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Thursday, December 20, 2007

No goldfinches at my feerders....they're at the Cape May Point State Park

Took a walk around the Cape May Point State Park this morning and was pleasantly surprised at how birdy the morning turned out. When all was said and done, in a two hour stroll, I had 59 species. That's not too bad in my opinion. Given time and visitation to other spots on Cape Island, and I think I could have made a serious run for 100 species. I guess that's for another time.

Some nice observations were a large flock of Bonaparte's gulls feeding just off shore. Unfortunately no Little gulls were in the mix. It was however, interesting to watch the other larger gulls pick up on their feeding action in the rips and eventually join the fray. Not a lot of ducks on the ocean/bay this morning. A few fly by Long-tailed ducks and a Red-breasted merganser. A couple of Red-throated loons and a few distant scoter. The four Common eider were just off the first jetty at the state park as well.

Other notables in my wander were a Ruby-crowned kinglet, four Winter wrens and an imm. Red-shouldered hawk. I had heard the hawk calling from the back of the trail while I was on the dirt road next to the dune. I didn't actually think I'd get a chance to see the bird. There were also a couple of Red-breasted nuthatches hanging in the pines at the back of the trails as well.

I walked the state park again in hopes of coming across one of these crossbills, and again I dipped. I did have a chatter in the pines which was reminiscent to me of a crossbill but just did not sound right to me. I'll have to turn on the Thayer Birding Software here at Northwood and refresh myself of the difference between Red and White-winged crossbill calls. It evidently has been way too long since I've heard them.

As well, I again stopped by Lake Lily to see what waterfowl were using the lake. To my surprise there were very few ducks on the water. It seems that Cape May Point is doing some sort of aeration of the lake? At least there was guy dragging what looked like some sort of poly-pipe by boat out in the water. This in turn flushed most of the ducks which have yet to return as I finish writing this at about 2:50 p.m. NOTE: Probably not a good bet for the Barnacle goose this weekend if this "aeration" process is continuing.

Speaking of the Barnacle goose, the bird was seen by a couple of observes, yesterday 12/19, from Batts Lane. So the bird is still around for those wishing to try.


Location: Cape May Point SP
Observation date: 12/20/07
Number of species: 59

Canada Goose 5
Mute Swan 4
Gadwall 2
American Wigeon 3
Mallard 114
Northern Pintail 8
Green-winged Teal 3
Lesser Scaup 2
Common Eider 4
dark-winged scoter sp. 6
Long-tailed Duck 6
Bufflehead 1
Hooded Merganser 12
Red-breasted Merganser 1
Ruddy Duck 2
Red-throated Loon 2
Northern Gannet 6
Great Blue Heron 9
Turkey Vulture 4
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Bonaparte's Gull 165
Ring-billed Gull 12
Herring Gull 65
Great Black-backed Gull 28
Rock Pigeon 2
Mourning Dove 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker 3
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 5
Blue Jay 2
American Crow 3
Tree Swallow 28
Carolina Chickadee 6
Red-breasted Nuthatch 2
Carolina Wren 10
Winter Wren 4
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Hermit Thrush 6
American Robin 115
Gray Catbird 6
Northern Mockingbird 3
European Starling 250
American Pipit 18
Cedar Waxwing 28
Yellow-rumped Warbler 195
Eastern Towhee 6
Song Sparrow 4
White-throated Sparrow 56
Snow Bunting 50
Northern Cardinal 8
Red-winged Blackbird 50
Common Grackle 275
Brown-headed Cowbird 60
Purple Finch 6
House Finch 4
American Goldfinch 122
House Sparrow 15

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)


Location: Cape May - Lily Lake
Observation date: 12/20/07
Number of species: 11

Canada Goose 6
Mute Swan 14
American Wigeon 18
Mallard 16
Northern Shoveler 3
Hooded Merganser 3
Ruddy Duck 22
American Coot 16
Ring-billed Gull 2
Tree Swallow 1
European Starling 150

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

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