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Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Wed. 2/13: An evening stroll at Woodcock Trail

I won't lie- it was a fairly lousy evening to go birding, but I took a walk at Woodcock Trail anyway. After all, you don't know unless you go... and there was actually a fair number of birds out and about on this damp, dreary evening.

Highlights included Sharp-shinned and Red-tailed Hawks on the prowl, 3 Clapper Rails calling from the adjacent salt marsh, and a rather nice February tally of 5 Brown Thrashers. Thrashers retreat south in winter, being as insects comprise a large share of their diet. Cape May County is very close to the northern edge of the species' winter range, so numbers here are variable based on the severity of the winter. Five in one spot in mid-February is indicative of the mainly mild winter we've experienced to this point.


Complete list included-

Location: Woodcock Trail (Cape May NWR)
Observation date: 2/13/08
Number of species: 23
Canada Goose 2

Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Clapper Rail 3
Ring-billed Gull 2
Mourning Dove 1
Carolina Chickadee 1
Carolina Wren 4
American Robin 75
Northern Mockingbird 2
Brown Thrasher 5
European Starling 15
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 8
Eastern Towhee 1
Field Sparrow 9
Fox Sparrow 6
Song Sparrow 3
White-throated Sparrow 12
Dark-eyed Junco 2
Northern Cardinal 2
Red-winged Blackbird 25
Common Grackle 65
House Finch 8

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

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