Meadows birds, another look at Baird's, meteors, migration

"On the Pete Dunne morning Meadow Walk we had a nice variety of shorebirds including 4 Pectorals and a brief look at a Baird's Sandpiper.The walk ended with an adult Bald eagle from the parking lot."

That note is from a host of CMBO naturalists who joined Pete Dunne in the Meadows this morning. Included are a couple pictures from that walk, as well as another picture of a Baird's Sandpiper, taken by Karl Lukens at the 2nd Plover Pond at Cape May Point State Park around 3:00pm this afternoon.

[Birds seen on the CMBO walk at the South Cape May Meadows, 8/11/08. Pictured at top are 2 Pectoral Sandpipers. At left is a Little Blue Heron (front) and a Snowy Egret (back). Both photos by Karl Lukens.]

[Baird's Sandpiper, photographed at the "2nd Plover Pond" at Cape May Point State Park, 8/11/08. Photo by Karl Lukens.]

There are birds on the move again tonight, taking advantage of the clear skies and northwest winds. Higbee should once again be a productive spot tomorrow morning, as could numerous other spots where migrants typically accumulate. On a separate note, I received a reliable third-hand report of a Surf Scoter seen just offshore of Stone Harbor Point on Saturday.

If you happen to be out tonight listening to the flight, look up in the sky, as the Perseids meteor shower is expected to peak early Tuesday morning. I saw about a dozen meteors this evening, including two "earth-grazers"; slower, larger and brighter meteors that move just over the top of Earth's atmosphere. Earth-grazers are usually more frequent just after dusk and just before dawn.

Included is this morning's list from the Meadows, with notable species or counts highlighted.

Location: South Cape May Meadows

Observation date: 8/11/08

Number of species: 64

Canada Goose 25

Mute Swan 20

American Black Duck 1

Mallard 25

Hooded Merganser 1

Great Egret 10

Snowy Egret 3

Little Blue Heron 1

Green Heron 3

Glossy Ibis 10

Turkey Vulture 5

Osprey 3

Bald Eagle 1

Cooper's Hawk 1

Semipalmated Plover 5

Killdeer 10

Spotted Sandpiper 1

Solitary Sandpiper 1

Greater Yellowlegs 3

Lesser Yellowlegs 5

Sanderling 50

Semipalmated Sandpiper 5

Least Sandpiper 10

Baird's Sandpiper 1

Pectoral Sandpiper 4

Short-billed Dowitcher 2

Laughing Gull 50

Ring-billed Gull 5

Herring Gull 10

Lesser Black-backed Gull 4

Great Black-backed Gull 40

Least Tern 30

Gull-billed Tern 1

Common Tern 5

Forster's Tern 25

Royal Tern 3

Black Skimmer 15

Rock Pigeon 2

Mourning Dove 8

Chimney Swift 2

Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1

Belted Kingfisher 1

Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 1

American Crow 12

Fish Crow 1

Purple Martin 10

Tree Swallow 100

Northern Rough-winged Swallow 5

Bank Swallow 1

Barn Swallow 10

Carolina Wren 1

American Robin 2

Gray Catbird 1

Northern Mockingbird 1

European Starling 15

Cedar Waxwing 5

Common Yellowthroat 3

Northern Cardinal 5

Red-winged Blackbird 10

Common Grackle 2

Brown-headed Cowbird 2

House Finch 2

American Goldfinch 4

House Sparrow 2

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