Cape May Point: 5 peep species, 10 Black Terns

Bunker Pond at Cape May Point State Park remains chock full of birds. As many as 75 Great Egrets were there yesterday, with about 40 Snowies - American eels seem to be the main attraction for the long-legged waders. Shorebirding is excellent - today's Bird Walk for All People (for which the correct start time is 10:00 a.m., by the way, not 8:30 as indicated in the Kestrel Express) detected all 5 peep, including a lovely Baird's that's been hanging out near the hawk watch platform, as well as a Stilt Sandpiper and the usual other species. The Black Tern numbers have been excellent - I counted 10 today. The full list from this walk is below.

We had a funny little episode watching two Black-crowned Night-herons fly in this morning. First one, then the other, landed and fell completely over as it slipped in the mud!


Location: Cape May Point SP
Observation date: 9/4/08
Number of species: 62
Canada Goose 10
Mute Swan 5
American Black Duck 1
Mallard 25
Blue-winged Teal 4
Northern Shoveler 4
Green-winged Teal 4
Double-crested Cormorant 20
Great Blue Heron 1
Great Egret 25
Snowy Egret 10
Green Heron 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron 2
Glossy Ibis 5
Turkey Vulture 5
Osprey 10
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Semipalmated Plover 5
Killdeer 5
Spotted Sandpiper 2
Greater Yellowlegs 5
Lesser Yellowlegs 10
Ruddy Turnstone 1
Sanderling 2
Semipalmated Sandpiper 20
Western Sandpiper 1
Least Sandpiper 10
White-rumped Sandpiper 3
Baird's Sandpiper 1
Pectoral Sandpiper 1
Stilt Sandpiper 1
Short-billed Dowitcher 1
Laughing Gull X
Ring-billed Gull 1
Herring Gull 10
Great Black-backed Gull 5
Least Tern 5
Black Tern 10
Common Tern 5
Forster's Tern 25
Royal Tern 20
Black Skimmer 50
Rock Pigeon 5
Mourning Dove 5
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Eastern Kingbird 5
White-eyed Vireo 1
American Crow 1
Fish Crow 5
Purple Martin 5
Tree Swallow 10
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 1
Barn Swallow 5
Carolina Wren 1
Northern Mockingbird 2
European Starling 25
Yellow Warbler 1
Northern Cardinal 1
Indigo Bunting 5
Bobolink 25
Red-winged Blackbird 25
House Sparrow 5