Woodcock Trail, State Park Migrants

It's another muggy August day in Cape May, but as Don notes, autumn might send its first true warning shot sometime around the beginning of next week. I took a brief walk through the Woodcock Trail tract of Cape May NWR this morning, and found a few migrants which, like me, seemed to be eagerly awaiting the next cold front. Blue-winged, Prairie and Black-and-white Warblers all made an appearance along the forest edge, along with an Ovenbird. Both orioles were present, and the constant chattering of juvenile Field Sparrows seemed to indicate that this species had a successful breeding season here. Blue Grosbeak and Indigo Bunting were both present and singing, and Bobolinks continue to be hard to miss, with several small flocks flying over again this morning.

This morning's walk around the State Park produced a few neat sightings, detailed below by Karl Lukens:

" ... Usual suspects for mid August. A few warblers, a variety but low numbers of shorebirds, and a singing Indigo Bunting were nice to see. Highlight was a Peregrine Falcon that flew low up the beach and across the dune while scattering all the shorebirds in the area. The Lark Sparrow was not found."

- Karl (Steve, Tom)

Location: Cape May Point SP
Observation date: 8/19/09
Notes: CMBO Trip-K,SW,T,+1.Clr,75,W3.
Number of species: 58

Canada Goose 10
Mute Swan 5
American Black Duck 1
Mallard 15
Great Blue Heron 1
Great Egret 3
Glossy Ibis 11
Turkey Vulture 1 after walk
Peregrine Falcon 1
Semipalmated Plover 5
Piping Plover 1
Killdeer 2
American Oystercatcher 1
Spotted Sandpiper 2
Greater Yellowlegs 2
Lesser Yellowlegs 2
Sanderling 15
Least Sandpiper 10
Short-billed Dowitcher 2
Laughing Gull 20
Ring-billed Gull 1
Herring Gull 10
Great Black-backed Gull 30
Least Tern 10
Common Tern 5
Forster's Tern 1
Royal Tern 5
Rock Pigeon 2
Mourning Dove 8
Chimney Swift 3
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 2
Downy Woodpecker 1
Eastern Kingbird 40
American Crow 1
Fish Crow 10
Purple Martin 15
Tree Swallow 50
Barn Swallow 15
Carolina Chickadee 1
Tufted Titmouse 1
Carolina Wren 5
House Wren 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2
American Robin 10
Gray Catbird 5
Northern Mockingbird 10
European Starling 15
Cedar Waxwing 15
Yellow Warbler 2
Prairie Warbler 1
American Redstart 1 fly over
Northern Cardinal 5
Indigo Bunting 3
Red-winged Blackbird 15
Common Grackle 5
Brown-headed Cowbird 10
American Goldfinch 6
House Sparrow 5

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