I found some spare time late this afternoon and decided to bop around Cape May Point for a while.
The highlight of the outing was without a doubt the Nashville Warbler that was present for a brief moment along the Yellow Trail at Cape May Point State Park, near the start of the boardwalk out to Lighthouse Pond. I'd have to assume that this is the same bird that has been reported very sporadically here through the winter. It's amazing that a bird like a Nashville Warbler could survive an entire winter here, but then again, Cape May is an amazing place in itself- and oh yeah, it was essentially 50 degrees all winter...
Other winged creatures of note in the State Park included a singing Eastern Phoebe along the Yellow Trail, 4 Canvasbacks in the back of Bunker Pond, a vocal Winter Wren at the start of the Yellow Trail, and 5 Northern Shovelers in Lighthouse Pond.
A half hour spent walking the bay beaches of Cape May Point produced an estimated 675 Northern Gannets, 30 or so Red-throated Loons, 6 Forster's Terns and 4 Laughing Gulls. As Jason mentioned, you'd do well to jump on the ferry and check out the Gannet Show; there was literally a cloud of gannets buzzing around a Delaware-bound ferry this afternoon.
Lily Lake remains relatively quiet, and the two small groups of Canada Geese I came across along Stevens Street and Bayshore Road were not accompanied by anything resembling a Barnacle Goose this afternoon.
A check of the sightings sheet at CMBO Northwood revealed that Michael O'Brien saw a Blue-winged Teal at The Beanery/Rea Farm today. Also in the arrivals department, I saw my first Tree Swallows in Reed's Beach today, and there was an Osprey sitting atop a nesting platform just north of Great Egg Harbor Bay, as observed from the Garden State Parkway.
The Cape May NWR ran its first round of American Woodcock surveys this evening. My mom and I covered a northern part of the Refuge within the Great Cedar Swamp Division, and were unable to detect any Woodcock. However, word has it that 12 were tallied at the Two Mile Beach Unit. For those interested in participating, the second round of surveys will take place on Tuesday, March 18. Meet at 6:30pm at the Cape May NWR Headquarters along Kimble's Beach Road, located off Route 47.
Included is a cumulative list from Cape May Point this afternoon-
Location: Cape May Point
Observation date: 3/14/08
Notes: Nashville Warbler along Yellow Trail, near the boardwalk out to Lighthouse Pond. Apparently the same bird that has been seen here sporadically through the winter.
Number of species: 50
Brant 6
Canada Goose 45
Mute Swan 4
Mallard 12
Northern Shoveler 5
Northern Pintail 2
Canvasback 4
Surf Scoter 20
Black Scoter 6
dark-winged scoter sp. 25
Red-breasted Merganser 2
Ruddy Duck 5
Red-throated Loon 30
Northern Gannet 675
Great Blue Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
American Coot 15
Ruddy Turnstone 2
Sanderling 15
Laughing Gull 4
Ring-billed Gull 2
Herring Gull 75
Great Black-backed Gull 15
Forster's Tern 6
Rock Pigeon 20
Mourning Dove 25
Downy Woodpecker 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
American Crow 5
Fish Crow 1
Carolina Chickadee 2
Carolina Wren 4
Winter Wren 1
American Robin 75
Gray Catbird 1
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling 30
Cedar Waxwing 12
Nashville Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 30
Fox Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 2
White-throated Sparrow 6
Northern Cardinal 4
Red-winged Blackbird 25
Common Grackle 70
Brown-headed Cowbird 6
House Finch 6
House Sparrow 5
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
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