Sat. 1/19: Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow and more at Kimble's Beach

I spent a couple hours this morning at Kimble's Beach, which is located along the Delaware Bayshore off of Route 47, about five miles south of CMBO's Center for Research and Education. The road is home to the headquarters of Cape May National Wildlife Refuge. Likewise, almost the entire road is surrounded by accessible public land, consisting of several fields, mixed upland forest, some wet forest, salt marsh, beach and the Delaware Bay. This great mix of habitats makes it easy to see 40-50 species here in winter and summer, and 60-70+ in spring and fall. It is most certainly worth a visit any day of the year.

The nicest bird I could squeak up (literally) was a Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow in the marsh behind the south end of the beach, along a small path that is part of The Nature Conservancy's Hand Landing Preserve. To get there, park at the end of the road and walk south about 1/4 mile and look for a narrow path leading back through the marsh. Additionally, two Bald Eagles, an adult (presumably of the Beaver Swamp pair) and a bird that was likely two years old, were present along the south end of the beachfront as well. The adult bird was sitting in a cedar for a while before making an unsuccessful attempt at picking off one of the American Black Ducks sitting on the bay. It then proceeded to chase off the young eagle, which was perched atop a piling, and minding its own business... a little uncalled for, if you ask me.

Complete list included-

Location: Kimble's Beach
Observation date: 1/19/08
Number of species: 43
Snow Goose 175
American Black Duck 200
Greater Scaup 6
dark-winged scoter sp. 1
Bufflehead 15
Hooded Merganser 2
Red-breasted Merganser 3
Ruddy Duck 75
Turkey Vulture 2
Bald Eagle 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Sanderling 25
Dunlin 175
Ring-billed Gull 6
Herring Gull 55
Great Black-backed Gull 4
Rock Pigeon 2
Mourning Dove 9
Downy Woodpecker 1
Hairy Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker 1
Blue Jay 2
American Crow 2
Carolina Chickadee 3
Tufted Titmouse 2
Carolina Wren 4
American Robin 5
Northern Mockingbird 2
European Starling 45
Yellow-rumped Warbler 6
Eastern Towhee 2
Field Sparrow 9
Savannah Sparrow 4
Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 6
Swamp Sparrow 5
White-throated Sparrow 8
Dark-eyed Junco 4
Northern Cardinal 4
Red-winged Blackbird 12
Brown-headed Cowbird 9
House Finch 20
House Sparrow 12

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