Golden-plover flyby, Some Recent Photos, and Eastern Kingbirds in Cape May

[Here's one of the 3 Olive-sided Flycatchers at Higbee yesterday. Click to enlarge all photos. Photo by Karl Lukens.]

[Roger Horn got this shot of a Blue-winged Warbler at Villas WMA during the CMBO walk Sunday.]
[Juvenile Black Tern at the meadows today. Photo by Karl Lukens]

I just got a text from Bob Fogg that an American Golden Plover flew past Cape May Point State Park, headed towards the point.

Late August visitors to Cape May are sometimes startled by the Eastern Kingbirds, which form large flocks and sometimes swarm like swallows (and are mistaken for swallows, too.) Michael O'Brien sent me some photos of Eastern Kingbirds, taken at the Higbee Dike, that reveal details of outer primary shapes, which in turn provide information on the age and sex of the birds. Michael noted that the kingbirds are here on purpose: "Based on primary shape, you can see that we get a good mix of adult and juv kingbirds here, unlike the bias toward young birds that we see in most other passerines. They clearly stage here, rather than get drifted here. Today it seemed that adult males predominated. It will be interesting to see if that changes through the season."

[Juvenile Eastern Kingbird, note the blunt tips to the outer primaries, p9 &10. Photo by Michael O'Brien, click to enlarge.]


[Adult female Eastern Kingbird, note the slight notches in the outer primaries. Photo by Michael O'Brien, click to enlarge.]

[Adult male Eastern Kingbird, note the deeper notches in the outer primaries. Pyle says the notches on female p9-p10 are <8,>8 mm on males. Notice as a result how pointed this bird's outermost primaries look. Photo by Michael O'Brien, click to enlarge.]

Finally, Dave Lord did the ebird list for this morning's meadows walk: "In thinking of a descriptive term for today's Monday Morning Meadow Walk, the only term that came to mind was a full frontal assault on the senses. Super birds were everywhere, inlcuding 6 Black Terns giving us a show, often 5 feet in front of participants, a Cattle Egret, Common Moorhen, Yellow Warblers, Wood Duck, Green-winged Teal, Black-crowned Night-herons, and multiple hummingbirds. You couldn't swing your optics without picking up a good bird. To cap it off, a select few heard the Least Bittern give its "Krik-Krik-Krik" call at the end of the loop. - Dave Lord (Pete Dunne, Chuck +Mary Jane Slugg, Janet Crawford, Steve Weiss, Warren Cairo, Karl and Judy Lukens, Tom Parsons, Carey Bell)

Location: Cape Island--Cape May Migratory Bird Sanctuary (Meadows)
Observation date: 8/24/09
Notes: CMBO Monday Morning Meadows Walk 8-24-09
Number of species: 61

Canada Goose 110
Mute Swan 20
Wood Duck 2
American Black Duck 3
Mallard 14
Blue-winged Teal 1
Green-winged Teal 7
Common Loon 1
Double-crested Cormorant 3
Least Bittern 1
Great Blue Heron 5
Great Egret 7
Snowy Egret 4
Cattle Egret 1
Green Heron 2
Black-crowned Night-Heron 4
Glossy Ibis 6
Osprey 5
Common Moorhen 1
Semipalmated Plover 2
Killdeer 4
Spotted Sandpiper 6
Solitary Sandpiper 3
Greater Yellowlegs 22
Lesser Yellowlegs 12
Semipalmated Sandpiper 7
Least Sandpiper 45
Laughing Gull 112
Herring Gull 55
Lesser Black-backed Gull 1
Great Black-backed Gull 27
Least Tern 4
Black Tern 6
Common Tern 53
Forster's Tern 3
Royal Tern 2
Black Skimmer 2
Mourning Dove 19
Chimney Swift 10
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 6
Belted Kingfisher 3
Eastern Kingbird 24
American Crow 17
Fish Crow 60
Purple Martin 25
Tree Swallow 45
Barn Swallow 42
Marsh Wren 4
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2
American Robin 11
Cedar Waxwing 4
Yellow Warbler 3
Northern Waterthrush 1
Song Sparrow 2
Indigo Bunting 2
Bobolink 17
Red-winged Blackbird 175
Common Grackle 30
House Finch 4
American Goldfinch 7
House Sparrow 15