We make our living off the birding news
Just give us something, something we can use. . .
With apologies to Don Henley.
If anybody is seeing any birds in Cape May lately, i.e. in this northeaster provided courtesy of Tropical Storm Ida, complete with gusts to 55 mph, we're not hearing about it here at CMBO. Other than a rumor that the Common Eider flock off Cape May Point near St. Mary's/St. Peters numbers more like 50 now, something worth checking, although good luck counting eiders in the big waves.
A few seabirds were moving at Avalon before our counter abandoned ship. A whopping two raptors were counted yesterday at the hawk watch before that, too, was sensibly abandoned.
If I were to go birding now, I'd find a sheltered spot to look offshore and hope for a wayward. . .ummm. . .tropicbird? I heard about a recent study that had non-breeding White-tailed Tropicbirds summering way north, as in off Newfoundland but out in the middle of the Atlantic. The only accepted White-tailed Tropicbird record for NJ was November 23, 1985 at Barnegat Inlet. Bring a camera. . .
Getting out the crystal ball, weak high pressure is supposed to bring northwest winds on Sunday. A cold front is supposed to then cross the area late Sunday, which in theory is good but it looks like the winds are forecast to go right around to east-northeast.
At 4 Golden Eagles thus far, we're way below our long term average of 13 per season for this species. You can find a summary of Cape May hawk data since 1976 on this web site, by the way, interesting to study while we wait for the next flight. Maybe Sunday?
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