Well, we were finally able to get out for some birding and squeezed in the March Cape Island Big Day, here on the last day of the month. Some of you may have thought that because we did not reach 100 in January that we threw in the towel. We did indeed run a February Cape Island Big Day, I was just so caught up with some work stuff (and domestic) that I was unable to post the Feb. Big Day results. Heck, birding on 3/31 was the first real birding day I've had since about February. It is nice to live in Cape May but that works stuff, whether or not you work for conservation organization, gets in the way some times. But I digress.
So as for our days birding, it was hard to assess the status of our sightings as the day progressed. There were a number of new species found but also big misses. We did have Osprey, Blue-gray Gnatcatacher, Lesser Yellowlegs, Piping Plover and Laughing Gull to name a few. But I was sure that misses like Barred and Great-horned owls, Red-breasted and White-breasted nuthatches, Purple Finch, Glossy Ibis (recent arrivals), Hooded Merganser, American Wigeon, NorthernPintail and Snow Goose would be our undoing. We lucked out in February with Cape Island Creek being full of water....and ducks. The addition of Common Goldeneye at Cape Island Creek and the drake Blue-wined teal we had at the Beanery in Feb. really helped us break the 90 mark. This go round the creek was dry (low tide) and did not hold many ducks. It did provide a couple of much needed shore birds, namely Dunlin and Lesser Yellowlegs.
I am happy to say that as always, it seems that the third time is a charm! We did actually hit 100 species on Cape Island in one day. In fact 100 species right on the button. The list below will indicate 101 but that is because I reported both Eastern and Western palm Warbler for eBird sake. The best part about hitting 100 in March is that means that now only my Jan. and Feb. of 09 will I have to try and fill in the 100 species days.
Highlights for the day, well, the major one for me and this is because it is new for my South of the Canal list; Wiled Turkey! I have heard rumors through the grape vine recently that one had been seen on the island. I know that one was seen in the back yard of a CMBO volunteer years ago but that is one of only a few sightings in the last five or so years. I personally have seen turkey tracks in the dunes at Higbee Beach but I never thought I'd actually see a bird south of the canal. Well, low and behold, we kept driving along Sea Grove Ave. when we happened to be in the area, driving past a CMBO volunteers house hoping for Purple Finch. When on one pass, I spotted out of the corner of my eye (in the big field between Sea grove and the Cape May Point State Park) what I thought was a Wild Turkey. It was near the end of our day and I was very worried that we'd not break 100 so I backed up hoping that this bird was indeed what I thought I had seen and not just a Turkey Vulture sitting on the ground. I was happily surprised to find a hen Wild Turkey just standing there as if she was just waiting to be tallied.
Other nice finds were 6 White-winged Scoter out over the Atlantic. Two (drake and hen) Blue-winged Teal at TNC's CMMBR and one lone Piping Plover huddled behind a small clump of sand anchored by vegetation, trying to keep out of the blowing wind.
The sheer numbers of birds was most impressive for the day. Tens of hundreds of Northern Gannets flying in and out of the Delaware Bay along with hundreds upon hundreds of Red-throated Loons. The loons were also sitting in the vicinity of the Concrete Ship, much as the do this time of year during the staging for migration. I did not do an exact count but as we sat and ate our lunch in the parking lot at Sunset Beach we had a minimum of 75-85 loons in sight with many close to shore. Additionally, Eastern Phoebes were well represented with approx. 70 counted by us all over the island. There were 7-9 in each of the large fields of Higbee alone! Then add in the two-five at the Beanery, Cape Island Preserve and other locations and that adds up to a heck of a lot of phoebes.
So, now we have tallied 96 species on the island in January, 91 in Feb., which was big surprise as we were sure all day long on 2/25, that we would be lucky to hit 85, and 100 in March. By the way, I have included the 2/25/08 Big Day results below the 3/31/08 results in the event that anyone wanted to see what we had in February.
April and May are not much of a worry to me at this point. Even June is not too worrisome. July and August could be pretty tough with December being the last real threat for not hitting 100 in a day. All in all though, no matter the outcome of this years big days we are really setting a base line in terms of species numbers for Cape Island. To my knowledge no one has tried something like this in this location before so it will be interesting to see how the rest of the year plays out. For now, I'm just happy to have reached our target and looking forward to what the end of April may bring!
Location: Cape Island
Observation date: 3/31/08
Notes: March Cape Island Big Day, 20989 steps = approx. 13.4 miles
Number of species: 101
Brant X
Canada Goose X
Mute Swan X
Wood Duck 2
Gadwall X
American Black Duck X
Mallard X
Blue-winged Teal 2
Northern Shoveler 8
Green-winged Teal X
Ring-necked Duck X
Greater Scaup X
Lesser Scaup X
Surf Scoter X
White-winged Scoter 6
Black Scoter X
Long-tailed Duck X
Bufflehead X
Red-breasted Merganser X
Ruddy Duck X
Wild Turkey 1
Red-throated Loon X
Common Loon X
Northern Gannet X
Double-crested Cormorant X
Great Cormorant 2
Great Blue Heron 3
Great Egret 2
Black Vulture X
Turkey Vulture X
Osprey 2
Northern Harrier 3
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 2
American Kestrel 2
Merlin 1
American Coot X
Piping Plover 1
Killdeer X
American Oystercatcher 2
Greater Yellowlegs X
Lesser Yellowlegs X
Ruddy Turnstone X
Sanderling X
Purple Sandpiper X
Dunlin X
Wilson's Snipe X
Laughing Gull X
Bonaparte's Gull 2
Ring-billed Gull X
Herring Gull X
Great Black-backed Gull X
Forster's Tern 4
Rock Pigeon X
Mourning Dove X
Eastern Screech-Owl 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker X
Downy Woodpecker X
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) X
Eastern Phoebe 70
Blue Jay X
American Crow X
Fish Crow X
Tree Swallow X
Carolina Chickadee X
Tufted Titmouse X
Brown Creeper 1
Carolina Wren X
Winter Wren 3
Golden-crowned Kinglet X
Ruby-crowned Kinglet X
Hermit Thrush 2
American Robin X
Gray Catbird X
Northern Mockingbird X
Brown Thrasher X
European Starling X
Cedar Waxwing X
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) X
Pine Warbler 4
Palm Warbler (Western) X
Palm Warbler (Yellow) X
Eastern Towhee X
Field Sparrow X
Savannah Sparrow X
Fox Sparrow X
Song Sparrow X
Swamp Sparrow X
White-throated Sparrow X
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) X
Northern Cardinal X
Red-winged Blackbird X
Eastern Meadowlark 1
Rusty Blackbird 55
Common Grackle X
Boat-tailed Grackle 1
Brown-headed Cowbird X
House Finch X
American Goldfinch X
House Sparrow X
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2
Location: Cape Island
Observation date: 2/25/08
Notes: February Cape Island Big Day 25616 steps = 17.0 miles
Number of species: 91
Snow Goose 5
Brant X
Barnacle Goose 1
Canada Goose X
Mute Swan X
Gadwall X
American Wigeon X
American Black Duck X
Mallard X
Blue-winged Teal 1
Northern Shoveler X
Northern Pintail X
Ring-necked Duck X
Lesser Scaup X
Surf Scoter X
Black Scoter X
Long-tailed Duck X
Bufflehead X
Common Goldeneye X
Hooded Merganser X
Red-breasted Merganser X
Ruddy Duck X
Red-throated Loon 95
Common Loon 2
Horned Grebe 3
Northern Gannet X
Double-crested Cormorant 3
Great Cormorant 3
Great Blue Heron 1
Black Vulture X
Turkey Vulture X
Northern Harrier 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 3
Red-tailed Hawk 2
American Kestrel 1
Merlin 1
American Coot X
Ruddy Turnstone 9
Sanderling X
Purple Sandpiper 2
American Woodcock 1
Bonaparte's Gull X
Ring-billed Gull X
Herring Gull X
Great Black-backed Gull X
Rock Pigeon X
Mourning Dove X
Barred Owl 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker X
Downy Woodpecker X
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) X
Eastern Phoebe X
Blue Jay X
American Crow X
Fish Crow X
Carolina Chickadee X
Tufted Titmouse X
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Brown Creeper 1
Carolina Wren X
Winter Wren 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Eastern Bluebird 28
Hermit Thrush X
American Robin X
Gray Catbird X
Northern Mockingbird X
European Starling X
Cedar Waxwing X
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) X
Palm Warbler (Western) X
Eastern Towhee X
Field Sparrow X
Savannah Sparrow X
Fox Sparrow X
Song Sparrow X
White-throated Sparrow X
White-crowned Sparrow 1
Dark-eyed Junco X
Snow Bunting 35
Northern Cardinal X
Red-winged Blackbird X
Eastern Meadowlark X
Common Grackle X
Brown-headed Cowbird X
Purple Finch X
House Finch X
House Sparrow X
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2
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