Quite a Day + Western Kingbird

[Western Kingbird, Cape May Point State Park today. Click to enlarge.]

"Don! There's a Western Kingbird perched in a bush on the dune, in front of the sign!" That was Michael, shouting back to the hawk watch platform today. And, well, there was a Western Kingbird.

[The kingbird flew east along the dune, perched cooperatively and then flew north.]

The radar was really lit up last night, and between the flight calls heard in the dark and the flight this morning, it was sparrows, American Robins and blackbirds. I've pasted the complete list from the hawk watch this morning, 6:30-a.m. to 11:30 a.m., compiled while I counted hawks. There were birds everywhere all morning, including constant American Pipits, my choice for bird of the morning. . .until the kingbird showed up.

Karl and company report a good meadows walk today: "CMBO Morning Walk at the Meadows - TNC property. A nice chilly, partly cloudy day, with wind less than 10 mph (higher by the end of the walk). Good variety of ducks including a fly-by Common Eider and a Ruddy Duck in the fresh water pond, and one in the ocean. Also nice raptors, some Pipits, a Lesser Black-backed Gull eating Mole Crabs in the surf, and a lingering Pectoral Sandpiper. - Karl (Pete, Chuck, Mary Jane, Warren, Bill, Connie, Steve, David, Judy)

[After disappearing, being refound near Davy's Lake by Michael, and disappearing again, the Western Kingbird flew back near the hawk watch before heading for the meadows.]

[This was Michael's pick for the best bird of the morning, a flyby Hairy Woodpecker in Cape May Point, not at all usual. Photo by Michael O'Brien.]

Location: Cape May Point SP
Observation date: 10/26/09
Notes: All from Hawk Watch Platform
Number of species: 98

Canada Goose 75
Mute Swan 10
Wood Duck 15
Gadwall 10
American Wigeon 50
Mallard 20
Northern Shoveler 10
Northern Pintail 5
Green-winged Teal 10
Ring-necked Duck 4
Surf Scoter X
White-winged Scoter 2
Black Scoter X
Ruddy Duck 4
Red-throated Loon 2
Common Loon 10
Pied-billed Grebe 5
Northern Gannet X
Double-crested Cormorant X
American Bittern 1
Great Blue Heron 10
Great Egret 2
Black-crowned Night-Heron 1
Black Vulture X
Turkey Vulture X
Osprey X
Bald Eagle X
Northern Harrier X
Sharp-shinned Hawk X
Cooper's Hawk X
Red-shouldered Hawk X
Broad-winged Hawk X
Red-tailed Hawk X
American Kestrel X
Merlin X
Peregrine Falcon X
American Coot 27
Killdeer 10
Solitary Sandpiper 1
Greater Yellowlegs 2
Sanderling 20
Pectoral Sandpiper 1
Dunlin 10
Wilson's Snipe 1
Laughing Gull 1
Ring-billed Gull 5
Herring Gull X
Great Black-backed Gull X
Forster's Tern X
Royal Tern X
Rock Pigeon X
Mourning Dove X
Great Horned Owl 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 3
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker X
Western Kingbird 1
Blue Jay X
American Crow X
Fish Crow X
Tree Swallow 1000
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 20
Barn Swallow 10
Carolina Chickadee 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch 2
Brown Creeper 1
Carolina Wren 4
Golden-crowned Kinglet 5
Eastern Bluebird 10
Hermit Thrush 5
American Robin 3800
Gray Catbird 2
Northern Mockingbird 5
European Starling 300
American Pipit 200
Cedar Waxwing 75
Yellow-rumped Warbler X
Blackpoll Warbler X
Common Yellowthroat 3
Eastern Towhee 2
Chipping Sparrow 10
Savannah Sparrow 5
Song Sparrow 25
Swamp Sparrow 25
White-throated Sparrow 20
White-crowned Sparrow 5
Dark-eyed Junco 5
Northern Cardinal 3
Red-winged Blackbird 4000
Eastern Meadowlark 40
Rusty Blackbird 5
Common Grackle 70
Boat-tailed Grackle 20
Brown-headed Cowbird 100
Purple Finch 10
House Finch 250
American Goldfinch 100
House Sparrow 20