Sat. 3/15: Purple Martins, Red-necked Grebe- Cape May Pt. State Park

I found myself behind a computer for the majority of the day, working on an essay that will count as a mid-term exam. The subject: strengths and weaknesses of the various approaches to the study of American public policy- ...Obviously, I was more than happy to take a break this afternoon and enjoy the nice weather. Most of my usual bayshore haunts were surprisingly crowded with non-birding folk, so I opted for the State Park again, which was of course crowded as well, but emptying out by the early evening.

There were at least 3 Purple Martins flying about between the State Park and the Meadows, my first for the year; two were seen earlier this morning. About a dozen Tree Swallows were keeping the Martins company at times.

Another highlight came by way of a close fly-by Red-necked Grebe, about 15 feet off the beach and headed west around the point. The offshore action continues, with good numbers of Northern Gannets and Red-throated Loons, 8 Forster's Terns and 7 Laughing Gulls. Two of the LAGU's appeared to be new arrivals, coming in off the ocean from the south. Other birds on the move included a flock of 6 American Oystercatches passing by low over the water and continuing northeast around the 2nd Avenue Jetty, as well as several small flocks of Black Scoters doing much the same.

A more thorough walk through the park trails today revealed 3 Eastern Phoebes, a Palm Warbler, a Winter Wren, a calling Cooper's Hawk and a singing Fox Sparrow, but there was no sign of the Nashville Warbler. Gray Catbirds seem to be more obvious than they were just a week ago.

Full list included-

Location: Cape May Point SP
Observation date: 3/15/08
Number of species: 52
Canada Goose 9
Mute Swan 4
Mallard 6
Northern Pintail 2
Green-winged Teal 3
Surf Scoter 1
Black Scoter 30
Red-breasted Merganser 2
Red-throated Loon 25
Red-necked Grebe 1
Northern Gannet 150
Black Vulture 12
Turkey Vulture 18
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
American Oystercatcher 8
Sanderling 12
Laughing Gull 7
Bonaparte's Gull 3
Ring-billed Gull 9
Herring Gull 30
Great Black-backed Gull 18
Forster's Tern 8
Rock Pigeon 2
Mourning Dove 10
Downy Woodpecker 1
Eastern Phoebe 3
Blue Jay 2
American Crow 4
Purple Martin 3
Tree Swallow 12
Carolina Chickadee 2
Carolina Wren 6
Winter Wren 1
American Robin 25
Gray Catbird 3
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling 20
Cedar Waxwing 25
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 12
Palm Warbler (Western) 1
Eastern Towhee 1
Savannah Sparrow 3
Fox Sparrow 2
Song Sparrow 2
White-throated Sparrow 9
Northern Cardinal 4
Red-winged Blackbird 9
Common Grackle 20
House Finch 4
American Goldfinch 2

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