Cheetah sighted at Cape May Point. . .well, maybe not, but other great things are about

Cheetah, Maasai Mara, Kenya. Photo (c) Don Freiday

Cheetah would be a pretty hot vagrant down here, but it's been pretty hot and I've been stuck indoors working on the details for the coming NJAS tour to Tanzania, set for February 2008. For which, by the way, there are a few spaces still available. Once you've been to Africa, it's pretty easy to start dreaming about it, and that's what I've been doing about the coming trip. More about the trip can be found at

http://www.njaudubon.org/Travel/Tours/Tanzania08.html

In the more local realm, Cape May Point State Park continues to be one of the best spots to find shorebirds and terns. Karl and Judy Lukens report that on CMBO's Wednesday's walk there,

"Another good walk this morning. . . Highlight was two almost breeding plumage Black Terns ( a little white around the face) on Bunker Pond, as well as the usual assortment of shore birds, which included a couple of juvenile Least Sandpipers. One Black-and-White Warbler and 1 American Redstart showed up as woodland migrants, and Michael O'Brien reported - would you believe - a Yellow-rumped Warbler; must be officially fall!"

Today's "Bird Walk for All People" (held every Thursday at the state park, and open to all comers, experienced birders or those new to the fold) enjoyed almost 30 folks, some of whom had never looked through bins before. We added a Royal Tern resting on Bunker Pond to Karl's Wednesday list, which is below.

SPECIES SEEN ~ CMBO TRIP
8/8/2007 ~ in Cape May Point
Great Blue Heron 4
Great Egret 4
Snowy Egret 2
Glossy Ibis 4
Mute Swan 35
Canada Goose 20
Mallard 20
Turkey Vulture 3
Osprey 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
American Oystercatcher 3
Semipalmated Plover 7
Killdeer 10
Short-billed Dowitcher 4
Greater Yellowlegs 3
Lesser Yellowlegs 9
Spotted Sandpiper 2
Sanderling 4
Semipalmated Sandpiper 9
Least Sandpiper 20
Pectoral Sandpiper 1
Stilt Sandpiper 5
Ring-billed Gull 1
Great Black-backed Gull 20
American Herring Gull 10
Laughing Gull 100
Common Tern 15
Forster's Tern 12
Least Tern 30
Black Tern 2
Black Skimmer 3
Rock Pigeon 20
Mourning Dove 6
Chimney Swift 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
Purple Martin 30
Tree Swallow 15
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 1
Bank Swallow 1
Barn Swallow 8
Cedar Waxwing 4
Carolina Wren 5
Gray Catbird 4
American Robin 1
Carolina Chickadee 1
American Crow 5
Fish Crow 1
European Starling 10
House Sparrow 8
American Goldfinch 2
Yellow Warbler 2
Black-and-white Warbler 1
American Redstart 1
Common Yellowthroat 3
Song Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 6
Indigo Bunting 1
Red-winged Blackbird 10
Common Grackle 2
Brown-headed Cowbird 2