Sunday, January 18, 2009

Eared GrebeS in Cape May.....could this be an Eared Grebe invasion?

Considering that there have been Eared Grebes at Round Valley Reservoir and Barnegat Bay and now another Eared Grebe in Cape May County....

I received a text a short time ago indicating that Richard Crossley had found another Eared Grebe in the vicinity of Stone Harbor Point. The bird was evidently seen near the free bridge to Nummy Island, looking in the direction of the point (south). In other words in the in the channel of water between Stone Harbor Point and Nummy Island.

Like some of you may be thinking, my first reaction was to question whether or not yesterdays grebe was still in the Cape May Harbor. That bird was in fact in the harbor today seen by Tom Magarian. I am not sure when exactly the bird was seen but would highly doubt that the harbor grebe took flight and headed to Stone Harbor.

Anyway, for a bit of additional info, this is only the 11th and 12th record of Eared Grebe in Cape May County. A quick check of the accepted records from the New Jersey Bird Records Committee shows that the last records from Cape May were in Feb. 2004 (Strathmere) and April of 2002 (Nummy Island). Before that it was 1995 when the last Eared Grebe was seen in the County.

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