Cory's Shearwater and other notes

As Jason reported, there was a Sandwich Tern hanging out in the middle impoundment of the Meadows late this afternoon, last seen around 4:30pm. Expect photos and possibly a video of the bird to be on the site in the near future.

Some additional time spent around the Meadows this evening produced a few other nice sightings, highlighted by a brief look at a Cory's Shearwater that was flying along, quite a distance offshore. The bird was flying with a purpose and couldn't be found later on, when a couple hundred Laughing Gulls started feeding in the rips. Keep in mind that immature Northern Gannets, like the few that have been around recently, can be confused with Cory's Shearwaters, so take caution when searching for tubenoses from shore.

Continuing on that note, there were two Northern Gannets offshore about an hour later, picked out by Bob Fogg. Soon thereafter, a flock of a couple hundred large-ish shorebirds flew out of the bay, extremely distant on the horizon, and were likely either Whimbrel or Willets. A flock of about 80 Whimbrel had flown past shortly after the shearwater sighting.

Otherwise, the Hooded Merganser was still lounging on the middle island, and there were a few of the more regular shorebird species hanging around the place, namely Short-billed Dowitcher, Least Sandpiper and both yellowlegs. The Willow Flycatchers that were singing on a regular basis through Independence Day have been silent (to my ears, at least) since last week.

Full list from four hours at the Meadows included-

Location: South Cape May Meadows
Observation date: 7/17/08
Number of species: 66
Canada Goose 20
Mute Swan 24
Gadwall 6
Mallard 20
Hooded Merganser 1
Cory's Shearwater 1
Northern Gannet 2
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Great Egret 6
Snowy Egret 3
Glossy Ibis 20
Turkey Vulture 3
Osprey 5
Cooper's Hawk 1
Semipalmated Plover 1
Piping Plover 4
Killdeer 6
American Oystercatcher 6
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Greater Yellowlegs 3
Willet (Western) 1
Lesser Yellowlegs 3
Whimbrel 80
Sanderling 2
Semipalmated Sandpiper 1
Least Sandpiper 40
Short-billed Dowitcher 35
Laughing Gull 275
Ring-billed Gull 9
Herring Gull 20
Lesser Black-backed Gull 6
Great Black-backed Gull 75
Least Tern 25
Common Tern 30
Forster's Tern 12
Sterna sp. 6
Sandwich Tern 1
Black Skimmer 4
Rock Pigeon 1
Mourning Dove 6
Chimney Swift 8
Belted Kingfisher 1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 1
Eastern Kingbird 1
American Crow 1
Fish Crow 5
Purple Martin 30
Tree Swallow 4
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 2
Barn Swallow 15
Carolina Wren 2
House Wren 2
American Robin 6
Gray Catbird 2
Northern Mockingbird 2
European Starling 20
Yellow Warbler 2
Common Yellowthroat 1
Song Sparrow 2
Northern Cardinal 2
Indigo Bunting 1
Red-winged Blackbird 20
Common Grackle 6
House Finch 2
American Goldfinch 2
House Sparrow 4

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