor walk produced a Black-throated Green Warbler along with a nice range of shorebirds. A Glossy Ibis at the South Cape May Meadows was followed by reports of a very obliging American Bittern and at least two approachable Vesper Sparrows. Events at the end of the day were to make the meadows the place to be as Kathy and Roger Horn spotted a Black Rail from the viewing platform (Will Kerling had flushed one earlier in the day during a butterfly survey walk at the Plover Ponds which may well have been a different bird). As the masses gathered, all that could be found was a Sora, but those who stayed until dusk were rewarded with a Black Rail calling, along with no less than 21 American Bitterns and two Short-eared Owls leaving the marsh to head south!

Boat trips on The Osprey resumed today and highlights from there included the Brown Booby (yes, it really is still here!), Brown Pelican, Common Loon, Horned Grebe, Bufflehead, Tricolored Heron and a Short-eared Owl. What more can a say? An amazing weekend and, as always, you had to be here to be part of it. Start planning for next year now folks!!!

CLICK HERE TO SEE A FULL SPECIES LIST FOR THE THREE-DAY WEEKEND (TOTAL = 203 SPECIES)

I was busy all day with guided walks today, but in celebration of a great weekend for sparrows, I offer up this Vesper Sparrow, one of two showing well at the South Cape May Meadows. Telling them apart can be tricky, but the sparrows have a subtle charm all of there own and many are really quite beautiful once seen well [photo by Mike Crewe].

Weekend photos

2011-10-30T22:41:00.003-04:00

Great Cormorants, like this juvenile, sometimes hang out on the jetties in front of the Avalon Seawatch (7th Street in Avalon).

Friday was a stunning day at the Avalon Seawatch, with 62,000 scoters tallied (read Tom Reed's report here). Here, a large rush of scoters passes in front of the casinos of Atlantic City as seen from Avalon.

Blackpoll Warblers have been moving through in large numbers this October, and have lingered in force through the end of the month. Several were feeding on cedar berries today in Cape May Point State Park.

Two Golden Eagles, including this stunner with lots of white in the wings and tail, passed through Cape May today. One headed south over the ocean while the other one drifted off to the north.

Numbers of dabbling ducks are high around Cape May Point and the South Cape May Meadows (TNC Migratory Bird Refuge) right now. This Northern Pintail flew past while I was looking for rails and bitterns today.

[all photos copyright Tom Johnson]

Bad Weather Update - and more

2011-10-28T21:43:00.006-04:00

For those taking part in our Autumn Weekend who may not have been present at the meal this evening, please not that, due to the severity of Saturday's forecast, we have deemed it necessary to cancel the mini-pelagic on the Cape May Ferry and the backbay boat trips. If you are signed up for any of these events and need an update, please contact CMBO on the usual numbers.

Note also that Kevin Karlson's 12 Noon outdoor photography session has been moved to 1:00PM on Sunday and that a special indoor seawatching event has been set up on the fifth floor of the Grand Hotel - just in case!!

All other events are expected to take place as scheduled - and who knows, maybe we will dodge the worst of the weather!

Today proved to be a fabulous opening day for the three-day festival with White-winged Dove, Rufous Hummingbird and Clay-colored Sparrow being rarity highlights on a morning that saw a fabulous rush of American Robins, Yellow-rumped Warblers, kinglets and assorted sparrows (including Vesper Sparrow at The Beanery). The Seawatch at Avalon really excelled, finishing with a day total of some 75,000 birds, including 62,000 scoter. Other highlights there included a high total of 13 American Golden Plovers passing south. At least three American Moorhens were reported today, as well as the first Fox Sparrow I have heard of this season.

Palm Warblers were much in evidence at Higbee's Beach this morning, with all but one of those that we saw on our second walk this morning being of the Eastern race (hypochrysea), with an extensive yellow wash on the underparts [photo by Mike Crewe].

Hermit Thrushes put on their first good showing of the season this morning. This species bucks the trend of Catharus thrushes by showing itself to its admirers instead of skulking in the shadows somewhere! [Photo by Mike Crewe]

Our 'flying things other than birds' walk proved almost a complete luck-out due to the cool and overcast conditions, but was redeemed in spectacular fashion by the discovery of a very obliging Black Witch right at the start - what an awesome place this is!!

Black Witch (Ascalapha odorata) at Cape May Point State Park this afternoon. This species is a large tropical moth with a wingspan of up to six inches (that's longer than a Palm Warbler!) and is the largest owlet moth in North America. Despite its tropical distribution, it is prone to vagrancy and has been recorded from all 50 US states and Canada. It is overall most rare in the north-east however, and this is probably the first Cape May record for a number of years. The narrow, pale pink band on this individual indicates that it is a female [photo by Mike Crewe].

Tomorrow's forecast doesn't bode well for a day spent out in the field but remember, forecasts can be - and often are - wrong. Our guides will be out there, we look forward to seeing you. Fingers crossed!!

Out and About

2011-10-27T17:22:00.000-04:00

It was a funny old day today and one where you either hit the right place - or you didn't. The Morning Flight count at Higbee Dike seemed to be a bit so-so by all accounts, leaving Tom Johnson with time to head out to the backbays on a very full high tide and report good numbers of salt sparrows (ie Seaside/ Saltmarsh/ Nelson's - delete as necessary!). Tom sadly also found a dead Northern Saw-whet Owl on Avalon Boulevard, presumably hit by a car during the night. A couple of recent reports of fly-by Short-eared Owls suggest that owl time is upon us. In contrast to the dike count, my walk at Hidden Valley this morning scored an amazing total of 90 Eastern Meadowlarks, with a biggest single-flock count of 48. This is far and away the biggest count I have had of this rapidly declining species in Cape May over the last couple of years and more reminiscent of the 'good old days' when there was more grassland in the eastern US.

At lunchtime today I made it as far as the South Cape May Meadows for the first time in many months and found plenty of Swamp and Savannah Sparrows and a nice range of ducks to enjoy. Offshore, at least 14 Parasitic Jaegers were harassing terns with some of them coming in quite close to shore, including a wonderful 'golden-headed' juvenile with blond hair like a Golden Eagle! Northern Gannets are present in good numbers in The Rips and Surf and Black Scoters are piling into the bay now. Here's some pictures from the last couple of days (all photos by Mike Crewe):

American Coots continue to increase at the point with probably over 200 now, scattered around the state park and meadows ponds. This is a good number for here, but what does it suggest? A good breeding season, or sign of bad weather further north?

American Wigeon and Gadwall flying off Bunker Pond. Checking the axillaries in the 'armpits' of the wigeon is a good way to look for Eurasian Wigeon - which has gray not white axillaries.

Michael O'Brien reported four Long-billed Dowitchers from the South Cape May Meadows yesterday and they were still there today (one of them is off to the left and wouldn't fit in the photo!). Long-bills tend to favor freshwater ponds over tidal saltflats and are far less common here in Cape May than Short-bills.

Tern numbers have dwindled considerably since the heady days of August and early September, but there's still a few hundred Forster's Terns out there with their little black 'bandit masks'. Note the gray-winged Common Tern at the top - there was still two of these hanging out on the beach today.

Lest we forget - yes, Yellow-rumped Warblers are massing all over the place still, but this one caught my eye for some reason. When it turned its head I realised why...

It had these strange white patches on both sides of its face! That's one way to stand out in the crowd I guess!!

Elsewhere today, there's been reports on and off lately of a Selasphorus hummingbird at our Goshen Center and Vince Elia reports that it is still present as I write. We assume this is either an Allen's or a Rufous, or maybe even a Broad-tailed Hummer. Juveniles of these three are notoriously difficult to identify and an out-of-range bird often even more so. The Seawatch continues to turn up interesting counts daily now, with today producing 80 Purple Sandpipers last time I heard, while some nice counts of Wood Ducks passing offshore with scoter are always interesting to ponder on - perhaps they've learnt that it's better than being shot!!

STOP PRESS - Before I even finish the post, I hear that the hummingbird at Goshen is identifiable as a Rufous Hummingbird. A nice bonus for the Autumn Weekend Birding Festival if it hangs around!

Some Recent Pictures

2011-10-25T16:33:00.003-04:00

It's always nice to get pictures from our many visitors, who always seem to leave Cape May with sand in their shoes - which means they will return some day. Here's a few I received recently.

Sam Galick sent me this truly amazing picture of a Chimney Swift and we present it here in celebration of an amazing day on Saturday when more than 500 of these 'flying cigars' were tallied passing through Cape May Point. A remarkable event so late in the season.

Horned Grebes like to hang out in the main channels and are not always that approachable, so Mike Newlon did a nice job getting a photo of this guy from The Osprey last week.

Wildwood resident Dave Fleming snapped this wonderfully moody shot of 23 Brown Pelicans with his phone while on the seafront. It's been a great autumn here for this species with good numbers passing in late September and early October.

And of course, Cape May migration is about more than just birds; Linda Widdop sent me this great photo of a Monarch nectaring at the Giant Sunflowers in the state park - and look, it's got one of our tags on it!! Don't forget to keep an eye out for Monarchs with these little round tags stuck on the underside of a hind wing. Most tagging projects rely on people spotting and reporting the Monarchs as they head south. (Don't forget to note the number on the tag!)

We finish with three pictures from David and Susan Disher from North Carolina. Warblers may be subtly less colorful in the Fall than they are in Spring but you sure can see them better this time of year! Here are fine portraits of Northern Parula, Yellow Warbler and Prairie Warbler. The last two are pretty much done heading through here now so these are nice finds (the Prairie Warbler was seen October 17th and the Yellow Warbler on 18th).

Excitement builds as we head towards this year's Autumn Weekend Birding Festival and there is still plenty of birds to see - with a very promising forecast for the weekend itself! The Hawkwatch Platform was aglow with excitement when I stopped by a short while ago, as a dark morph Swainson's Hawk had been showing itself spectacularly well to the gathered admirers. A steady stream - yes a stream! - of Northern Harriers was breezing through, along with an even greater number of American Kestrels and Merlins. Bald Eagles? Yeah, they were there, you know, you see them every day now!!!

Bunker Pond is filling up nicely with a good selection of ducks, plenty of Pied-billed Grebes, and I counted 118 American Coots - and no sign of that Coot menace from last year yet...

Higbee's A-Hoppin'

2011-10-22T18:14:00.001-04:00

Higbee's Beach was certainly alive with birds today (see, I told you to get down here!), with Tom Johnson recording some 15,000 Yellow-rumped Warblers on the Morning Flight Project at Higbee Dike, as well as an impressive show of other birds, including Blackpoll Warblers, American Robins and the first notable passage of Hermit Thrushes for the season. Yesterday's dark morph Swainson's Hawk arose early from somewhere in the Hidden Valley area and headed out early - though not before making a pass at the Hawkwatch Platform. As for the fields at Higbee's... Well it took us some time just to walk the last few yards of road to get into the fields in the first place, as wave after wave of Yellow-rumped Warblers, Ruby-crowned Kinglets and White-throated Sparrows poured across in front of us. Eastern Towhees were calling in impressive numbers from deep in cover and good numbers of Chipping Sparrows and American Robins were present too. We spotted a Swainson's Thrush high in a Virginia Creeper, then shortly after we were distracted by little parties of Palm Warblers (mostly the yellower Eastern form) and a smart Blue-headed Vireo. We didn't get as far as we had intended, but we didn't need to, for the birds came to us! One little corner of Porcelainberry harbored eight Hermit Thrushes, as well as several Gray Catbirds and Brown Thrashers and single Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Magnolia Warbler, Yellow-breasted Chat and Lincoln's Sparrow. Further on, we came across a second Yellow-billed Cuckoo and heard about a second Yellow-breasted Chat, while kinglets and warblers continued to entertain the gathered admirers.

At the Hawkwatch, there was plenty of overhead action throughout the day and, besides a great day for hawks on the move, Chimney Swifts put on an excellent show - perhaps surprisingly so given the late date - and that inveterate counter, Tony Leukering had tallied some 500 of them by the day's end. Northern Rough-winged Swallows were notably in good numbers too and certainly outnumbered Tree Swallows at the Higbee fields this morning. Other highlights today included a Vesper Sparrow briefly at the Hawkwatch, an unidentified Selasphorus hummingbird at the CMBO Goshen Center, a Grasshopper Sparrow reported by Bob Fogg from the Schellenger Tract (Del Haven) and a Red-breasted Nuthatch at the Northwood Center - the latter species has been remarkably scarce here so far this Fall. I haven't heard from the Seawatch yet today, but take a look at yesterday's figures here and you'll see that things are pretty busy up there at the moment...

A heavy wave of sparrows this morning made up for a shortage of these birds over the past week or so. This Lincoln's Sparrow was our prize find amongst the hordes of White-throated, Song, Swamp, Field, Chipping and Savannah Sparrows [photo by Mike Crewe].

It's probably rude to take someone's picture when they are busy eating...

...but this Blackpoll Warbler just posed so nicely in the Porcelainberry [photos by Mike Crewe].

Our second Yellow-billed Cuckoo this morning proved to be very popular with photographers as it actively hunted crickets and other insects along the edge of the second field at Higbee's Beach. Indeed, it was so approachable...

...that sometimes it seemed almost too close! And no, this bird isn't in the hand, it really is in the bush!! [Photos by Mike Crewe]

Our garden came up trumps again before work this morning with a nice range of birds, including this Nashville Warbler [photo by Mike Crewe].

Of Warblers, Hawks and Other Feathered Things

2011-10-21T16:40:00.002-04:00

It's been one of those great, Cape May, late October days today - and it looks set to be similar tomorrow, so I suggest you all beat a hasty path in our direction! Our Higbee's Beach walk this morning turned up a surprising number of Blackpoll Warblers - we even enjoyed seven in a single tree at one point! I reckon we had seen a good 35 to 40 Blackpolls by the end of the two hours, as well as the expected mass of Yellow-rumped Warblers and even two Nashville Warblers. But where are the sparrows? They are certainly in short supply at the moment but maybe tomorrow will be the day - or maybe next weekend...

I had to drop by the Rea Farm on the way to the office and chanced across another Nashville Warbler that Mike Fritz had just spotted and I did note the odd Swamp and Savannah Sparrow there too. Down at the Hawkwatch, they seemed to have a heck of a day today, with Merlins and American Kestrels roaring past at point blank range, Sharp-shinned Hawks spiralling way up high and an impressive run of Bald Eagles. When I was there at lunchtime, seven Bald Eagles were in view together - even the diehards were impressed!! A little after 2PM, we were all alerted to a dark morph Swainson's Hawk by Michael O'Brien - heading over his house of course! The bird soon came into view from the Hawkwatch and then made an impressive low fly-by at the Northwood Center. That's my kind of bird!

Swainson's Hawk over Stevens Street [photo by Clay Sutton].

Also notable today was the impressive passage of Chimney Swifts, given the late time of year. I saw at least 15 during the course of the day and I am sure that those who spent more time out there will have notched up a higher number than that. Tom Reed recorded the first Purple Sandpiper of the season at the Avalon Seawatch and a smattering of shorebirds passed through the point, with Pectoral Sandpipers making it into double figures. The two female-type Eurasian Wigeons continue on the state park ponds.

If you can't make this weekend, I'll see you next weekend - because it's our Autumn Weekend Festival with all the fun and great birding that is always associated with that event and I can't believe anyone would want to miss it!! And if you are in the area, we have just two places left on Louise Zemaitis's awesome, three-day 'Cape May With Everything On It' workshop - the very best way to be treated to the cream of North American birding in Fall!

All Aboard!

2011-10-20T17:22:00.001-04:00

Due to a postponement last weekend, our Great Egg Harbor River Cruise is rescheduled for this coming Saturday, October 22nd. Because of the date change, we have a few places left so, if you fancy a great day out on the river looking for raptors and waterbirds and enjoying some fabulous South Jersey scenery, jump in quick and grab yourself a place! Contact Chris Tonkinson at 609-861-0700 to book or for more details. I look forward to seeing you there!!

Losing The Sympathy Vote

2011-10-18T22:17:00.001-04:00

Now and again - honestly, it's only now and again! - I complain just a little about being stuck in the office while the world and his wife appear to be out and about and enjoying all the great birds that Cape May has to offer. Well, today I think I probably lost any sympathy that my whining may attract, since the Northwood Center seemed to have great luck stowed upon it - and most specifically, my office window!!

The day had started well with a Connecticut Warbler, two Cape May Warblers and two Blue-headed Vireos in our yard, along with a good assortment of other birds - but there was work to be done in the office. Settling down to a plethora of emails my attention was drawn to a small group of shrubby trees just outside my window - the distraction had begun! A Sassafras, a small American Holly and a barely-worthy-of-the-name-'tree' Hackberry were attracting birds with, at one point, seven birds present and all of different species! This continued throughout the day, but the skies above produced the goods too. As shapes began to circle overhead, it soon became apparent that a good raptor flight was taking place and it wasn't long before a text message from Doug Gochfeld had me dashing out the door and trailing customers along with me. A Golden Eagle had been seen from the Hawkwatch - chances are it might come our way. Well, it took a few minutes, but the eagle duly appeared; in fact, it appeared alongside a juvenile Bald Eagle and mixed in with a wonderful mix of other raptors. At one point it was mobbed by a young Northern Harrier while seemingly endless numbers of Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks spun past, accompanied by Black and Turkey Vultures, Peregrines and Red-tailed and Broad-winged Hawks.

A juvenile Golden Eagle with all that white in the wings and tail is a fine sight at any time, but all the more so when you just have to step out of the door to appreciate it! This bird spent nearly 15 minutes circling within sight of the Northwood Center today - and often directly overhead! [photo by Mike Crewe]

And what of the birds from the window? Well here's a few shots I got today. Oh yes, didn't I mention it? I keep a 400mm lens on the desk - just in case!!

Not the sharpest of shots, but they do like the darkest of spots! This Brown Creeper checked out the holly trunk for a few minutes and gave me a chance to appreciate just how frosty they are compared with European Treecreepers [photo by Mike Crewe].

This male Black-throated Blue Warbler spent all day catching insects within sight of my office window - how am I ever supposed to get any work done?! [Photo by Mike Crewe]

Ever-active, getting a Ruby-crowned Kinglet to stop even for a second can often seem impossible. This little guy hover-gleaned for insects for hours in the tiny hackberry and must have left no leaf unchecked [photo by Mike Crewe.]

Third of the day! This snazzy Blue-headed Vireo chose the holly to spend its time and knocked off several small moths in the late afternoon [photo by Mike Crewe].

The hackberry comes up trumps again! Several Northern Parulas contorted themselves as they searched for insects during the course of the day. These hyperactive little warblers never cease to amaze me with the positions they get themselves into, yet still maintain their balance - and a grip on the branch! [Photo by Mike Crewe]

Well, that's just a few of the birds that paraded before me today and made all that paperwork that little bit more bearable! Elsewhere over the past couple of days, birds have continued to trickle through nicely, despite the variable and often windy weather. Some interesting reports from backyards in the county have included Mourning Warbler, Scarlet Tanager and Orange-crowned Warbler as well as an as-yet-unidentifed-to-species Selasphorus hummingbird. Two American Avocets continue on the mudflats near Nummy's Island, mostly being reported from near the toll bridge at the south end of the island. An Ash-throated Flycatcher reported from Cox Hall Creek WMA yesterday was still present today.

At the Seawatch, Tom Reed reported his first of season Horned Grebe on 16th as well as a nice surprise in the shape of a Red-headed Woodpecker. Horned Grebes and Common Loons featured on both The Skimmer and The Osprey boat trips during their journeys out to see the Brown Booby - which seems to be getting on like a house on fire with the local Double-crested Cormorants now!

Common Loon from The Skimmer [photo by Ginny Powell].

Cattle Egrets are pretty uncommon at Cape May this time of year so it's surprising that this bird went almost unreported, despite spending several days in the area (here seen flying across the state park parking lot on October 12th [photo by Mike Crewe].

Reed Spraying
Sharp eyes may have spotted that reed spraying hasn't taken place at The Meadows or the state park yet this Fall. The weather has been too windy for the past couple of weeks, but the last I heard was that they were going to try again this week. Both sites are likely to remain open now that the spraying is more localized, but please do be prepared to take on-site directions from staff if spraying is in progress during your visit.

Cape May Birding Hotline - October 13, 20111

2011-10-15T00:05:00.003-04:00

This is the NEW! Cape May Birding Hotline, a service of New Jersey Audubon Society's Cape May Bird Observatory. From now on we'll be integrating photos, eBird checklists, and audio recordings of birds around Cape May, Cumberland and Atlantic Counties.

Birders are encouraged to enter their sightings into eBird to participate in a Cornell University's citizen science project that has caught on with many local birders. For more information on eBird and how to sign up click here:

(About eBird)

Some recent developments at eBird right now:

eBird Version 3 Launched

New and improved eBird maps

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This week's message was prepared on Thursday, October 13th, 2011. Highlights this week include sightings of AMERICAN AVOCET, AMERICAN BITTERN, AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER, AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN, AMERICAN WIGEON, BAY-BREASTED WARBLER, BLACK SKIMMER, BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER, BROWN PELICAN, CACKLING GOOSE, CANADA GOOSE, CAPE MAY WARBLER, CASPIAN TERN, CATTLE EGRET, CLAY-COLORED SPARROW, COMMON EIDER, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, GREAT SHEARWATER, CORY'S SHEARWATER, DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT, EURASIAN WIGEON, GOLDEN EAGLE, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, HUDSONIAN GODWIT, LAUGHING GULL, LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL, LINCOLN'S SPARROW, LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER, LONG-EARED OWL, MARBLED GODWIT, NELSON'S SPARROW, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, PARASITIC JAEGER, PIED-BILLED GREBE, PINE SISKIN, POMARINE JAEGER, PURPLE FINCH, RED KNOT, RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, REDHEAD, RED-HEADED WOODPECKER, RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD, RING-NECKED DUCK, RUDDY DUCK, SEASIDE SPARROW, UPLAND SANDPIPER, VESPER SPARROW, VIRGINIA RAIL, WESTERN SANDPIPER, "WESTERN" WILLET, WILSON'S SNIPE, YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD.

We'll be breaking the RBA down by day, and county. Here we go!

Cape May County:

The only photo to surface of the Oct. 3rd BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER found at the North end of Davies Lake- Higbees Beach WMA seems to show a different individual from the first BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER (1) (2) at Higbees Beach WMA on Sep. 29th. An unusually confiding late UPLAND SANDPIPER (1) (2) has been seen off and on for a week; the last day it was reported was Oct. 6th.

Oct. 7th:

A LONG-EARED OWL was recorded flying around Cape May Point. Highlights from the dike at Higbees Beach WMA included AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER (1), and AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN (1) (2) (eBird Checklist). The first RING-NECKED DUCK of the season was a drake seen on Lighthouse Pond at Cape May Point State Park in the afternoon. Highlights from the Avalon Seawatch included COMMON EIDER (1), and REDHEAD (eBird Checklist). RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES and PINE SISKINS were noted at Cape May Point.

Cape May Hawkwatch totals.

eBird Checklists: Higbees Beach WMA, Cape May Meadows, Cape Island

Oct. 8th:

A leucistic LAUGHING GULL has been seen around Cape May off and on for the past couple of months. Please be on the look out for this bird, careful observation should be taken with any "white-winged" gulls- even careful observers have mistaken this bird as a poor look at a distant Iceland Gull. The BROWN BOOBY seen nearly everyday since August 20th was seen again in Jarvis Sound on board the Osprey (eBird Checklist). The Avalon Seawatch had a small push of 27 BROWN PELICANS and three COMMON EIDERS (eBird Checklist).

Cape May Hawkwatch totals.

eBird Checklists: Cape May Meadows, Corson's Inlet SP, The Beanery, Higbees Beach WMA, Higbee Dike, Eastern Shore Nursing Home, Lily Lake, Cape May Point State Park (1) (2) (3), Cape May Point (1) (2),

Oct. 9th:

Team EXIT HERO (team/bird photos (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (18) (19) (20) ) conducted it's Big Sit organized by Birdwatcher's Digest on the hawkwatch platform at Cape May Point State Park. The count was covered for a full 24 hours for the first time. 117 species were tallied with highlights of two EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVES flying by the lighthouse and a CACKLING GOOSE (1) in a CANADA GOOSE flock that later landed at Lily Lake and the Beanery. News came in later of a female EURASIAN WIGEON (1) was amongst the AMERICAN WIGEONS at Lighthouse Pond. It was never seen from the hawkwatch platform nor counted on the Big Sit despite large waterfowl groups moving in and out of Bunker Pond all day. A juv. RED-HEADED WOODPECKER was a highlight during a trip to the Villas WMA (eBird Checklist). A CLAY-COLORED SPARROW was seen at the Beanery (eBird Checklist). A CATTLE EGRET was seen at the Shunpike pond. Almost 3,000 DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS, 31 BROWN PELICANS, three PARASITIC JAEGERS were tallied at the Avalon Seawatch (eBird Checklist).

Cape May Hawkwatch totals.

eBird Checklists: Cape May Point State Park, Cape May Meadows, Cape May Convention Center, Steven's Street

Oct. 10th:

The new local group of EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVES have grown from three to four birds, seen flying by the Coral Ave. dune crossing at Cape May Point (eBird Checklist). If they decide to live here through the winter, New Jersey could have it's first breeding record of this rapidly expanding species next year. The season's first GOLDEN EAGLE (juv.) of the fall was first found on Steven's Street and later counted at the hawkwatch platform (eBird Checklist). A Morning Flight update on the Seasonal Research tab of birdcapemay.org has a good photo update on what's been flying by including a couple good tips on BAY-BREASTED WARBLER identification. An adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL was photographed at the Cape May Meadows. A PURPLE FINCH was seen briefly along New England Road. The Avalon Seawatch continued it's streak of 24 BROWN PELICANS winging-it South (eBird Checklist).

Cape May Hawkwatch totals.

eBird Checklists: Cape Island, Jarvis Sound, Cape May Point State Park, Cape May Meadows,

Oct. 11th:

The four EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVES are still flying past Coral Ave. dune crossing in the morning at Cape May Point; closer observation showed that at least three had retained old outer primaries (eBird Checklist). A Stone Harbor Point trip was highlighted with two AMERICAN AVOCETS at the base of toll bridge on bay side (eBird Checklist). A private pelagic trip tallied three CORY'S SHEARWATERS, seven GREAT SHEARWATERS and a POMARINE JAEGER, along with some interesting landbirds- A CAPE MAY WARBLER and three PURPLE FINCHES (eBird Checklist). And yet another photo update on birdcapemay.org.The Avalon Seawatch was in full gear with the first day of multi-thousand count of scoters flying past with a couple hundred GREEN-WINGED TEAL mixed in. With 33 more BROWN PELICANS the Seawatch's total for 2011 passes 200 (eBird Checklist).

Cape May Hawkwatch totals.

eBird Checklists: Two Mile Landing, Two Mile Beach, Nummy's Island, Cape Island,

Oct. 12th:

Cedars next to the hawkwatch had 14 species of warblers including an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER (CMBO Blogpost). Two EURASIAN WIGEONS were at Lighthouse Pond with a NELSON'S SPARROW seen along the boardwalk there. Another Ammodramus- this time a SEASIDE SPARROW, rarely seen outside of a saltmarsh, was found at the South end of Lily Lake. The probable same CATTLE EGRET found on the 9th was seen at the Cape May Meadows along with a WILSON'S SNIPE and a calling VIRGINIA RAIL. The Avalon Seawatch continues to put on a good show with all three scoters represented (CMBO Blogpost).

Cape May Hawkwatch totals.

eBird Checklists: Cape Island

Oct 13th:

The popular CATTLE EGRET was seen on the railing in Bunker Pond at Cape May Point State Park. A VESPER SPARROW was seen on the East path of the Cape May Meadows along with an AMERICAN BITTERN. Around 60 "WESTERN" WILLETS were seen at Nummy's Island (eBird Checklist). PARASITIC JAEGERS are increasing daily at the Avalon Seawatch (CMBO Blogpost).

Cape May Hawkwatch totals.

eBird Checklists: Cape May Point State Park, Cape Island, Stone Harbor Bird Sanctuary, Cape May Meadows, Hidden Valley Ranch

Cumberland County:

Oct. 7th:

eBird Checklists: Berrytown Road

Oct. 10th:

eBird Checklists: East Point Road

Oct. 11th:

An AMERICAN AVOCET (1) and a juv. GOLDEN EAGLE was seen at Heislerville WMA (eBird Checklist).

Oct. 13th:

eBird Checklists: Thompsons Beach, Heislerville WMA

Atlantic County:

Oct. 7th:

eBird Checklists: Brigantine NWR

Oct. 8th:

Migrants noted at night in Atlantic City include COMMON YELLOWTHROATS, and a VIRGINIA RAIL. A WHITE-FACED IBIS was reported from Brigantine NWR.

Oct. 9th:

Shorebirds noted behind Harrah's included several flocks of BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER, 100+ RED KNOT, and an adult AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER. Brigantine Island had 42 MARBLED GODWITS, 180+ "WESTERN" WILLETS, one LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER, and 400+ BLACK SKIMMER.

Brigantine had the following highlights: EURASIAN WIGEON, (center of East pool) 1000+ GREEN-WINGED TEAL, a drake REDHEAD, (center of East pool) six RUDDY DUCKS, four PIED-BILLED GREBES, AMERICAN BITTERN, (ten feet away at the North end of the Gull Pond) AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER, WESTERN SANDPIPER, four CASPIAN TERNS, LINCOLN'S SPARROW (by the AMERICAN BITTERN) and a female YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD. (East dike in a large flock of RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS just North of the South dike)

eBird Checklists: Brigantine NWR

Oct. 10th:

eBird Checklists: Malibu Beach, Brigantine NWR, Corbin City

Oct. 12th:

Two HUDSONIAN GODWITS were photographed (1) (2) at BRIGANTINE NWR (eBird Checklist)

Oct. 13th:

eBird Checklists: Brigantine NWR

-For up-to-the-minute Cape May sightings information, photos and downloadable birding maps and checklist of Cape May, visit www.birdcapemay.org . Follow rarity sightings, and spectacles on www.twitter.com/CMBObirds -

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
******CMBO FALL HOURS are as follows: Northwood Center on East Lake Drive in Cape May Point is open daily, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m, through September and October. The Center for Research and Education on Rt. 47 in Goshen is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9:30am to 4:30pm; closed Sundays and Mondays. ******

The Cape May Birding Hotline is a service of the New Jersey Audubon's Cape May Bird Observatory and details sightings from Cape May, Cumberland and Atlantic Counties. Updates are made weekly. Please report sightings of rare or unusual birds to CMBO at 609-884-2736. Sponsorship for this hotline comes from the support of CMBO members and business members, and should you not be a member, we cordially invite you to join. Individual membership is $39 per year; $49 for families. You can call either center to become a member or visit. Become a member in person and you'll receive a FREE gift (in addition to member discounts in the stores).

Good Luck and Good Birding!

Sam Galick
Cape May, NJ
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Warblers grounded and a few seabirds..

2011-10-14T19:42:00.002-04:00

Damp and gray weather looks set to continue for a while as south-west winds are forecast to predominate for at least the next five days. Though such a forecast isn't ideal if you're in Cape May to enjoy being outdoors, there should still be birds out there to be found. Grounded parties of warblers will be feeding up in sheltered corners, as I witnessed briefly this afternoon when I had an excuse to nip out to the Hawkwatch Platform with a journalist from Philadelphia. Amongst a busy feeding party of Yellow-rumped Warblers lurked Nashville, Palm and Prairie Warblers, Northern Parula and Common Yellowthroat, while the two Eurasian Wigeon were on Bunker Pond along with a nice array of other ducks. Higbee's Beach was pretty quiet on our walk this morning and the sparrows that descended on us a few days ago seem mostly to have moved on, but there's still a few Swamp, Song and White-throated Sparrows around and Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers are still present amongst the more numerous Northern Flickers. Elsewhere, Mike Fritz noted a late Mourning Warbler from his yard in Seaville, as well as an Orange-crowned Warbler, Sam Galick reported three American White Pelicans flying north from Cape Henlopen and 37 Parasitic Jaegers were counted passing the Seawatch at Avalon - a new single-day coun record for the species for the CMBO Seawatch.

Dull and dreary makes for great birding!

2011-10-12T16:42:00.003-04:00

juvenile Bonaparte's Gull at Cape May Point

The first hour of the day was a washout, but the breezy gray skies that followed the rain made for some very nice birding in Cape May Point. Seawatching was excellent with at least four Parasitic Jaegers chasing terns and gulls offshore as gannets, scoters, and a Red-breasted Merganser passed by. The cedars next to the hawkwatch in Cape May Point State Park were buzzing with warblers - over 100, mostly Yellow-rumped Warblers, exploded from this grove when a Cooper's Hawk dropped in too close. Further investigation revealed a surprising 13 species of warblers in about half an hour, included the first Orange-crowned Warbler I've encountered this fall.

Orange-crowned Warblers are usually pretty scarce in Cape May. Since this was the first I've seen or heard about this fall, I checked out eBird to see if others had been reported in the county. I found out that one was seen somewhere on Cape Island on 10 October and another at the Beanery on 9 October (check out the interactive eBird map here).

Pine Warblers continue to be found around Cape May Point on a daily basis.

Moving over to Lighthouse Pond, the continuing Eurasian Wigeon has been joined by a second individual, and a Nelson's Sparrow was in with the many Swamp Sparrows along the boardwalk. I heard that Dave Hedeen turned up a Seaside Sparrow (uncommon to rare in migration away from saltmarsh) nearby at Lily Lake as well.

This group of American Wigeon is checking out their rusty relative - the bird on the right is a Eurasian Wigeon, one of at least two currently in Cape May Point.

Around Cape May - photo update

2011-10-11T16:09:00.006-04:00

This Black-billed Cuckoo posed nicely at Hidden Valley, Cape May on 3 October. On days when Higbee Beach is packed with people, Hidden Valley provides a great place to walk. It is pretty typical to be the only birder there, which means you have a better chance at running into a skulker like this cuckoo. Not that Higbee isn't great...

On 6 October, Nick Bonomo found a ridiculously tame Upland Sandpiper in the third field at Higbee Beach. This is likely the same bird that had been in the first field a week before. This time, however, the bird dashed around out on the path and even walked right up to me while hunting crickets on the ground. In the background of the photo above, you can see the legs of several birders who were being entertained by the sandpiper's antics.

Liza Gray spotted this American White Pelican flying past Cape May Point State Park on the evening of 6 October; it stuck around overnight, and soared around over Higbee Beach for about an hour on the morning of 7 October before it disappeared. While it was circling over the forest, the bird was simultaneously in view at both the hawkwatch and the Higbee Dike (~2.2 miles apart).

In addition to loads of Northern Flickers, Red-bellied Woodpeckers have been moving in numbers as of late. While these birds are typically thought of as sedentary, it is pretty typical to note small movements of 5-20 birds in a single morning at Higbee Beach in October. Clearly they show at least some migratory tendencies.

Blackpoll Warblers are still making a big push through Cape May, even though Yellow-rumped Warblers are dominating the warbler show numerically. This bird is likely an adult with vestiges of alternate plumage remaining on its head. The cedars next to the hawkwatch platform at Cape May Point State Park have been reliable for hosting Blackpolls for several days now.

Cape May in October... oh yes, there are raptors here. LOTS of raptors. Sharp-shinned Hawks, like this adult, have been pushing through in fine style. Diversity of raptors is high, and the first Golden Eagle of the fall was tallied yesterday (10 October) at the Point.

Big Sit and a yardful of birds...

2011-10-11T11:16:00.000-04:00

Sunday October 9th saw the annual Big Sit take place at the Cape May Point Hawkwatch Platform. This is a national event organized by others, as I am sure that no-one at Cape May would organize such an event on Columbus Day!!! A day when the state park closed its gates to traffic because Cape May Point was simply, well, full!! Indeed, I hear that police were turning traffic away from the edge of town - the whole of Cape May was full!

Despite this distraction from our task, Cape May's Big Sit team nevertheless made their way through the mayhem and eventually turned in an honorable total of 117 species. The weather had been, sunny, calm and settled so no record was going to be broken, but what fun we had despite all that. Team leader Dave Hedeen writes:

"As Sunday's de facto list keeper, I am today's de facto list sender. Tom Reed, we hope you'll return next year! Below is the list of 117 species tallied from the Hawkwatch Platform at Cape May Point State Park during yesterday's Big Sit. Nocturnal hours were cool and mosquitoey. Diurnal hours were quite warm. Conditions were cloudless until dusk. Even then the clouds were few, high and thin. Wind was calm to light, west to northwest. MVP Award goes to Steve Bauer for his on-site preparation of a hot, delicious breakfast at dawn. Bird of the Day Award goes to Hawk Counter Melissa Roach who spotted two Eurasian Collared Doves over Cape May Point. Kudos goes to Vince Elia for reaching his goal yesterday of ticking 175 species during his staycation...and for his compelling story about, well, you had to be there!!

This year the Sit Circle was covered for a full twenty-four hours. Five birders were on the Hawkwatch when the Big Sit began. Upwards of a dozen birders participated during the day. Two birders were on the Hawkwatch when the Big Sit ended. Nocturnal vocalizations were scattered, but audible the first night. 20 species were tallied before 6 AM, including Black-bellied Plover and White-crowned Sparrow. Non-bird observations included meteorites, the International Space Station, and a displeased muskrat. Daytime birding was quite fun though diversity was lackluster. Early-morning songbird and seabird movement was fair-to-middling. Raptor movement was light-to-moderate at midday. Usual doldrums in the afternoon. Decent activity at dusk. Two species were tallied after dark on the second night: American Oystercatcher and finally Black-throated Blue Warbler. Thanks to all who participated". -Dave

Location: Cape May Hawkwatch
Date: October 9, 2011

Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Wood Duck
Gadwall
American Wigeon
American Black Duck
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Surf Scoter
Black Scoter
Common Loon
Pied-billed Grebe
Northern Gannet
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
American Oystercatcher
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Calidris sp.
Stilt Sandpiper
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Caspian Tern
Common Tern
Forster's Tern
Royal Tern
Black Skimmer
Parasitic Jaeger
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
Great Horned Owl
Common Nighthawk
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Carolina Chickadee
Carolina Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Gray-cheeked Thrush
Swainson's Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
American Pipit
Cedar Waxwing
Tennessee Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Pine Warbler
Palm Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
American Redstart
Common Yellowthroat
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Indigo Bunting
Bobolink
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Finch
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Whilst text reports around Cape May have been slim this season, at the moment they are non-existent as good old Verizon (which most of us have the misfortune of being on!) doesn't seem to be capable of dealing with texts at all (other companies seem to be doing OK). Belatedly, I heard of a Eurasian Wigeon on Bunker Pond and at least two sightings of a Golden Eagle over the point yesterday. David La Puma has kept me informed of large Yellow-rumped Warbler flights taking place both Monday and this morning and I can personally report a yardful of birds at home as our large Siberian Elm threatens to break under the weight of birds in it!! Yesterday afternoon we enjoyed Cape May, Black-throated Blue, Blackpoll and Yellow-rumped Warblers, Northern Parula, Brown Creeper, Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets and Purple Finch all in the one tree. This morning before work, I was able to add White-throated, Chipping and Savannah Sparrow, Blackburnian, Palm and Chestnut-sided Warblers, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Northern Flicker and Downy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers to the elm list - with a Hairy Woodpecker in the Silver Maple!! In addition, our first-of-season Dark-eyed Junco and White-crowned Sparrow were in the meadow along with plenty of Swamp Sparrows.

Pelican Crossing...

2011-10-07T16:38:00.001-04:00

In another one of those famous Cape May "You never know what might happen next" moments, Tom Johnson texted the news that an American White Pelican was passing west over Cape May Point (spotted by Liza Gray). I snatched a quick moment from the office and managed to see its back end disappearing towards the bay - a tick for my Northwood Center list! Even more unexpectedly, a few minutes later, Tom texted that the bird was heading back west towards the Hawkwatch and it was then shortly reported heading north over West Cape May by Tom Reed. The saga continued this morning, as what was presumably the same bird appeared heading southward over Higbee Dike and proceeded to spend at least half an hour soaring over the west side of the peninsula in the Higbee's Beach WMA area.

Though the Upland Sandpiper showed well at Higbee's yesterday afternoon, it was not found this morning as far as I know - but maybe it will pop up again this weekend. This bird has proven to be very approachable, but please respect the bird and remember that Higbee's can attract large numbers of people, so give it space if there are more folks around. I would also please urge anyone to ask people yet again not to trample all over the Rye crop that has been sown in the first field at Higbee's. Despite my request, many people continue to walk all over it, even after having been asked nicely not to.

Higbee's was pretty busy this morning with Golden-crowned and Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Swamp, Song and White-throated Sparrows, Northern Flickers, Red-eyed Vireos, Northern Parulas and Blackpoll Warblers being the commonest species. A Yellow-billed Cuckoo was seen in the third field and Common Loons are now regularly passing overhead. At least three Nashville Warblers were at Higbee's this morning. Megan Crewe reported six Snow Geese south off Stone Harbor and the Seawatch at Avalon reported female Common Eider and male Redhead. A male Ring-necked Duck appeared at Lightouse Pond, the first of the fall as far as I have heard.

The weather isn't set for a big fall of birds this weekend, but it should be settled enough for a continued southerly drift of birds, so there should be plenty to look out for!

Late Fall Begins...

2011-10-06T16:57:00.001-04:00

With the coming of sparrows, it feels like late fall and the sparrows have certainly started to arrive now. On my Hidden Valley walk this morning we had a nice bow wave moving ahead of us as numerous White-throated, Swamp and Song Sparrows flitted out of our way. Overhead, the skies provided great views of a raft of Northern Flickers, kettles of Broad-winged Hawks and - best of all - a total of 10 Eastern Meadowlarks that bustled their way over our heads. Eastern Phoebes are in town in good numbers this past few days too, while anyone interested in Monarchs will have delighted in the departure of these amazing insects from roosts this morning - Michael O'Brien reported counts of 550 per minute passing him at Coral Avenue (though I don't know for how many minutes!!). The odd Connecticut Warbler and Lincoln's Sparrow has been reported amongst the larger numbers of other species and a small run of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers has proceeded daily since October 1st. Tuesday saw a Swainson's Hawk putting in a fairly brief appearance as it drifted past the Hawkwatch then was reported heading over the bay towards Delaware.

On Wednesday morning, three Eurasian Collared Doves flying west along the duneline at the state park were intriguing. Are the birds from Cape May Point starting to wander a little now, or is this another three birds moving in? There's been no reports of any at the point for some time so it's hard to say what's happening with them. A possible Gray Kingbird flashed past the Hawkwatch on Wednesday morning and a Clay-colored Sparrow was reported from Del Haven in the afternoon. Perhaps the biggest surprise of this morning was the rediscovery of the Upland Sandpiper at Higbee's Beach today, now stationing itself in the third field. Since this is a particularly late date and since Higbee's is not generally considered a traditional spot for this species, it does seem likely that this is the same bird that was present there some days ago and which somehow has escaped detection.

It sounds as though all the usual sites are producing birds at the moment so Cape May has plenty to offer for the coming weekend. I hear that people are seeing plenty of warblers and sparrows at Higbee's Beach, around Cape May Point and at Cox Hall Creek WMA, while Stone Harbor Point sounds as though it has still got plenty of birds on offer. Personally, I can vouch for a nice run of Magnolia Warblers, Red-eyed Vireos and Scarlet Tanagers outside the office window this week...

2 October -- an excellent flight in the morning

2011-10-03T08:51:00.006-04:00

[This adult Bald Eagle made a low pass directly over the Hawkwatch platform shortly after 10 am on 2 October. Though numbers of Bald Eagles are so high as to be an everyday occurrence here, such birds -- particularly adults -- only rarely fly so close to the hordes of eagle oglers. All photos were taken from the Hawkwatch platform on 2 October and are copyright Tony Leukering; click on image{s) to see larger version(s).]

Tom Johnson has already noted a few bits from an interesting and exciting 2 October morning, but I thought that I'd add a few more details.

The sheer variety going past the Hawkwatch in the first few hours of the day was incredible, with a goodly variety of warbler species (e.g., Cape May, Pine, Black-throated Blue, Northern Parula, and 6 Yellows -- late for such a large number), the first big Northern Flicker flight of the season, a juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker, a White-rumped Sandpiper amongst a large-for-this-late-in-the-season flight of Semipalmated Sandpipers, a large-for-this-late-in-the-season flight of Bobolinks, falcons and accipiters everywhere, four species of swallows (Tree, Bank, Barn, Cliff), a few flocks of Cedar Waxwings, a few Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, a Baltimore Oriole, and even a few Broad-winged Hawks. In fact, warblers were still coming off the ocean well into the afternoon.

However, the best show -- or, at least, the one varying most from normal -- was put on by herons. At least nine flocks of Black-crowned Night-Herons totalling some 170 individuals passed by. But the mixed Great Blue Heron-Great Egret flock (56 and 8) that picked up in late morning to the north of the Hawkwatch and proceeded across Delaware Bay took the Oscar for Best Heron Performance.

Late-morning rain slowed the flight down, but there were interesting occurrences all the way through the afternoon; enough so to keep some of the regulars pinned to the platform until the bitter end. Those that stayed got to be amazed by the most exhilarating act of the day, when an adult male Peregrine Falcon took a cue from all of the Merlins. It came speeding in, just like a Merlin, but in a much-higher gear, from the vicinity of the lighthouse into the Tree Swallow swarm at the back side of Bunker Pond. It made a couple swirling stabs at Tree Swallows, then, seemingly effortlessly, nabbed one from near the water's surface and carried it back past the stunned crowd.

[The flight of Northern Flickers past the Hawkwatch numbered greater than 300 and included these two obliging individuals. Note on the lower bird that the 6th and 7th primaries (count inward from number 10, but don't count that really short feather, as that's the alula) are salmon-colored. I believe that the color is due simply to some odd availability of pigments at the time the feathers were growing, rather than the result of gene introgression from Red-shafted forms of Northern Flicker.]

[Though the original image was tiny, we can still see the diagnostic yellow vent and tail pattern of the western subspecies of Palm Warbler in the picture (the eastern form, Yellow Palm Warbler, is entirely yellow below). Palm Warblers are now very numerous in their favorite local habitat: the dunes.]

[Late in the afternoon, Merlins were more interested in an early dinner than in migrating, as we noted three consecutive Merlins coming off the water with some hapless victim. Though the jury is still out on this bird's meal, I believe that it is a Tree Swallow, one of hundreds swarming the Point this day.]

[29 of a flock of 46 Black-crowned Night-Herons lumbering their way toward the Bayshore and points south. Note the other, smaller, birds in the picture; I think that they're Tree Swallows, but....]

[Part of the flock of 56 Great Blue Herons and eight Great Egrets heading out.]

Cape May birds from October 2nd (photos)

2011-10-02T20:20:00.003-04:00

Adult (left) and juvenile (right) Hudsonian Godwits, two of the eight that passed the Point today. To generalize, adults usually migrate earlier in the season (July/ August), while juveniles come through later (often September/ October). It was interesting to have a mixed age flock fly by today. The adult has a whiter belly (basic plumage) with traces of reddish belly feathers (presumably retained alternate plumage), while the juvenile has a creamy belly (the upperwing showed crisp, neatly fringed juvenile coverts as well). I would guess that the adult bird is a female based on its very long bill - the juvenile is likely a male with a shorter bill, but I'm not sure when the juveniles' bills reach full length, so such a claim might be presumptuous. Curlews, for example, often have shorter bills into at least the beginning of their first winter.

This Pine Warbler was boldly occupying a non-pine this evening in Cape May Point.

A Black-throated Blue Warbler delighted many visitors today as it fed at waist-height in a buggy Siberian Elm.

... and Cape May Warblers stole the show again, with up to 7 in one tree on East Lake Drive during the late morning hours.

[all photos copyright Tom Johnson]

Warblers up close in the Point!

2011-10-01T18:39:00.004-04:00

The Siberian Elms in Cape May Point are once again attracting bugs and their attendant warblers. These trees are notoriously buggy in September and October here in Cape May, and today were pulling in good numbers of warblers, including Northern Parulas, Black-throated Blue Warblers, Blackpoll Warblers, and Cape May Warblers. The trees can provide amazing views down to a few feet away as the warblers gobble up small insects at eye level. One spot that was particular hot this evening was an elm along East Lake Drive just south of the CMBO Northwood Center. [both photos copyright Tom Johnson]

Cape May Warbler - 1 Oct 2011 - Cape May Point

Blackpoll Warbler - 1 Oct 2011 - Cape May Point

A Feisty Booby!

2011-09-30T15:05:00.001-04:00

Bob Lubberman sent me some new photos of our now seemingly resident female Brown Booby. She's recently been spending time further back in the marsh, making land-based views a little less reliable, so we would advise taking a boat trip out there if you really want to see the bird well (check out boat sailing times on our events calendar page or in the Kestrel Express). It looks as though our booby is learning to stick up for herself against those Double-crested Cormorants now!

Brown Booby photos by Wayne Laubscher

Black-throated Gray - and Things A-Plenty...

2011-09-29T17:51:00.000-04:00

Well, I hate to say I told you so but, I told you so!! Another day without a cold front, but what a day it turned out to be. Regular visitor from the UK, Jonathan Wasse arrived here yesterday and headed to Higbee's Beach for his first morning of birding, only to discover a Black-throated Gray Warbler! This is a species that should be far away in the Rockies and a wonderful find for Jonathan. Luckily for the rest of us, the bird hung around and was watched on and off over the next couple of hours by a good number of admirers. Other far-western birds of late in New Jersey have included a Townsend's Warbler at Sandy Hook and a Say's Phoebe at Bee Meadow, Hanover.

Black-throated Gray Warbler at Higbee's Beach today. The bird mostly favored junipers (red cedars) along the main track that runs south from the portaloo area. [Photo by Michael O'Brien]

Yesterday, our regular Wednesday morning walk at the state park turned up two American Moorhens - now split from Common Moorhen by some. Unfortunately, some people have chosen to now call the New World bird a Common Gallinule (gallinules are of course in the genus Porphyrula) which is confusing many people and resulting in erroneous records of Purple Gallinule. If only some of the people who make these name-changing decisions for personal reasons could remember that the world doesn't just center around them! Tom Magarian was counter at the Avalon Seawatch on Wednesday and noted a Bridled Tern heading south.

Back to the birdshow at Higbee's Beach this morning; as well as the aforementioned Black-throated Gray Warbler, a Clay-colored Sparrow was found by visiting birder James Smith (sorry guys, another Brit - though like me, he does at least live over here!) in the first field, while yesterday's Upland Sandpiper remained faithful to it's little corner there too. Otherwise, there wasn't much sign of common birds as such, though there was good numbers of Gray Catbirds and Brown Thrashers calling from vine tangles. Lunchtime, there was a report of American Avocet and American Golden Plover on the Avalon side of Townsend's Inlet, then the afternoon belonged to the Hawkwatch, as an almost continuous stream of Peregrines cruised south before a greatly appreciative audience. As yesterday, American Kestrels and Merlins featured heavily too. Ospreys, Northern Harriers, Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks and a smattering of Bald Eagles all kept folks on the edge of their seats, while out in The Rips, at least five Parasitic Jaegers were persuing gulls and terns and there was at least two reports of a dark Pomarine Jaeger out there. Tomorrow might be touch and go, but Saturday is looking interesting weather-wise - we might get that long-awaited North-westerly after all...

Spraying at The Meadows

2011-09-28T11:47:00.000-04:00

The annual spraying to control Common Reed at The Nature Conservancy's South Cape May Meadows is scheduled to take place next week. The timing of the spraying is weather-dependent so it is not possible at this stage to give exact times when spraying will actually take place. If you intend birding this site next week, please follow any on-site signage you might see on arrival. Nature Conservancy staff are hoping to keep the reserve open as much as possible and will only close sections of the trails if and when spraying is in close proximity. Nature Conservancy staff should be available on site to help you with any questions while spraying is in progress. Note that spraying will not affect Pete Dunne's regular Monday morning walk at The Meadows and hopefully will not affect our Wednesday and Friday evening walks which are likely to take place after spraying has finished for the day.

Same Old Cape May!

2011-09-27T15:16:00.001-04:00

There's a little bit of doom and gloom floating around the local birding community this Fall because the weather is just plain 'wrong'! We all know that NW fronts bring cooler air and birds, but these pesky, persistent southerlies just keep breezing up the eastern seaboard; and the birds? Well they just keep going! Of course, we should be happy for the birds. If we're honest, many migration spectacles actually involve birds being shoe-horned into bottlenecks and appearing before us in large numbers - great for birders but not really that ideal for birds, who would much rather make an uneventful, humdrum flight southward with just the occasional short stop-over to refuel.

But hey, this is Cape May; what's with the doom and gloom? I guess we get just a little spoilt here with our regular fall-outs in most years and this year they have certainly been lacking. But Cape May any day can produce good birding - especially in the Fall, when birds are moving whatever the weather. Last night I had occasion to find myself standing out in the street in the middle of town with Michael O'Brien (we're funny like that here!) and the dark skies above were full of all those 'chips', 'squeeks' and 'tsips' that can be heard at Higbee Dike of a morning. Michael just kept pulling them out of the bag: Green Heron (I knew that one!!), Bobolink (and that one!), Gray-cheeked and Swainson's Thrushes, Veery, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Grasshopper Sparrow (now I'm a wreck!), Northern Parula, Blackpoll Warbler... and so it went on. Light southerlies, perfect migration conditions, ¡Buen Viaje Pocitos! Incidentally, if you want to share this amazing experience (and many others too), you may just squeek in on the last couple of places on Michael's Advanced Birding By Ear workshop - click here for some details, or call Chris Tonkinson on 609-861-0700 for an update on availability.

This morning seemed a little quiet after last night's fly-by, but foggy conditions probably accounted for that. The Wilson's Plover was reported continuing at Stone Harbor Point - though at times very hard work at this large site - six Marbled Godwits continue to be seen there and a very obliging Upland Sandpiper spent much of today so far feeding in the first field at Higbee's Beach. Please remember to respect the crop here if you visit. Meanwhile, the whole point seems to be alive with falcons!! Peregrines, Merlins and American Kestrels are having a ball right now and can be seen anywhere from Higbee's and The Beanery to Sunset Boulevard and - of course - the Hawkwatch Platform at the state park. Coming back from my house after a lunchtime visit to Higbee's, I actually counted 12 American Kestrels, four Merlins and a Peregrine along a three mile stretch of road! Meanwhile, Mike Fritz reported a fly-by Violet-green Swallow at Stone Harbor Point, Sora Rails are cropping up in The Meadows and a Red-headed Woodpecker appears to be lurking at Cox Hall Creek WMA.

Cape May quiet? Noooo!!

Upland Sandpiper at Higbee's Beach today [photo by Mike Crewe]. These birds can be surprisingly tame on migration; somewhat famously, a vagrant one in the UK a few years back actually took a worm from a birder - who was lying on the ground and holding the worm in his mouth (not recommended!).

Just as a little aside; you may wonder what happens to butterflies that survive a hurricane - well here's a good example! Will Kerling took this photo a few days ago of a seriously battered Common Buckeye. If you want to know what it should look like, compare the picture below with this!

Fog, fog, fog, and Wilson's Plover

2011-09-26T17:21:00.011-04:00

[All pictures are copyright Tony Leukering 2011. Click on image(s) to see larger version(s).]

One of the stories of the day was the fog. With air temperatures staying fairly stable and high (upper 60s to mid-70s) for what seems like forever (but is only the past week) and with water temperatures having dropped (now in the mid-60s), mostly cloudy to overcast skies, and little to no wind, visibility has been poor to nearly non-existent for the past 40 hours or so. Yesterday's hawk flight was very surprising in its strength -- surprising due to the lack of any appreciable change in macro-scale weather conditions, with large numbers of accipiters and falcons, but Melissa Roach was more than happy to have something to count for a change. Though I haven't heard many details, today's hawk count was considerably slower, though with a good afternoon falcon flight. However, Tom Reed up at the Avalon Seawatch had an abysmal day, with visibility less than a quarter-mile for much of the day and few birds noted during the many, but brief, periods of greater visibility (but with visibility beyond the bell buoy being particularly scarce). However, among his skinny number of birds counted as migrating were four Brown Pelicans (more if any passed after I left).

The bird of the day was again the Wilson's Plover that has been a Will-o'-the-wisp for about 10 days, now, at Stone Harbor Point, though we may have figured out why that was so (see below). Vince Elia reported it this morning around 8:45 from farther south on the Point than previous locations. I got the message and, since two trips there on Saturday did not produce a sighting for me, I promptly headed out there. I was greeted there by visibility of less than a few hundred meters, but headed south from the parking lot, anyway. Along the way, a Northern Waterthrush objected to my disturbing it on the path, flying around me and back into the shrubbery.

After getting to the beach, the first thing I met was a fly with a buzz... oh, wait, that was somewhere else. The first thing I met was an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull just south of the jetty in the area of beach at which the Wilson's Plover had been noted on Saturday (along with 30 Semipalmated Plovers and 14 Piping Plovers).

Another Lesser Black-backed Gull, this one a second-cycle bird (~1.25 yrs. old), was a bit farther down the beach on my way south.

About halfway down the point, but looking back to the north, I saw the following scene:

Michael O'Brien, Melissa Roach, and Tom Johnson were on my trail, though only barely identifiable a few hundred meters away. I waited for them to join me, and we continued our tramp downbeach. Only a short while later, Michael found the Wilson's Plover running across our path, whereupon we all ogled it and then moved closer in hopes of better looks and some photographs. Unfortunately, it then flew off to join a passing flock of Sanderling that was heading south and then west into Hereford Inlet.

[Wilson's Plover shortly after jumping off the beach on its way to join a passing Sanderling flock.

[Wilson's Plover with part of the flock of Sanderlings and a Semipalmated Sandpiper.]

We continued to the end of the point, where we noted that much of Champagne Island was above water and we speculated that the Wilson's Plover might have been so difficult to find because it spent some of its day on the island. Though the island has supported a large tern and skimmer colony in the past (and been much ogled because of it), its current iteration has no vegetation because it is entirely under water at high tide. Because of that, I believe that few birders have scanned it much in the past couple years and we might have gotten out of the habit of thinking about it. But, as noted by Michael (again!), there was the plover! Unfortunately, again the bird flew off and we lost it to the SE in the fog. However, we still enjoyed the large number of Caspian Terns and Black-bellied Plovers there, along with a smattering of Red Knots and American Oystercatchers, and three adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

[One of some 40 Caspian Terns on Champagne Island and the tip of Stone Harbor Point.]

Wilson's Plover

2011-09-24T14:33:00.002-04:00

A Wilson's Plover was found at Stone Harbor Point by Don Freiday this morning, just south of the southernmost stone jetties. Though there is fairly regular coverage at this site, it does seem likely that this is the same bird that was reported from there on Sunday, September 11th. I managed to squeeze the bird into a lunch time visit and found Don revelling in some glorious sand and mud as he defied the incoming tide to get some great shots (being in my work apparel, I decided to be a little more cautious with my approach!). The bird was flushed by a shell collector (despite the gathering of people enjoying the bird!!) and flew off strongly to the south, but it may well still be in the area and should be looked for along the tideline.

Though I didn't make it to Higbee's Beach before work this morning, there may well have been a small movement of birds, as the Northwood Center certainly had warblers first thing, including a Yellow-breasted Chat right outside my office window (a new one for that list!) and some visiting birders reported a Mourning Warbler beside Lake Lily, outside the store. This morning I also heard of a Bonaparte's Gull seen yesterday too.

Along the Atlantic coast this morning, Brian Johnson reported a fair movement of Brown Pelicans heading south off Sea Isle City, while our Seawatch counter, Tom Reed, had counted 32 passing Avalon by lunchtime. Oh, and by the way, if you want to know how Tom is doing with his New Jersey 'Big Year' - take a look at the Press of Atlantic City website where he's front page news right now!

Wilson's Plover at Stone Harbor Point today - note the chunky bill designed for catching small crabs, which is a key feature of the species. This bird is dear to the hearts of Cape May birders, since the species was described from one which was shot on the beach at Cape May by Alexander Wilson on May 13th 1813 - one of three that he bagged that day! [photo by Mike Crewe]

From the front, the long, dull pink legs of Wilson's Plover seem particularly noticeable [photo by Mike Crewe].

Three in one view! Three Charadrius plover species in one shot is not easy in Cape May County, but here, Piping, Semipalmated and Wilson's Plovers all line up to be counted at Stone Harbor Point [photo by Mike Crewe].

Higbee Trails

2011-09-23T15:27:00.000-04:00

Just a quick request regarding the fields and trails at Higbee's Beach. The first field south of the parking lot has now been planted with a crop of winter rye and the plan is to sow the field with a permanent grass and wildflower mix next spring. This will create a fabulous habitat for migratory birds. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, make every effort to resist walking on the crop now that plants are germinating in there, and keep to the well-worn trails around the edge of the field. Thanks to all.

Lackluster - but with a bit of polish...

2011-09-22T17:44:00.001-04:00

Soggy weather continues on and off at Cape May today as dreary southerlies slip through the region and persuade migrants to head south by another route. However, such laclustre days always have a little bit of polish on them here and, though some of use such days to catch up on office duties, others are out and about and it is such people who turn up the extra special goodies that are lurking around Cape May at this time of year. Over the last few days, I've been sent several photos of such birds and even managed to see a couple of things myself!

Perhaps one of the most bizarre text messages of late came early on Wednesday morning when Tom Johnson reported two Wild Turkeys, seen in flight from Higbee's Dike! A leucistic Laughing Gull also comes in under the bizarre header - one has been reoprted a couple of times from around the point, most recently at St Mary's on Wednesday. Further afield, Brigantine continues to pull in both birds and birders to watch them, with White Ibis, Hudsonian Godwit and Yellow-headed Blackbird all still being reported this week. Below are a few photos of some interesing birds from the past few days.

Wayne Morley sent me this unusual photo of a Canada Warbler; unusual because this is a bird that normally likes to skulk in the thickets. This bird was on the ground under Wayne's feeder in his yard - very nice!

And talking of things coming out into the open; Bob Lubberman sent me this picture of a fabulous American Bittern that disported itself before the folks on our Back Bay Birding By Boat trip today.

Tom Johnson was out on the dune cross-over at South Cape May Beach, late Monday afternoon and chanced across the third Violet-green Swallow to be recorded in Cape May - a stunning find. Though there have been no further reports of the bird as yet, as long as conditions remain non-conducive to migration, there is a chance that it may still be in the area. Tom's comments on this bird can be found on our View From The Field page. [Photo by Tom Johnson]

This adult Lesser Black-backed Gull has been hanging out on the South Cape May Beach recently and strikes me as a little odd, as I would normally expect such a bird to be starting to molt into non-breeding plumage by now. Yet this bird sports a clean white head and very bright bare parts (bill and legs) which would be more typical of a bird still in the midst of breeding. [Photo by Mike Crewe]

Another view of the same Lesser Black-backed Gull. The strong contrast between the black wing tip and dark slate-gray upperwing shows this to be of the race graellsii, the most westerly race of this species and thus the one typically found in North America. Gull afficianados may well spot that the 5th primary appears to be growing in on the left wing here, but my photos show no matching molt on the right wing so this may just be replacement of a lost feather. [Photo by Mike Crewe]

Another bird that poses an interesting question. This Clay-colored Sparrow was present beside Bunker Pond today, just west of the railing where the terns sit. It posed nicely for me and looks wonderfully like a Pallas's Bunting here!! [Photo by Mike Crewe]

This picture of the Clay-colored Sparrow shows nicely the pale lores which separates this species from Chipping Sparrow, the latter showing a clear dark line between the bill and the eye. [Photo by Mike Crewe]

So, my interesting question about this bird - which Michael O'Brien first raised after the briefest of glimpses of the bird on the back of my camera (all the more reason to go on his Sparrows workshop in October!) - is this. Clay-colored is supposed to have a light brown rump, concolorous with the rest of the upperparts, while Chipping has a light gray rump, contrasting with the rest of the upperparts. So what is going on with this bird?!! [Photo by Mike Crewe]

Down To Earth With A Bump!

2011-09-20T16:46:00.000-04:00

After the heady weekend of wall to wall birds, it was back to trudging around damp fields by Monday morning in the hope of finding a few things left behind after the big clear out. I mentioned previously that 28 warbler species had been reported on Friday - that number has risen to 31 now, though it does include a late report of a Prothonotary Warbler which I haven't seen pictures of yet... (if you're out there and want to share!). One other update I should mention, the Red-necked Phalarope turned out to be a Red Phalarope - an easy mistake to make with juveniles at this time of year. It sounds as though it was seen again at Sunset Beach on Sunday. Other birds on Sunday included a late Golden-winged Warbler (continuing a good fall for them here) Olive-sided Flycatcher and Summer Tanager at Higbee's Beach and a Lark Sparrow again at Cape May Point State Park.

On Monday, a juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker was reported from Cox Hall Creek WMA and a single Sandwich Tern showed up again at South Cape May Beach. Most of us missed 'the big one' from the past few days it seems, however, as Tom Johnson pulled a Violet-green Swallow out of the hat a little after 4:30PM on Monday. A real vagrant from the far west, this is never an easy call when you're talking about juveniles, but the photos show all the features nicely, including a pale underwing, some white above the eye and - of course - the classic white rump patch with narrow, dark center. Not much has been on offer under gray skies today, save for the Eurasian Collared Dove that flew past Higbee Dike this morning (are there now five on the island?!), but the Brown Booby continues her lonely vigil in Jarvis Sound I hear, and a light shower this afternoon saw me nipping out to check Lighthouse Pond, where there was no sign of the hoped-for Violet-green Swallow, but some 30 or more Tree Swallows, 10 Barn Swallows, four Chimney Swifts and 11 Purple Martins were shortly joined by at least two Bank Swallows and two Cliff Swallows.

Cape May pelagic trip

2011-09-18T08:07:00.018-04:00

[Click on image(s) to see larger version(s).]

Yes, it's been a week, but I am finally getting around to summarizing the pelagic trip that a large number of the Cape May regulars enjoyed on Sunday, 11 September. Thanks to the crew of the Atlantic Star for their efforts in enabling us to find interesting birds and in greatly enjoying the non-avian show the sea provided us. Also, tremendous thanks are owed Tom Reed for doing the vast majority of the organizing of the event after it became clear to me that my various and sundry writing commitments would not allow me the time to do so.

We departed around midnight from Wildwood Crest, passing right by channel marker #475 enabling us to briefly ogle the adult female Brown Booby that has squatting rights there. On most any other pelagic trip off New Jersey, Brown Booby would probably have been the highlight of the trip and we hadn't yet gotten out of the back bays!

First light saw us on Wilmington Canyon, with a spreading slick of oil and fish bits awaiting the first birds of the morning. As per usual out there at the appropriate season, Wilson's Storm-Petrel was first and as the light got stronger, the many photographers on the boat began taking aim. Such close good views enabled all to even note the yellow webbing on the feet of the storm-petrels!

Great Shearwaters came into the slick, too, providing numerous excellent photo ops immediately behind the boat. A smattering of Cory's Shearwaters made appearances, but none came in close.

We finally left the slick behind, and struck out for a temperature break (abrupt change in temperature of different water masses; in this case from 73 degrees to 76 degrees), a feature to which White-faced Storm-Petrel is attracted. Though we worked this break for quite a while both in the morning and the afternoon, we went unrewarded with what may be the Holy Grail of storm-petrels. However, once we got into the warmer water, we were rewarded with a flock of six Bridled Terns, most of which were young-of-the-year (as below). We would end the day with 10 Bridleds.

And, now, for a quick aside about landbirds. With the overnight winds being light and from the east, we did not expect much in the way of landbirds, and were not disabused of that expectation. However, the photographers certainly appreciated the few warblers noted, as they provided much better photo ops than one typically gets at the Higbees dike, being longer in duration and more predictable in flight path. Not predictable, just more predictable. I think that the landbird flight was comprised solely of one Northern Waterthrush, one Yellow Warbler, one Common Yellowthroat (an imm. male), and two Yellow-breasted Chats (one female, one male). The latter two species were particularly appreciated, as neither species takes part in morning flight, so photo ops for the two in flight are fairly scarce.

Our first marine-mammal experience of the day would be the most interesting and most fun! Off in the distance, we noted a large pod (>350 animals) of Short-beaked Common Dolphins, so motored our way toward them. And, so typical of the species, once the dolphins noticed the boat, they motored, er... finned their way toward it. Our captain (Chris Kanya) kept the boat at speed so that the dolphins would be able to bow ride, but also turned large circles enabling the dolphins to ride the wake, providing entertainment not only for the land-lubber mammals present, but also for the dolphins. Watching them cavort on the bow and in the wake, it is impossible to not believe that they were having fun. Particularly, as they left a large fish boil on which they'd been feeding in order to do so.

In the deep water (>1300 feet) we ran across a couple pods of pilot whales (either Short-finned or Long-finned), many of which were lounging about the surface. While ogling them, three Minke Whales were seen fairly well as they travelled by.

A will-o'-the-wisp large fin went through a tortuous ID process going through shark and ray before finally settling firmly on Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola), a very odd species that typically spends its time at the surface, feeds on jellyfish, and is the largest species of bony fish in the world (adults regularly exceed 2200 lbs).

A bit before noon, we started the long run in to shore (advertised return time of 6 pm), leaving the deep water and zig-zagging across Wilmington Canyon in hopes of finding more of interest. We were not disappointed, and the highlight was the dark juvenile Long-tailed Jaeger that put on a good show, but did not allow close approach. We still do not know what was projecting from its mouth.

On the run in, we began seeing Loggerhead Turtles, with our final tally being something around 24 of 'em! One of them did not perform to spec, that is lift its head, note the boat, and disappear under water never to be seen again. In fact, in all my time at sea, I have never had as good a look at a sea turtle as provided by this individual, which we were able to watch as it swam around just beneath the surface right next to the boat. This first picture provides what is a fairly typical view of the species...

... while this "friendly" individual was so close to the boat that I could not keep the whole critter in the field of view, and this picture represents the entire field of view at the time!

All in all, a lovely day, with nicely calm seas, a good smattering of birds, and an incredible show put on by fish, reptiles, and mammals.

"There's a Parula in my Christmas Tree..."

2011-09-17T22:14:00.000-04:00

Another Cape May Fall Saturday; a crowded Higbee's Beach parking lot, lots of smiling faces and wall to wall birds. What more could you want? Despite some miserable weather today, with cloudy conditions turning to rain in the afternoon, everyone I spoke to today was having a great day. And the reason? Well, there was a nice continuation of yesterday going on, with warblers all over the place and a nice collection of other goodies too. Higbee's was alive with Northern Parulas, American Redstarts and Red-eyed Vireos today, as well as some nice bonus birds, which included at least 10 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, five Scarlet Tanagers and both Yellow-billed and Black-billed Cuckoos. Up at Del Haven, a wander of the local streets provided an adult male Hooded Warbler. I heard today of another one of those at the Northwood Center yesterday, so that makes 29 species of warbler for Friday now. Particularly noteworthy today were the vireos, especially Philadelphia Vireo. My own personal tally included Philadelphia, Red-eyed, White-eyed, Blue-headed and Warbling Vireos today - making six species seen in the last two days if you add in Friday's Yellow-throated Vireo! Gorgeous Black-throated Blue and Black-throated Green Warblers and more subtle, fall-plumaged Cape May, Blackburnian, Blackpoll and Bay-breasted Warblers were all enjoyed by many today. More unusual birds during the day included a Lark Sparrow at Cape May Point State Park and a Red-necked Phalarope seen briefly on South Cape May Beach with Sanderlings. There was also a juvenile Red Knot there - not a common bird south of the canal. Offshore, The Rips were "heaving" according to Tony Leukering and several Parasitic Jaegers and Brown Pelicans were noted.

All in all, another fabulous Cape May day, but what of the title to this post? Well, some of us locals donate our old christmas trees to the Sunset Grill to help protect it from coastal erosion - and we certainly want to save our favorite breakfast stop from falling into the water (and we're ever grateful to them for allowing birders to record avian events from there during the passing of Hurricane Irene recently). So there was I, having a late breakfast before work this morning, when I saw a little moss-green, blue and yellow sprite moving amongst the branches of our old tree, right down on the edge of the beach itself. And there it was, in all its glory; I turned to Brian and said...

Black-billed Cuckoo at Higbee's Beach today. Many members of the cuckoo family having energy-saving thermoregulatory behavior and often lose heat overnight. This often means that, after a cool night, they will sit up in the sun to warm up before going about their day's business. We can use this behavior to our advantage by looking for cuckoos early in the morning wherever there are sheltered, sunny spots with exposed branches [photo by Mike Crewe].

It was a great day for Philadelphia Vireos today [photo by Mike Crewe].

Peeping Parula. It was a fabulous day for watching Northern Parulas today and this picture sums the species up for me - a little gem of a bird that actively peeps around the leaves, looking for tasty insects [photo by Mike Crewe].

FALL!!!

2011-09-16T21:55:00.000-04:00

Fall arrived today! It's official, just ask anyone who was at Cape May today - the birds were dripping from the trees (and the marshes and the skies...). A slight element of skepticism surrounded the Thursday night get together as there was a small measure of uncertainty as to weather the hoped-for cold front would really come. Waking up this morning I checked the thermometer - 48F. 48F!! After soaring temperatures for what had seemed like an eternity, jackets were finally required this morning, but what a day it turned out to be! Blustery winds caused birds to be a little skittish first thing, but the same blustery winds were probably also responsible for birds being in a hurry to make landfall and Cape May Point itself benefited from the fact that birds seemed in no hurry to head further north before settling down.

The stars throughout the whole day today were the warblers - and what a show they put on. From Cox Hall Creek and Higbee's Beach to the State Park and CMBO's Northwood Center, I heard of 27 species of warbler being reported today - of which I managed 23! Some of the highlights included a female Cerulean Warbler at the state park, multiple Black-throated Green and Wilson's Warblers, at least five Connecticut Warblers (including two at Hidden Valley and one in our garden!), a female Golden-winged Warbler at the dike and several Cape May Warblers. As well as the expected dominance in numbers of Black-and-white Warblers, American Redstarts and Northern Parulas, Black-throated Blue Warblers were notable by their presence, with Higbee Dike and the State Park in particular being favored by them. Yellow-throated and Warbling Vireos joined the expected White-eyed and Red-eyeds and multiple Scarlet Tanagers and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks were around. Seven species of flycatcher included a late Acadian at Higbee's, Yellow-bellied at Hidden Valley and an Olive-sided at Cox Hall Creek. A couple of Summer Tanagers were reported (Del Haven and Higbee's), a Dickcissel flew over Hidden Valley and the Hawkwatch had a fair day with Red-shouldered Hawk at Midday and a Swainson's Hawk notched up by counter Melissa Roach in the final half-hour of the count period - just reward for a hard day's work!

Brigantine seemed to be quieter today but reports from there included a Yellow-headed Blackbird and a Hudsonian Godwit.

If things go according to plan, there should still be a reasonable number of birds on Saturday. Winds are forecast to be NNE which isn't ideal, but it's better than southerlies!

Seeking warblers on migration is not always the best way to get stunning views - but finding such elusive waifs is often a big part of the fun. This Wilson's Warbler played hide & seek with me for several minutes and, though I did get better pictures, I think this one best summed up the art of warbler-peeping! [Photo by Mike Crewe]

Olive-sided Flycatcher at Cox Hall Creek WMA; this site is rapidly gaining a reputation for attracting this species on migration [photo by Mike Crewe].

Preparing for Fall

2011-09-15T23:17:00.000-04:00

We seem to have been going through a kind of slow preparation for Fall recently with a definite frustrated edginess to local birders as September continues to muddle along at an all too gentle pace. Despite this, I realise that it has been almost a week since we updated everyone on Cape May sightings - and I see that I have had a fair scattering of text messages during that time. So a quick recap is due.

We need to go way back to last Thursday, when an Olive-sided Flycatcher was reported perched near Higbee Dike and an end-of-season Roseate Tern flew west past the point, which brings us then to the birds already mentioned on that busy Friday - an increase in the number of Eurasian Collared Doves to four birds needs to be added to the tally for that day, as well as a late Upland Sandpiper flying over Stevens Street in the evening. Saturday started well with Michael O'Brien reporting overhead calls of up to 150/minute at Cape May Beachfront at 05:30AM and a Golden-winged Warbler was the first report of the day from Higbee's. A Yellow-headed Blackbird flew past the Hawkwatch Platform with Red-winged Blackbirds just after 09:00AM and was followed shortly after by sightings of perhaps a different individual of the species. An Upland Sandpiper set the tone for a good Hawkwatch Platform day and Higbee's Beach replied with Connecticut Warbler, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher and Philadelphia and Warbling Vireos. At least two different Wilson's Warblers were also reported from Higbee's. Saturday rounded off with a Mourning Warbler seen all too briefly at Cape May Point State Park.

Sunday saw something of a dearth of records from Cape May as many of the local, active birders were away on a pelagic trip out of Wildwood. Highlights that filtered through to me include the Brown Booby (seen on her favorite marker post in the dark as the guys headed out of dock!) 10 or so Bridled Terns, a Long-tailed Jaeger and two Audubon's Shearwaters. Smaller birds - but larger surprises - were two Yellow-breasted Chats which lingered around the boat a while and a Buff-breasted Sandpiper.

A further report of a Golden-winged Warbler at Higbee's kicked off Monday morning, then things went kind of quiet until Bob Ringler reported a Wilson's Plover from Stone Harbor. Despite much searching during what was left of the evening and the following morning, no other sightings of this bird were forthcoming. Tuesday began with a good morning flight at Higbee's, with a tolerable distraction for the Morning Flight Counter coming in the shape of a Buff-breasted Sandpiper at the canal impoundment (a great autumn for them continues along the Atlantic seaboard, with high numbers being reported from the UK too!). Reports of a possible Little Egret at Heislerville in Cumberland County were quickly followed up and seem to have unfortunately related to what appeared to be a rather unusual Snowy Egret with dull, grayish lores. Tuesday also produced the first of a run of nice reports from Brigantine over the last few days, starting with a Red-necked Phalarope, immature White Ibis and Black-necked Stilt (all species continue there today). Most intriguing of Tuesday's reports from Brigantine involved a report of 15 American White Pelicans flying over which sadly did not get tracked to Cape May! Our regular Tuesday evening walk wrapped up a busy day nicely with a Lark Sparrow at Stone Harbor Point.

Wednesday's opener came from Brigantine with Baird's and Buff-breasted Sandpipers and American Golden Plover reported and a Wilson's Phalarope joined the Red-necked Phalarope that was already there from the day before. Away from birds for a moment, Tony Leukering sent out what appears to be the first report of Cloudless Sulphur for Cape May County for the year, flying past the Hawkwatch Platform. These butterflies move north in late summer and generally by now, we would expect to have had reasonable numbers around for some weeks (Will Kerling reported the second from Cold Spring today). Onward to today (Thursday), and another report of a Yellow-headed Blackbird, this time from Morning Flight counter, Tom Johnson from Higbee Dike. I found time to get out into the field today to get updated on a few of our walk sites and found a great array of birds around Stone Harbor and Nummy's Island. At least 10 Marbled Godwits were present, Caspian Terns - perhaps 15 at least - were feeding in the channels and at least 12 Piping Plovers were still on the beach. A spectacular highlight however, didn't involve birds, but dragonflies. A seemingly endless stream of Green Darners was pouring in off the sea as the wind swung round to the west and tens of thousands appeared to be heading across the point in a broad front. At Nummy's Island, the insects were funneling across the main channel by the free bridge and seemed to be navigating due west along the road. We tried a few one-minute sample counts, simply involving any insects passing us along the width of the road; we arrived at totals of 400-500 per minute passing us in this narrow band - but binoculars revealed insects as far as we could see, until they became too small to see, way out over Stone Harbor Point. Virginia Retig quickly reported a similar phenomenon some 15 miles to the north near mile marker 25 on the Garden State Parkway; again, all were heading west. An incredible sight and something so typical of Cape May. Common Buckeyes were clearly moving south in good numbers today too and, with a big drop in temperature forecast (it's already down to 55F as I type), we may see the first pulse of Monarchs moving through (check out our new Monarch blog to see what's happening!).

Wonderful, checker-backed juvenile Sanderlings abound on Cape May beaches at the moment [photo by Mike Crewe].

Any evidence of successful breeding is a step in the right for the western Atlantic Red Knot population, so it is nice to be able to report a scattering of juveniles at Stone Harbor right now [photo by Mike Crewe].

A Caspian Tern gets the green light to cross the bridge at Stone Harbor [photo by Mike Crewe].

Simply awesome! Just a single snapshot in time of the incredible Green Darner migration through Stone Harbor today (click to enlarge) [photo by Mike Crewe].

Beast of the week! This brute of a Snapping Turtle was caught in the open as it ambled across a field at the Rea Farm last Friday [photo by Mike Crewe].

Darners: It's What's For Dinner

2011-09-09T20:52:00.004-04:00

[Click on image(s) to see larger version(s). All photos copyright Tony Leukering 2011.]

Recent photo ops from the Hawkwatch Platform illustrating the gustatory uses to which many -- and surprisingly varied -- birds put those large dragonflies known as darners.

[Merlin is a well-known on-the-wing predator of dragonflies, with this view repeated uncountable times during the course of every Hawkwatch season. Picture from 7 September.]

[Gull-billed Tern -- this individual of which is getting toward late for the season -- is another well-known dragonfly predator, though this view has been, in my experience, very rare from the platform. Picture from 9 September.]

[This one surprised all of us on the platform, as Snowy Egret is NOT well-known as a predator of, at least, adult dragonflies. Picture from 9 September.]

George Myers

2011-09-09T17:36:00.000-04:00

Buzz, Buzz, Buzz!!

2011-09-09T15:32:00.000-04:00

There was a huge buzz around Cape May today. At last, those annoying southerly winds were swept aside by a swing to the north and the World famous Cape May bird machine was out of the station and rolling down the line. And what a buzz it's been today! It seems that everyone has great stories today, wherever they went birding. It started with the insomniac Tom Johnson alerting us to a wealth of overhead calling migrants at 05:15AM (Thanks Tom!!) which included a good number of thrushes. At dawn, Bobolinks became apparent in large numbers, and sizeable flocks of these birds were still wheeling around the fields at Higbee's Beach as our regular Friday walk took place. Higbee's was interesting as there was a nice push of birds first thing, but variety was rather low. Good numbers of Black-and-white and Yellow Warblers, American Redstarts, Red-eyed Vireos and Common Yellowthroats were soon apparent and we notched up a very brief encounrter with a Connecticut Warbler (which Mike Fritz increased to two). Both Yellow-billed and Black-billed Cuckoos were at Higbee's too.

Before long, it was the Hawkwatch Platform's turn to be the center of attention and, as I write, birds are still passing through there at a heady rate. Ospreys, Bald Eagles, Northern Harriers and American Kestrels are dominating skies and seemingly interminable parties of shorebirds are whipping through, with an American Avocet so far being the highlight. But what of the real highlight for today? That began with a phone call from Gail Dwyer which really knocked us sideways. Gail had found her life Magnificent Frigatebird, hanging out wuth the gulls at Avalon!!! Once that message had come through, there was a mass departure from offices and homes as those in the know headed for the Hawkwatch Platform. A little over an hour after Gail had originally seen the bird at Avalon, Tom Johnson awesomely picked out the frigatebird - which at the time was way out there, over Second Avenue Jetty! Panic ensued but all eventually got on the bird, including those enjoying our Fall Migration Workshop. Gradually, the reason for heading for the Hawkwatch became clear, as the bird drifted slowly but surely towards us, before disappearing into the low clouds! Worrying moments followed, then Glen Davis pulled the bird out of the bag again and this time it drifted right past the platform and off towards Delaware. What a day; what a Cape May Day!!

Always menacing, the distinctive outline of a male Magnificent Frigatebird drifts past the Cape May Hawkwatch Platform [photo by Mike Crewe].

Weather-beaten

2011-09-07T12:44:00.000-04:00

The hope of a good flight for Labor Day Weekend was snuffed out by the weather, which continues to pulse soggy air from the south into Cape May - not good weather for any of our seasonal counters or our visitors!

A few birds are here to be enjoyed though (after all, this is Cape May!) not least of which is the female Brown Booby which continues in Jarvis Sound. I heard today that the bird has moved further out across the saltmarsh towards the parkway, so may longer be viewable from Two-mile Landing. Bob Lubberman tells me that The Osprey boat trips are still finding it daily though. Running through the last few days, an American Moorhen seen at The Meadows on Friday evening has not been reported again but should certainly be looked for. Apologies, but I just can't call it Common Gallinule - since it isn't one!! Common Moorhen was split recently and for some reason, someone in a stuffy office somewhere who clearly doesn't get out much and look at birds decided that, although all the other 'moorhen-like' birds in the genus Gallinula are called moorhens, the one in the Americas should have the same name as birds in the genus Porphyrio - whacky eh?!! Incidentally, people have been trying to catch me out by suggesting that there are no moors here. True, but clearly they don't know that the moor in moorhen is a corruption of the Old English mere, which means lake - and we do have those, and moorhens do live on them, which separates them from gallinules which live in reedy fringes... OK, end rant and back to the birds!

Sunday saw a couple of reports of Olive-sided Flycatcher from Villas Wildlife Management Area - now renamed Cox Hall Creek WMA, so take note as we shall try to use that name from now on. The site has a new interrpetive map and color-marked trails so if you find a bird there, let us know the trail it's on and that should help to reduce the search for other folks. The same day, a Clay-colored Sparrow was at the Hawkwatch, a Gull-billed Tern flew over and Sam Galick reported 82 Western Willets and four Marbled Godwits on Nummy's Island. On Monday, Tom Reed spent time working through the amazing show of gulls and terns that continues on South Cape May Beach and out in The Rips; Tom's counts totalled: 1755 Common Terns, 1310 Laughing Gulls, 305 Royal Terns, seven Sandwich Terns, four Black Terns and eight Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Two American Golden Plovers, swiftly followed by two Buff-breasted Sandpipers, flew past the Hawkwatch and ensured that Tom Reed set a new record for a New Jersey year list - 338 and still the Fall to go!

This morning, Glen Davis reported both Black and Surf Scoters off Coral Avenue (the first reported from there for several months) and a possible Gray Kingbird was seen in the state park - despite much searching it hasn't been re-located yet. Gray Kingbird is a Caribbean species with northerly populations in the extreme Southeast and Southern USA but has a track record of occasional vagrancy up the East Coast. The discovery of this bird reminded me of some emails I had from Sam Galick recently, flagging up several regional sightings of birds that may well have been misplaced by Hurricane Irene. Such sightings include a number of 'probable' Black Swifts, a Brown-chested Martin at Cape Charles, VA and a Great Kiskadee in New York Harbor. It is certainly worth keeping an eye on the skies for large swifts - if nothing else, you might spot a reorienting frigatebird!

Higbee's Quiet but Beaches Bountiful

2011-09-03T18:27:00.001-04:00

On light southerly winds, Higbee's Beach remains not surprisingly quiet, but on the up side, the small flock of warblers that holds an interesting ensemble of both Blue-winged and Golden-winged Warblers - and apparently some intriguing hybrids between the two - continues to hang out around the margins of the first field (today seen on the edge of New England Road, near the main parking lot). Much of today's action has centered around South Cape May Beach, where a great array of gulls and terns can currently be found. Laughing, Ring-billed, American Herring, Lesser Black-backed and Great Black-backed Gulls, Sandwich, Royal, Caspian, Black, Common and Forster's Terns have all been seen today and numbers of Black Skimmers are gradually building too. A single Buff-breasted Sandpiper continues to hang out on the wet area at the back of the beach behind the South Cape May Meadows. Shorebirds are good up at Stone Harbor Point at the moment too, I hear and counts of up to 27 Caspian Terns have been made there recently.

A beach showcase - South Cape May Beach today [photo by Mike Crewe]

Five Lesser Black-backed Gulls - all second calendar-year birds - were found on the beach today, here's number one of three that I managed to photograph [photo by Mike Crewe].

Lesser Black-backed number 2 - the scruffiest of the three I saw today, but still with classic features that included very dark outer greater wing coverts and mostly blackish-brown tertials with paler tips. [photo by Mike Crewe].

Lesser Black-back number 3. Note the extra amount of pale markings on the terials on this bird. Note also how variable the amount of pink on the bill is in these three birds [photo by Mike Crewe].

A flight shot of bird number 3, showing a typically dark tail with pale markings towards the base of the outer feathers only (somewhat intermediate between typical American Herring and Great Black-backed tail patterns). Note also the smoky gray color of the lower back and note that the inner primaries are more or less as dark as the outer primaries, not obviously paler which would be typical for American Herring Gull. [photo by Mike Crewe]

For a spectacle of a different kind, keep an eye out for the ball of thousands of Tree Swallows currently building up which can be anywhere from Cove Bay (behind 2nd Avenue on the edge of town) to the state park. These birds are swirling around and descending on the Bayberry bushes to eat the berries and rest before migrating southward. It's always kind of weird to see swallows sitting in bushes and eating berries, but it's a food source used by few other species (Yellow-rumped Warblers the obvious exception) and gives them feeding opportunities that other don't utilize. Some 5,000 birds are currently present so it's a spectacle well worth looking out for.

While resting, the Tree Swallows can be approached with care, allowing the chance to study the plumage and molt of individual birds. Here's a typical youngster, hatched this year and still showing a complete set of fresh, brown feathers on the upper parts. [photo by Mike Crewe]

A slightly older bird which has started to molt into its first-winter plumage. Not the darker, grayer inner primaries, tertial (with neat white edge), and scattered lesser coverts at the top of the wing by the bill shadow. [photo by Mike Crewe]

A typical adult bird at this time of year - note the contrast between the newer, inner primaries and the older, worn, outer primaries. Four species of North American swallow (Tree, Cave, Violet-green and Northern Rough-winged) molt their primaries and secondaries in North America, before (or during) their southward migration. All other swallow species wait and molt on arrival in the wintering grounds. [Photo by Mike Crewe]

Always keep an eye out for something extra! I found this bird while reviewing my photos on my lap-top, but didn't notice it in the field! Notice how the bird at the back has pale tips and edges to its wing and upperpart feathers (compare with the bird half blocking it in front). Notice also that it has rather long and narrowly-pointed wings and the white from the underparts reaches up onto the neck below the face. This is actually a juvenile Bank Swallow, the only species here at Cape May that shows this suite of characters. So we can identify it, even without seeing the tell-tale dark chest band. [Photo by Mike Crewe]

No Weather - But Still Birds!

2011-09-02T13:00:00.000-04:00

The forecast looked all 'wrong' for Cape May last night, and yet a nice suite of warblers delighted our Higbee's beach walk this morning. Both Blue-winged and Golden-winged Warblers were seen, along with Tennessee, Worm-eating and Canada Warblers, all making for a nice, early-season movement. Reports suggest that most, if not all, of these birds had been present the day before too. Black-and-white Warblers and American Redstarts were present as ever and there was at least one shout of a Warbling Vireo.

For weekenders heading this way, the Brown Booby reamins in Jarvis Sound, though it seems to have been moving around a little today.

Hawkwatch: Day 1!

2011-09-01T18:24:00.000-04:00

Yes, it really is September 1st and at Cape May that can mean only one thing - the start of another exciting season on the Hawkwatch Platform at Cape May Point State Park. Our Seasonal Naturalists started today, as did the Hawkwatch and, with the Morning Flight also now well under way, it's all systems go for another awesome Cape May Fall! Here at Cape May we are doubly blessed; we have a fabulous location from which to watch Fall migration in all its glory, and we have an amazing number of fabulous naturalists - both established and up-and-coming - from which to draw. And it's testament to the excitement of Cape May that we regularly have returning naturalists on our books who just can't break that Cape May spell.

All of our counters this year are old friends; Melissa Roach returns to be Hawk Counter, Tom Johnson is once again the Morning Flight Counter and Cape May's own, home-grown Tom Reed will be Seawatch Counter later in the season. Tom Magarian heads back to join the team as Swing Counter.

Seasonal Interpretive Naturalists at the Hawkwatch this year include two new faces, Lauren Richard and Kathy Hixson, while last year's Interpretive Naturalist, Tiffany Kersten, returns to be our George Myers Field Naturalist. We are lucky to have two Field Naturalists on the Monarch Monitoring Project this year - Rebecca Allmond and Tori Pocius (watch out for them in flower gardens around the point!) and last but by no means least, we have Alyssia Church returning, this year serving with the Hawk-banding team.

Unfortunately, some of our regular sponsors were not able to find it in their budgets to cover our fall research this year, understandable in the current economic climate; but we are extremely grateful to Swarovski Optik for stepping in and sponsoring the Cape May Hawkwatch for the season - come on down and try out some awesome optics folks!

What team, and what a great day to start, with a nice display by berry-feeding Tree Swallows all day, a slow but steady Hawk Flight and some 100 or more Bobolinks rounding off the day by wheeling around over the ponds late afternoon. The Brown Booby continues out at Jarvis Sound and it's all setting up to be a great weekend folks - see you here!!

This year's team: Back row - Tom Johnson, Pete Dunne, Kathy Hixson, Tiffany Kersten, Lauren Richard, Tom Magarian. Front Row - Rebecca Allmond, Melissa Roach, Tori Pocius.

Back to Normal...

2011-08-30T13:51:00.001-04:00

Things seem pretty much back to normal at Cape May today, though I am sure that there are still odd birds re-positioning after the hurricane that have yet to be found. First things first, Cape May Point State Park is open; the staff have done a good job cleaning the trails out of debris and it all looks good again. I had a quick look this morning and the beaches are remarkably intact, with evidence of overtopping by the sea but no damage. The ponds are at winter height (!) so there's little or no marginal habitat for shorebirds at the moment, but Derk Visser reported an American Bittern at Bunker Pond this morning and Black Terns continue both there ans at Lake Lily. The male Ruddy Duck continues on Lake Lily too - he first turned up somewhere around July 17th if I remember rightly, but hasn't had much of a mention on the blog here.

Both Cape May Point and Higbee's Beach had good flights of commoner bird species this morning and Michael O'Brien found two Sandwich Terns and confirmed three Eurasian Collared Doves still alive and well in the area. There's been a massive clear out of terns in general, but a good selection of species can still be seen on the beaches around the point. At the Northwood Center, I seem to add a new bird to the day list every time I look out of my office window, so there's certainly a nice trickle of birds going on. Most recently, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Black-throated Blue Warbler and Swainson's Thrush were out there, the latter just on the early end of migration here.

At the coastguard base, Chris Hajduk reports one or two Brown Pelicans on the Poverty Beach pilings and the local pair of Peregrines still using the water tower from time to time.

Finally, please be aware of possible traffic congestion locally as people return after the passing of Irene, and please stay cool, have fun - and tell us if you find something good!!

Peregrines at the Coastguard Unit water tower. [Photo by Chris Hajduk]

IMPORTANT NOTICE

2011-08-30T13:33:00.001-04:00

We all love birding, and we never like to miss the opportunity for a good bird, but unfortunately a few negative comments are finding their way back to me with regard to the Brown Booby. While the Brown Booby will give you fabulous views if you take the time to enjoy a great back bay boat trip with either The Osprey or The Skimmer, it can also be scoped distantly from Two-mile Landing which is a marina and site of a former restaurant along Ocean View, just south of Wildwood Crest and opposite the Coastguard Ponds. Much of the land at Two-mile Landing is private, and much of the land is closed to public access. There are clear signs there indicating private property and indicating where it is OK to park. We are hearing that these signs are being ignored. Having just spoken with the Dockmaster, I also understand that there is an issue with people driving too fast on the entrance road and around the parking areas. Courtesy and good manners cost nothing and mean that we are able to continue to birdwatch on the site. If you have visited before and think that you know the site, do please note that things may have changed since you last visited; don't take anything for granted.

Please, please, please heed these simple rules for the sake of all birders, both local and visiting, and for the perceptions that others have of us.

Thank You