Looking for a way to try those bins you've been pining over? Want to see what all the hype is with high end optics? Come on the Birding Optics walk on Saturday mornings. The walk starts on the hawkwatch platform at 7:30 a.m. on Saturdays, now thru October 20.
I've actually started a loaner program here at the Northwood Center because I wanted to give members/customers a chance to actually bird watch with the optics they may be thinking about purchasing. Novel idea, right? We do typically allow you to take the bins out on the deck at the center and try them out in the"real world"; something that very few companies who sell optics will do. With this loaner program you can take a pair of bins out for a day or two and really get to test them in field conditions. After all, no matter the price, purchasing optics is an investment. You need to feel confidant that you'll be happy with the binoculars you choose, for years to come.
Most of the optics manufacturers we carry have been generous enough to work with me on getting these sample bins in the hands of those who need them. Currently we will have available for loan, optics from Bushnell, Kowa, Leica, Minox, Nikon, Steiner, Swarovski, Vortex and Zeiss.
As for the walk, this is yet another way you can test the bins in the filed but also get a guide to boot. I had no takers for today's walk but then again it's a holiday weekend. So, keep the walk in mind if your in the market (or even thinking your in the market) for a new pair of binoculars. I'd say there there are pretty much no other places on the east coast that you can try bins out in this manor before you make your final decision.
Now, as for the birding today. I heard that the morning flight was awesome! Hopefully you've read Paul's Weather Primer and have been checking out the Birding Forecast, so that you knew that this morning should have been great.
There were a good number of birds flying over head at the hawkwatch platform. Interestingly, we had but few migrants on our walk around the park. There were good birds around, just few of them. I guess conditions were just too good for migration and there was nothing to put the birds down. When I woke up this morning at 4:30 I turned on the t.v. to make sure the winds were still northerly as had been predicted. Next, checked out Nexrad radar to confirm migration. It seemed that the radar was picking up a significant amount of movement over NJ. Also looked at David La Pauma's site www.woodcreeper.com to see if he had posted any radar images. No radar but some very cool video of birds migrating past the moon. Check it out! If you have never "moon watched" you should.
So as usual, the list of species observed is below. REMEMBER the official Hawkwatch, Morning Flight Project and Monarch Monitoring Project kick off today. If you desire more info about these projects or want to know when you might participate in an ID workshop check out the Research section of BirdCapeMay or the Naturalist Calendar for times on walks and workshops.
Location: Cape May Point SP
Observation date: 9/1/07
Notes: CMBO Birding Optics walk
Number of species: 68
Mute Swan 8
Mallard 15
Green-winged Teal 12
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Great Blue Heron 3
Great Egret 18
Snowy Egret 13
Green Heron 2
Black Vulture 2
Turkey Vulture 6
Osprey 4
Bald Eagle 1 - I am embarrassed to say that I forgot to note this bird when I originally posted my eBird list. We had spectacular views of this first year eagle right over head.
Northern Harrier 2
Cooper's Hawk 1
American Kestrel 3
Merlin 1
Semipalmated Plover 12
Killdeer 4
Lesser Yellowlegs 2
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Semipalmated Sandpiper 18
Least Sandpiper 25
White-rumped Sandpiper 4
Stilt Sandpiper 1
Laughing Gull 250
Great Black-backed Gull 7
Royal Tern 23
Sandwich Tern 1
Common Tern 145
Forster's Tern 32
Least Tern 3
Rock Pigeon 22
Mourning Dove 10
Chimney Swift 8
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
White-eyed Vireo 2
Red-eyed Vireo 1
American Crow 12
Purple Martin 2
Tree Swallow 100
Barn Swallow 75
Carolina Chickadee 6
Red-breasted Nuthatch 5
Carolina Wren 4
House Wren 2
American Robin 5
Gray Catbird 2
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling 35
Cedar Waxwing 12
Blue-winged Warbler 2
Tennessee Warbler 1
Yellow Warbler 1
Magnolia Warbler 1
Black-throated Blue Warbler 1
Prairie Warbler 1
American Redstart 8
Northern Waterthrush 4
Common Yellowthroat 3
Northern Cardinal 3
Blue Grosbeak 1
Indigo Bunting 2
Bobolink 125
Red-winged Blackbird 85
Common Grackle 25
Baltimore Oriole 4
American Goldfinch 6
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
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