Friday, April 30, 2010
Look at the Radar!
. . . and when you're done, go outside to look at the cloudless sky. Those radar marks are birds, 9:01 p.m. EDT on the image below. Listen, too, though they're high by now, maybe out of earshot. Blue means headed towards the Dover, DE radar station from the southwest, red means headed away, towards the northeast. This image from National Center for Atmospheric Research. Of course we know birds fly north in the spring - but many are doing it tonight, right now - hope for tomorrow. [Thanks to Tony Leukering for prodding us to have a look.]
Bug of the day: Bombylius bee fly, 29 April
Some might think today's bug might be a blood-sucker, what with that long, pointy proboscis. However, this wee beast, Bombylius major, is a nectar feeder, with particular predilection for lilac and plum blossoms. The adults are superb hoverers, often low over the ground. I took this picture in just such a situation at Heislerville WMA on 29 April.
The genus Bombylius is one of the genera in the family of "bee flies" - Bombylidae - and which is about 35 species strong in North America north of Mexico. Bombylius major is about the most widespread and most abundant of the genus and, like most members of the genus, is parasitic on solitary ground-nesting bees. To effect this, the female drops her eggs at or near the entrance to the bee's nest. The resultant larva finds its way into the bee nest and munches the bee grubs.
CAPE MAY BIRDING HOTLINE - FRIDAY, APRIL 30 2010
Hotline: Cape May Birding Hotline
To Report: call (609) 884-2736, or email sightingsATbirdcapemay.org
Coverage: Cape May, Cumberland and Atlantic Counties , NJ
Compiler: David Lord, Cape May Bird Observatory with additions by Don Freiday
URL: http://www.njaudubon.org ; http://www.birdcapemay.org
This is the Cape May Birding Hotline, a service of New Jersey Audubon Society's Cape May Bird Observatory. This week's message was prepared on Friday, April 30, 2010. Highlights this week include sightings of YELLOW-RAIL, WILSON’S PHALAROPE, WHITE-FACED IBIS, AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER, SANDHILL CRANE plus apparent arrivals of WOOD THRUSH, INDIGO BUNTING, EASTERN KINGBIRD, HOODED WARBLER, RED KNOT, RED-HEADED WOODPECKER, ORCHARD ORIOLE, SCARLET TANAGER, SPOTTED SANDPIPER, BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER, RED-EYED VIREO, NASHVILLE WARBLER, YELLOW WARBLER, BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER, NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH, SUMMER TANAGER, ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK, BLUE GROSBEAK, BOBOLINK, AMERICAN REDSTART. A number of other arrivals occurred with a flight today, Friday April 30, and are not compiled here, but will be for next week’s hotline.
-For up-to-the-minute Cape May sightings information, photos and downloadable birding maps and checklist of Cape May, visit www.birdcapemay.org . Follow rarity sightings, many spring arrivals, and spectacles on www.twitter.com/CMBObirds -
A YELLOW RAIL was reported from Turkey Point on Friday, April 23, 2010, and has not been reported since.
A female WILSON’S PHALAROPE was found at a flooded field just east of the town of Villas, on Tuesday April 27, 2010, and has not been reported since.
A WHITE-FACED IBIS was located in the back impoundment of Heislerville WMA on Sunday, April 25, 2010, as was an AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER. The plover has not been found since, but the ibis has not only been refound but multiplied to up to 3 birds, though seeing any of them is hit or miss depending on tide and where the bird (s) are feeding.
A SANDHILL CRANE was seen flying over the Beanery on Friday, April 30 2010.
Apparent Spring 2010 arrivals through Thursday April 29 2010 follow: A WOOD THRUSH was heard on 4/22 at Belleplain S.F, and a breeding plumage RED KNOT was found at Nummy Island on the same date.; INDIGO BUTING, HOODED WARBLER, and WHIMBREL were noted at Higbee Beach on 4/23, while an EASTERN KINGBIRD was found at Villas WMA on the same date; a RED-HEADED WOODPECKER was found at Cape May Point S.P. on 4/24; an ORCHARD ORIOLE was found along New England road on 4/25, and a SCARLET TANAGER was seen in Ocean City on the same date; SPOTTED SANDPIPER, RED-EYED VIREO, NASHVILLE WARBLER, YELLOW WARBLER, BLACK THROATED-GREEN WARBLER, NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH, SUMMER TANAGER, ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK, BLUE GROSBEAK AND BOBOLINK were all found in the vicinity of Higbee Beach on 4/26, while a BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER was found at Villas WMA on the same date; AMERICAN REDSTARTS returned to Peaslee’s WMA on 4/28.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
If you appreciate this hotline service, and care about the birds of Cape May, please consider becoming a member of Cape May Bird Observatory. Join by May 21, 2010 to receive this year’s special edition of CMBO’S annual journal, the Peregrine Observer, featuring accounts and photos of the 2009 Ivory Gull from some of Cape May’s finest birders and photographers; Pete Dunne’s story about his return as Cape May Hawk Counter; 2009 Cape May Migration Count results; and much more! Current members will receive the Peregrine Observer automatically, but please invite your friends to join!
******CMBO SPRING HOURS are as follows: Northwood Center on East Lake Drive in Cape May Point is open daily, 9:30am to 4:30pm. The Center for Research and Education on Rt. 47 in Goshen is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9:30am to 4:30pm; closed Sundays and Mondays (but open Sunday March 28 for the Optics Sale). ******
The Cape May Birding Hotline is a service of the New Jersey Audubon Society's Cape May Bird Observatory and details sightings from Cape May, Cumberland and Atlantic Counties. Updates are made weekly. Please report sightings of rare or unusual birds to CMBO at 609-884-2736. Sponsorship for this hotline comes from the support of CMBO members and business members, and should you not be a member, we cordially invite you to join. Individual membership is $39 per year; $49 for families. You can call either center to become a member or visit. Become a member in person and you'll receive a FREE gift (in addition to member discounts in the stores).
Good Luck and Good Birding!
To Report: call (609) 884-2736, or email sightingsATbirdcapemay.org
Coverage: Cape May, Cumberland and Atlantic Counties , NJ
Compiler: David Lord, Cape May Bird Observatory with additions by Don Freiday
URL: http://www.njaudubon.org ; http://www.birdcapemay.org
This is the Cape May Birding Hotline, a service of New Jersey Audubon Society's Cape May Bird Observatory. This week's message was prepared on Friday, April 30, 2010. Highlights this week include sightings of YELLOW-RAIL, WILSON’S PHALAROPE, WHITE-FACED IBIS, AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER, SANDHILL CRANE plus apparent arrivals of WOOD THRUSH, INDIGO BUNTING, EASTERN KINGBIRD, HOODED WARBLER, RED KNOT, RED-HEADED WOODPECKER, ORCHARD ORIOLE, SCARLET TANAGER, SPOTTED SANDPIPER, BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER, RED-EYED VIREO, NASHVILLE WARBLER, YELLOW WARBLER, BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER, NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH, SUMMER TANAGER, ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK, BLUE GROSBEAK, BOBOLINK, AMERICAN REDSTART. A number of other arrivals occurred with a flight today, Friday April 30, and are not compiled here, but will be for next week’s hotline.
-For up-to-the-minute Cape May sightings information, photos and downloadable birding maps and checklist of Cape May, visit www.birdcapemay.org . Follow rarity sightings, many spring arrivals, and spectacles on www.twitter.com/CMBObirds -
A YELLOW RAIL was reported from Turkey Point on Friday, April 23, 2010, and has not been reported since.
A female WILSON’S PHALAROPE was found at a flooded field just east of the town of Villas, on Tuesday April 27, 2010, and has not been reported since.
A WHITE-FACED IBIS was located in the back impoundment of Heislerville WMA on Sunday, April 25, 2010, as was an AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER. The plover has not been found since, but the ibis has not only been refound but multiplied to up to 3 birds, though seeing any of them is hit or miss depending on tide and where the bird (s) are feeding.
A SANDHILL CRANE was seen flying over the Beanery on Friday, April 30 2010.
Apparent Spring 2010 arrivals through Thursday April 29 2010 follow: A WOOD THRUSH was heard on 4/22 at Belleplain S.F, and a breeding plumage RED KNOT was found at Nummy Island on the same date.; INDIGO BUTING, HOODED WARBLER, and WHIMBREL were noted at Higbee Beach on 4/23, while an EASTERN KINGBIRD was found at Villas WMA on the same date; a RED-HEADED WOODPECKER was found at Cape May Point S.P. on 4/24; an ORCHARD ORIOLE was found along New England road on 4/25, and a SCARLET TANAGER was seen in Ocean City on the same date; SPOTTED SANDPIPER, RED-EYED VIREO, NASHVILLE WARBLER, YELLOW WARBLER, BLACK THROATED-GREEN WARBLER, NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH, SUMMER TANAGER, ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK, BLUE GROSBEAK AND BOBOLINK were all found in the vicinity of Higbee Beach on 4/26, while a BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER was found at Villas WMA on the same date; AMERICAN REDSTARTS returned to Peaslee’s WMA on 4/28.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
If you appreciate this hotline service, and care about the birds of Cape May, please consider becoming a member of Cape May Bird Observatory. Join by May 21, 2010 to receive this year’s special edition of CMBO’S annual journal, the Peregrine Observer, featuring accounts and photos of the 2009 Ivory Gull from some of Cape May’s finest birders and photographers; Pete Dunne’s story about his return as Cape May Hawk Counter; 2009 Cape May Migration Count results; and much more! Current members will receive the Peregrine Observer automatically, but please invite your friends to join!
******CMBO SPRING HOURS are as follows: Northwood Center on East Lake Drive in Cape May Point is open daily, 9:30am to 4:30pm. The Center for Research and Education on Rt. 47 in Goshen is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9:30am to 4:30pm; closed Sundays and Mondays (but open Sunday March 28 for the Optics Sale). ******
The Cape May Birding Hotline is a service of the New Jersey Audubon Society's Cape May Bird Observatory and details sightings from Cape May, Cumberland and Atlantic Counties. Updates are made weekly. Please report sightings of rare or unusual birds to CMBO at 609-884-2736. Sponsorship for this hotline comes from the support of CMBO members and business members, and should you not be a member, we cordially invite you to join. Individual membership is $39 per year; $49 for families. You can call either center to become a member or visit. Become a member in person and you'll receive a FREE gift (in addition to member discounts in the stores).
Good Luck and Good Birding!
Turkey Point Report
Dave Lord sent me the skinny from Turkey Point this morning: "A bike ride around Cumberland's Bayshore today proved better than Christmas morning, such was the fallout. The trees at various locations were dripping with birds and it seemed as if I couldn't pedal 10 feet without stopping my bike. The bulk of the migrants were White-Eyed Vireos, a healthy dose of American Redstarts, and a good number of Black-Throated Green Warblers. A Hooded Warbler sang a few times, both flavors of Tanagers were had, with three Summers singing on a stretch of road, and Black- and White Warblers were moving through en-masse. The impoundments at Maple ave. were a living carpet of shorebirds, with a nice movement of Short Billed Dowitchers overhead. Orchard Orioles are in in a big way, as are Prairie Warblers, Yellow Warblers, and Gray Catbirds. This morning in a nutshell: overwhelming! In the whole Turkey Point area, I had 80 species of birds."
Good All Over + Sandhill Crane
All over, as in, all over NJ, not just south Jersey. I've had friends contact me from Hunterdon and Sussex Counties with reports of new birds and lots of them. Farther south, Dave Lord apparently encountered a big movement of birds in Cumberland County, more on that later. Richard Crossley, somewhere on the Garden State Parkway, reported warblers moving west at dawn. Tony Leukering and Josh Nemeth worked Villas WMA and came up with 76 species including all 5 expected spring vireos (Warbling being the toughest in spring, Philadelphia being the missed one, and unexpected at best in spring), 14 species of warblers, Scarlet Tanager, both orioles, etc. Tony also had some morning flight over Villas, as did I over Del Haven a bit to the north.
I knew it was going to be good the second I walked out the door, hearing many migrants including my yard-first Warbling Vireo. Actually, before that, since late last night La Puma left me a message: "Dude, look at the radar!"
Bird numbers actually seemed to diminish as I spot-checked a few woodlots on the 12 mile drive south to Cape May for the Higbee walk, i.e. the new migrants were thicker farther north. Higbee was still very good, with over 70 species managed on the walk and some good looks at birds like Prairie Warbler and Northern Parula, and two singing Hooded Warblers, heard at the same time in the woods west of the second field. A movement of Barn Swallows was obvious, Common Loons in breeding plumage also migrated overhead along with a Red-throated Loon high in the air but over the bay (or close) and headed south. There were way more Gray Catbirds and White-eyed Vireos than will fit at Higbee as breeders. The full list is up on Field Trip Reports. Interestingly, I climbed the Higbee Dike before the walk and while the woods were very active, not much flew out and headed north across the canal, just a few Yellow-rumpeds, a Prairie Warbler, and a couple Indigo Buntings. A Blue-winged Warbler started to fly north, but returned to the woods and perhaps that same bird was singing in the woods north of the parking lot all morning.
The rarity du jour so far would be Sam Galicks' flyover Sandhill Crane at the Beanery this morning. The Cape May wintering cranes have been unreported for weeks if not months, so one wonders where this bird is from.
I knew it was going to be good the second I walked out the door, hearing many migrants including my yard-first Warbling Vireo. Actually, before that, since late last night La Puma left me a message: "Dude, look at the radar!"
Bird numbers actually seemed to diminish as I spot-checked a few woodlots on the 12 mile drive south to Cape May for the Higbee walk, i.e. the new migrants were thicker farther north. Higbee was still very good, with over 70 species managed on the walk and some good looks at birds like Prairie Warbler and Northern Parula, and two singing Hooded Warblers, heard at the same time in the woods west of the second field. A movement of Barn Swallows was obvious, Common Loons in breeding plumage also migrated overhead along with a Red-throated Loon high in the air but over the bay (or close) and headed south. There were way more Gray Catbirds and White-eyed Vireos than will fit at Higbee as breeders. The full list is up on Field Trip Reports. Interestingly, I climbed the Higbee Dike before the walk and while the woods were very active, not much flew out and headed north across the canal, just a few Yellow-rumpeds, a Prairie Warbler, and a couple Indigo Buntings. A Blue-winged Warbler started to fly north, but returned to the woods and perhaps that same bird was singing in the woods north of the parking lot all morning.
The rarity du jour so far would be Sam Galicks' flyover Sandhill Crane at the Beanery this morning. The Cape May wintering cranes have been unreported for weeks if not months, so one wonders where this bird is from.
Western Sandpiper + Migration
[This Sandpiper, I.D.'d as a Western, was at the West Cape May Impoundments yesterday. Some observers have wondered whether the bird could be a Semipalmated - what do you think? Photo is by Sam Galick. Click to enlarge.]Yesterday's Belleplain report is up on Field Trip reports, revealing rapidly growing bird diversity there. The radar was lit up again last night - off to find out what they were.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Definitely Some Movement Last Night
[This male Baltimore Oriole graced Marvin Hyett's Margate yard yesterday afternoon.]I'm losing track of what's new and what's not, arrival wise, but think Mike Crewe's Great-crested Flycatcher along New England Road this morning is new, as would be his Yellow-billed Cuckoo last night at the Beanery except for the very aberrant March bird. Mike also had Wood Thrush and a smattering of migrants.
Speaking of which, Vince Elia rang up a nice set of birds at Higbee this morning: 5 Black-and-whites, 3 Yellows, 2 Ovenbirds, 4 Eastern Kingbirds, Northern Parula, Blue-headed Vireo &c. Vince also reports increased numbers of common birds like House Wren, Gray Catbird, Common Yellowthroat. At the Shunpike Road pond were six Solitary and 2 Spotted Sandpipers, and Cliff and Bank Swallows. Glen Davis similarly found a good migrant flock at the "SPCA" woods, at the north end of Bayshore Road near the Cape May Canal, including a female Summer Tanager.
I poked my head in at Pierce's Point Road on a lark, heard a few Yellow-rumpeds and was going to drive on, but then a Black-and-white sang so I stopped. This is a good general tactic, or at least it works for me - stop if you hear an obvious migrant, because there are probably others. And there were, the best of which was a male Hooded Warbler, with Northern Parula, Blue-headed Vireo, Ovenbird, Scarlet Tanager and Palms and Yellow-rumpeds aplenty, all in that little oak woods on the left as you drive in from Route 47. There also was a Belted Kingfisher out towards the end of the road.
Speaking of larks, I haven't mentioned the conspicuous and singing Horned Larks at Cape May County airport, but they are there, or were two nights ago. Drive in to the airport to the parking lot near the diner. You have to look through a fence or take the radical step of standing on the roof of your car to look over it. They just mowed most of the fields, and somebody's going to find an Upland Sandpiper or some good grass bird out there. Be sure to stay on public roads and park sensibly - this is one airport where, so far, they tolerate people with fancy optics staring at the runways (even from their roofs!)
Warren Cairo et. al.'s report from Nummy Island is up on Field Trip Reports - 30 returning Red Knots were highlights, as was a flyby Marbled Godwit and a leucistic dowitcher.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Time's running out. . .
. . . to join CMBO and receive the 2010 Peregrine Observer! Here's the table of contents page (with Scott Whittle's "Joy to the World" Ivory Gull shot as the backdrop). Click to enlarge, and then click here and scroll down for membership options - you must join by May 21 to receive this issue. Your membership supports this site, and also bird conservation and birding in Cape May.
Like Fall, with Fewer (but Prettier) Birds; + WIPH & 3 White-faced Ibis
[I set out looking only for something beautiful this morning, and found it in this Yellow Warbler, "whisper-singing" at the Stone Harbor Bird Sanctuary. Click to enlarge photos.]Figuring out where to go birding each morning is calculated guessing, but this morning's west gale meant 1) somewhere out of the d__n wind and 2) perhaps migrant traps on the Atlantic side got birds with this weather? How about the Stone Harbor Bird Sanctuary?
This former rookery between Second and Third Avenues in Stone Harbor is still worth checking for birds, migrants specifically in spring and fall, even though the heronry hasn't been occupied for years. The side along Second Ave. is out of the wind, and held a Scarlet Tanager, Black-and-white Warbler, Yellow Warbler (pictured), 10+ Chipping Sparrows, Hermit Thrush, and a few others. 16 Great Blue Herons flew in off the Atlantic, presumably nocturnal migrants that wound up offshore thanks to the wind, an American Kestrel passed, and a very strong Double-crested Cormorant flight was underway. It felt very much like a day of fall migration, with birds in breeding plumage and the cormorants flying the wrong way. Or like the classic migrant trap experience it was - a sometimes odd assortment of birds finding themselves where they'd rather not be (too far east in this case, and over not much habitat) and plopping into the best they could find.
Driving out Stone Harbor Causeway towards the parkway, all the day herons were easy to spot on a flooding tide, including one each of Tricolored and Little Blue, and even a flyby Green.
In other news, the report from yesterday's Hidden Corners of Belleplain field trip is up on Field Trip Reports, along with Mike Crewe's account of this morning at Cape May Point and today's Peaslee report. I hear that Dick Veit had 3, count 'em, White-faced Ibis at Heislerville yesterday, but several observers have gone up there and struck out. Tide is important at Heislerville, and it is high tide that puts birds in the drawn down impoundments, something any of you World Series of Birding teams out there are undoubtedly considering for May 15.
The Wilson's Phalarope on Tabernacle Road was present until day's end yesterday, no word yet for today.
[More beauty, a Prairie Warbler at Jake's Landing during our bird song workshop over the weekend. The brushy area between the first and second white pine groves there often harbors this species, and soon if not now, Blue Grosbeak and Indigo Bunting, too.]
[Karl Lukens photographed the female Wilson's Phalarope on Tabernacle Road. Not a hard bird to i.d., but Tom Reed advised that it disappeared behind the weeds periodically. This pond, really a flooded field, has been interesting all spring, collecting at various times numbers of yellowlegs, ibis, swallows and such, and is easily tacked onto a trip to the Villas WMA or Cape May County airport.]
Birding on a windy day
Cape May rarely fails to surprise and this morning's Cape May Point State Park walk was no exception. A very windy morning didn't bode well, with thoughts of no visible migration taking place and the few birds that were around lurking in the undergrowth. As it turned out though, we had a great time and saw some great birds. Sheltered spots among the trees gave us great views of singing male Black-and-white Warblers busily working the tree trunks, a Blue-headed Vireo showed very briefly and later we chanced upon a mixed feeding flock which consisted mostly of White-throated Sparrows but with Chipping, Savannah and Field Sparrows, American Goldfinches and a female Indigo Bunting all in the mix. Several Great and Snowy Egrets and Great Blue Herons graced the edges of the ponds and a fly-over Cattle Egret was a nice surprise find.
The plover ponds gave us some great up-close-and-personal views of Least Sandpipers, as well as a very spotty Spotted Sandpiper. We'd had so much to look at that we ran out of time to check for seabird offshore, but Tom Parsons had taken a look and reported few birds moving out there in these high winds.
For the full list of species seen on this and all of our walks, go to our field reports section.
Elsewhere, Don Freiday reported Scarlet Tanager, Black-and-white Warbler, Chipping Sparrow and Yellow Warbler from the Stone Harbor Bird Sanctuary and had 16 Great Blue Herons flying in off the ocean.
David Lord reports an American Redstart at Peaslea's WMA up in Cumberland County.
The plover ponds gave us some great up-close-and-personal views of Least Sandpipers, as well as a very spotty Spotted Sandpiper. We'd had so much to look at that we ran out of time to check for seabird offshore, but Tom Parsons had taken a look and reported few birds moving out there in these high winds.
For the full list of species seen on this and all of our walks, go to our field reports section.
Elsewhere, Don Freiday reported Scarlet Tanager, Black-and-white Warbler, Chipping Sparrow and Yellow Warbler from the Stone Harbor Bird Sanctuary and had 16 Great Blue Herons flying in off the ocean.
David Lord reports an American Redstart at Peaslea's WMA up in Cumberland County.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Yesterday's Migrant Push Continues
Though it's been a little quieter than yesterday, perhaps because of the prevailing north-west wind today, birds have continued to push on through Cape May and a good range of species continues to be reported. Our own yard provided us with our first-of-season Palm and Blue-winged Warblers and Eastern Kingbird this morning as well as a late American Tree Sparrow, while - between customers - an eye on the trees and lake outside the store has produced 41 species at the Northwood Center so far today (with two hours still to go!), including Blue-headed Vireo (to go with the Yellow-throated Vireo here yesterday) the Yellow Warbler continues from yesterday, two Black-and-white Warblers, Blue-grey Gnatcatcher, Black-throated Green Warbler and Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Barn Swallows have been moving north all day too.
Elsewhere, a Wilson's Phalarope was found by Chris Vogel on a flooded field along Tabernacle Road just east of Villas, Heislerville still holds 51 Glossy Ibis, 105 Snowy Egrets,118 Black-crowned Night Herons, two Yellow-crowned Night Herons, and four Wood Thrushes according to Tony Leukering. We've had a scattering of phone calls about Rose-breasted Grosbeaks arriving today at several locations.
Elsewhere, a Wilson's Phalarope was found by Chris Vogel on a flooded field along Tabernacle Road just east of Villas, Heislerville still holds 51 Glossy Ibis, 105 Snowy Egrets,118 Black-crowned Night Herons, two Yellow-crowned Night Herons, and four Wood Thrushes according to Tony Leukering. We've had a scattering of phone calls about Rose-breasted Grosbeaks arriving today at several locations.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Nice Little Fallout! ~ 10 Cape May FOS's
Dave La Puma and I went to check the Higbee parking lot for five minutes at 6:45 this morning, before the CMBO meadows walk, and were still at Higbee two hours later, deciding to leave the meadows in Pete's capable hands (and knowing CMBO's volunteers would be there, too).
Dave called it beforehand on http://www.woodcreeper.com/ - ". . .we continue with this backlog of migrants to our south- as there was some appreciably heavy migration across most of the eastern flyway last night, up to the Jersey border. We can hope to have some of these birds in our area by tomorrow. . ."
Even so, we almost went to Sunset Beach like we usually do, but switched off to check Higbee because of the fog and our hunch that passerines got dropped here. A pause at the Hidden Valley parking lot on New England made it clear something significant was going on, with dozens of Yellow-rumpeds, Savannah Sparrows and Palms. . .and Northern Parula, Black-and-white, Worm-eating, Ovenbird. And then a Blue Grosbeak. And then we were in the fun-frantic mode of trying to figure out where we best be when we wanted to be everywhere!
We covered the whole Higbee complex reasonably thoroughly, walking 2.5 miles. Oak groves along New England Road itself proved to be the best spots, though a Louisiana Waterthrush sang from deep in the Hidden Valley tract and an early-arriving Bobolink sang in the northwest corner of the Hidden Valley fields. After walking the fields we climbed the dike, and did have a few birds engaged in morning flight, mostly Yellow-rumpeds but a few Palms, an Orchard Oriole, and Yellow Warblers. When all was said and done, we had 85 species including 14 species of warblers and about 10 apparent Cape May FOS's (first of season): Spotted Sandpiper, Red-eyed Vireo, Nashville Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Summer Tanager, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Blue Grosbeak, and Bobolink.
Tom Magarian and Tony Leukering had a similar strong flight at Villas WMA, with one additional warbler species (Black-throated Blue) and a Wood Thrush, which Dave and I did not detect. Tony just told me he finished up at Villas with 60 species including 12 warblers. Also interesting was the fact that the hottest area at Villas was near the parking lot, and the first patch to the south, and those areas had emptied of birds when Tony left. We had a similar experience when we left the dike, with bird volume much diminished by 9:00 a.m. as they apparently moved on northward.
Movement was not limited to passerines - the meadows walk had multiple flocks of Whimbrel, 8-10 American Oystercatchers, a dozen Wilson's Snipe, and Solitary Sandpiper. Tony checked the flooded field along Breakwater Road at the Cape May County Airport and came up with 10 Greater Yellowlegs, 1 Lesser, 1 Solitary Sandpiper, 2 Spotted Sandpipers, and ~5 each of Semipalmated and Least Sandpipers. The same pond last night had 3 Greater Yellowlegs and that's it when I drove by around 5 p.m.
Our full list for Higbee this morning, although not an official field trip, is up on Field Trip Reports.
Dave called it beforehand on http://www.woodcreeper.com/ - ". . .we continue with this backlog of migrants to our south- as there was some appreciably heavy migration across most of the eastern flyway last night, up to the Jersey border. We can hope to have some of these birds in our area by tomorrow. . ."
Even so, we almost went to Sunset Beach like we usually do, but switched off to check Higbee because of the fog and our hunch that passerines got dropped here. A pause at the Hidden Valley parking lot on New England made it clear something significant was going on, with dozens of Yellow-rumpeds, Savannah Sparrows and Palms. . .and Northern Parula, Black-and-white, Worm-eating, Ovenbird. And then a Blue Grosbeak. And then we were in the fun-frantic mode of trying to figure out where we best be when we wanted to be everywhere!
We covered the whole Higbee complex reasonably thoroughly, walking 2.5 miles. Oak groves along New England Road itself proved to be the best spots, though a Louisiana Waterthrush sang from deep in the Hidden Valley tract and an early-arriving Bobolink sang in the northwest corner of the Hidden Valley fields. After walking the fields we climbed the dike, and did have a few birds engaged in morning flight, mostly Yellow-rumpeds but a few Palms, an Orchard Oriole, and Yellow Warblers. When all was said and done, we had 85 species including 14 species of warblers and about 10 apparent Cape May FOS's (first of season): Spotted Sandpiper, Red-eyed Vireo, Nashville Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Summer Tanager, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Blue Grosbeak, and Bobolink.
Tom Magarian and Tony Leukering had a similar strong flight at Villas WMA, with one additional warbler species (Black-throated Blue) and a Wood Thrush, which Dave and I did not detect. Tony just told me he finished up at Villas with 60 species including 12 warblers. Also interesting was the fact that the hottest area at Villas was near the parking lot, and the first patch to the south, and those areas had emptied of birds when Tony left. We had a similar experience when we left the dike, with bird volume much diminished by 9:00 a.m. as they apparently moved on northward.
Movement was not limited to passerines - the meadows walk had multiple flocks of Whimbrel, 8-10 American Oystercatchers, a dozen Wilson's Snipe, and Solitary Sandpiper. Tony checked the flooded field along Breakwater Road at the Cape May County Airport and came up with 10 Greater Yellowlegs, 1 Lesser, 1 Solitary Sandpiper, 2 Spotted Sandpipers, and ~5 each of Semipalmated and Least Sandpipers. The same pond last night had 3 Greater Yellowlegs and that's it when I drove by around 5 p.m.
Our full list for Higbee this morning, although not an official field trip, is up on Field Trip Reports.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Add Scarlet Tanager + Nesting Bluebirds
[Tony Leukering captured this great image of Eastern Bluebirds at Villas WMA. Click to enlarge.]I hear Chris Kisiel and Glen Davis had a flyby Scarlet Tanager at Ocean City today - nice! And apparent FOS (first of season) for Cape May and NJ.
Villas WMA, besides the EABL's (Eastern Bluebirds) had a nice set of birds including a mixed flock containing singing Prairie, Palm and Black-and-white Warblers. Kathy Horn's full report is up on Field Trip Reports.
I hardly lifted the bins today - working on the house and yard - hopfully tomorrow's Meadows Walk will compensate.
Heislerville Prediction Pans Out + Orchard Oriole Arrives
Dave La Puma just called to let me know he was looking at a White-faced Ibis and American Golden-plover at the drawn down impoundment at Heislerville, Cumberland County, both initially pointed out by Chris Vogel.
Kathy Horn found an Orchard Oriole today on New England Road half way between Higbee and Hidden Valley. Tony Leukering checked the pond/flooded field on Tabernacle Road, which runs from Railroad Avenue to Academy Road (which then becomes Bayshore), not far from Villas WMA, and found 87 Glossy Ibis, 2 Pectoral Sandpipers, and 6 Greater Yellowlegs.
Kathy Horn found an Orchard Oriole today on New England Road half way between Higbee and Hidden Valley. Tony Leukering checked the pond/flooded field on Tabernacle Road, which runs from Railroad Avenue to Academy Road (which then becomes Bayshore), not far from Villas WMA, and found 87 Glossy Ibis, 2 Pectoral Sandpipers, and 6 Greater Yellowlegs.
Bug of the day: Phantom Crane Fly (22 Apr '10)
On a cool, breezy, overcast/drizzly day with little in the way of birding being done (or, at least, with little in the way being reported), I had time to edit more pictures from last week. I was particularly interested in getting to my pix of the Phantom Crane Fly (Bittacomorpha sp.) that I photographed at the Villas W.M.A. on Earth Day (22 Apr). These bugs (see previous "bugs" post concerning terminology; this is not a true bug, Hemiptera, but a fly, Diptera) are denizens of the patchy shade in forest understory. The lowest segment of each leg is laterally expanded creating wider surfaces that can obtain extra lift from the slightest zephyrs in such protected habitats. This extra lift must help a lot, as this group may have the smallest wing length:body length ratio of any of the crane flies that I know. Though it may seem that their obvious black-and-white leg patterns would make them stand out, in fact they can be very hard beasts on which to focus as they float by below one's knees over the sun-dappled leaf litter. It is one of the critters for which I look whenever making the loop through the wet woods at Villas W.M.A. in spring.
Crane flies (Family Tipulidae), in general, are often misidentified as giant mosquitoes (Culicidae, a different family within the Diptera) by the layman. They are, in general, much larger than are mosquitoes, with Bittacomorpha being among the largest crane flies in the east with body lengths approaching 1 inch (and with this bug having a considerably longer legspan). Adults of some crane fly species are nectar feeders, but most exist as adults only to reproduce and do not feed in that stage. They are relatively weak fliers, with this genus standing out in this regard.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
A Whole Lot O' Birding Going On + Yellow Rail, Red-headed Woodpecker, and Heislerville Pics
[Semipalmated Plover checking out a passing gull at the first/west Heislerville impoundment last night. When you see shorebirds do this, it's not a bad idea to look up - they may be cocking their head at a passing raptor. Click to enlarge photos.]Between CMBO's 3 weekly Saturday field trips (to the Beanery, Belleplain and Cape May Point), the Cruisin' for Loons and Shorebirds boat trip, the Intro to Birding by Ear Workshop Mark Garland and I led, and general observations by many friends, we dipped our toes pretty deep into Cape May birds today. Lists and notes up on Field Trips Reports tell part of the story; highlights include Broad-winged Hawk, 2 Bald Eagles, Wilson's Snipe, Solitary Sandpiper, and a nice American Bittern at the Beanery; great southern breeders at Belleplain; 2 Pectoral Sandpipers and a swallow show at the state park for the afternoon Bird Walk for All People; an unusual (for the location) male Harlequin Duck and breeding plumage Common Loons aboard the Osprey in the back bays; a pile of singing Yellow-rumped Warblers plus singing Palms, Pines, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and others at Villas WMA for our ear-birding workshop; and 2 Prairie Warblers, Yellow-throated Warblers, stacks of vocal Clapper Rails, and others at Jake's Landing, also for the workshop.
Doug Gochfeld (you may remember - our swing counter last fall) sent me this note - a friend of his had planned and then executed a trip to Turkey Point Friday: "Thanks for the help. He went down last night and got: Chuck-will's-widow, Whip-poor-will, Great Horned Owl, Barn Owl, E. Screech-Owl, Seaside Sparrow. Also: Yellow Rail, Virginia Rail, Clapper Rail. All of the rails were heard only after 3:30 AM, after the Moon finally set (apparently it was very bright last night). None had called up to that point." A pretty kickin' Friday night! CMBO is planning a similar expedition for early May, though not for the wee hours of the night.
Tom McParland detected a Red-headed Woodpecker on the Yellow Trail at Cape May Point State Park today, the first RHWO I can recall of 2010. They didn't winter at the Villas WMA this year, despite the great habitat.
[My sense is that newly arrived birds have a lot of preening to do. This Semipalmated Plover at Heislerville yesterday evening seemed tired, and alternated just standing with some serious feather care.]
[Dunlin are in mixed stages of breeding plumage now.]
[These yellowlegs gave a clinic on distinguishing Lesser (right) from Greater last night at Heislerville. Compare the bills, the overall size, and the contours of the chest.]I heard via Dave Lord of an Eastern Wood-pewee at Belleplain along Route 550 - not sure if it was Dave's sighting or not yet, and it would be record early. Hooded Warbler made it to Belleplain today, after the arriving bird at Higbee yesterday, with one on New Bridge Road found by Janet Crawford. Vince Elia had 3 Little Blue Herons and a Tricolored Heron over the meadows this morning. And via his jerseybirds list-serve post, I hear Steve Rodan had, among other things, a breeding-plumaged Red Knot at Nummy Island on Thursday, the first breeding-plumaged bird I've heard of and also the first I've heard of since the February blizzards. Steve also had a flock of 40 Whimbrel, the largest group reported so far this spring.
We've got some crummy weather ahead in the near term, migration wise, but after Sunday and especially, the end of the coming week (Thursday, in time for CMBO's Belleplain walk? Friday, for the Higbee walk?) looks very interesting. Part of the "big flight equation" is poor migration weather beforehand, to slow migration and cause birds ready to move to stack up. Another part, in spring, is when are neotropical migrants finally primed and ready to move into to NJ? The answer is the very tail end of April and the first few days of May. We'll see - I'll leave the predictions to Dave La Puma.
Heislerville Hot
Just a quick note about Heislerville - I birded the first impoundment, near the end of Matt's Landing Road, last night, and there was not much mud yet, which in a way was nice because what birds there were foraged close to the road, great for viewing and photography (pics later).
But I wish I had gone straight around to the second impoundment, which is completely drawn down and was packed with waders - 75 Snowy Egrets, a Tri-colored, 100+ Glossy Ibis, 25 Great Egrets - and many yellowlegs, mostly Greater, and a few other shorebirds - Dunlin, Short-billed Dowitchers, Eastern Willet, Semipalmated Plover. It was almost dark by this time, but I suspect we'll be hearing more about this spot this weekend and beyond. It seems a certainty a White-faced Ibis will turn up there, and who knows what rare shorebird, the second impoundment looks great for Ruff in particular. Reach the second impoundment by taking Matt's Landing Road towards the marina and turning left after the first impoundment, on the left, onto the sand dike. Turn left again where the dike T's, and continue to the second impoundment, also on the left. The dikes are narrow and a little bumpy, but very passable, use caution though when near other vehicles or fishermen.
But I wish I had gone straight around to the second impoundment, which is completely drawn down and was packed with waders - 75 Snowy Egrets, a Tri-colored, 100+ Glossy Ibis, 25 Great Egrets - and many yellowlegs, mostly Greater, and a few other shorebirds - Dunlin, Short-billed Dowitchers, Eastern Willet, Semipalmated Plover. It was almost dark by this time, but I suspect we'll be hearing more about this spot this weekend and beyond. It seems a certainty a White-faced Ibis will turn up there, and who knows what rare shorebird, the second impoundment looks great for Ruff in particular. Reach the second impoundment by taking Matt's Landing Road towards the marina and turning left after the first impoundment, on the left, onto the sand dike. Turn left again where the dike T's, and continue to the second impoundment, also on the left. The dikes are narrow and a little bumpy, but very passable, use caution though when near other vehicles or fishermen.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Add Hooded Warbler, Indigo Bunting and Eastern Kingbird
[This Mourning Dove, and mate, were busy collecting nesting material at Higbee this morning. Click to enlarge.]It was a weirdly good, or weirdly slow, Higbee Beach WMA walk this morning, depending on how you look at it. It seemed pretty dead, i.e. few birds, and there were indeed few birds in volume. . .but a single Yellow-throated Vireo sang near the parking lot. Then a single Blue-headed Vireo chimed in. Then a Prairie Warbler in the first field. Then a season-first male Hooded Warbler, glimpsed by Dave La Puma and induced to sing with a few whistled weeta-weety-o's, in the woods near the junction of the first and second field. Then I heard a Willet and Karl Lukens spotted the flock of 9 overhead with a Whimbrel in the lead. Near the end of the walk Chuck Slugg picked another season-first, that being an Indigo Bunting in the first field that, after perching in the tree island, bzzt'ed and flew north. Multiple Common Yellowthroats and White-eyed Vireos sang, and we managed a couple Yellow-rumpeds - and I mean managed, there really weren't many birds.
My favorite sighting was the Mourning Dove pair busily nest building, with a pair of Field Sparrows picking seeds contentedly along the path a close second.
Tony Leukering detected yet another season-first at Villas WMA this morning, that being an Eastern Kingbird at the southeast corner.
Dave La Puma and I pulled our usual 10 minute pre-walk vigil at the Concrete Ship, where 40 or so Northern Gannets were flying into the northwest wind, into the bay, a few Red-throated Loons were around, as were more than a few Forster's Terns, and the Black Scoter count was a whopping 3 - we later had a flyby flock on the Higbee walk but, clearly, a whole bunch of things have pulled out, which makes Janet Crawford's Lesser Scaup at Heislerville yesterday interesting (WSB teams take note). Heislerville held a few shorebirds despite continuing high water in the impoundment.
Reports from Higbee today, and Belleplain and Heislerville yesterday, are up on Field Trip Reports.
Finally, there's still time to get on the always good Crusing for Loons and Shorebirds trip on the Osprey Saturday, 1:30 p.m. from the Miss Chris Marina. Call CMBO to register 609.861.0700; registration at the boat is also possible if there is still room, call the Osprey at 609.898.3500.
Add Wood Thrush + A Few Pics
[I know it's a family-style blog, but. . . Joey Lounsbury caught these Piping Plovers at Two-Mile Beach on Tuesday. Joey's a young birder who was visiting Cape May with his father. Piping Plovers are tough to sex, but there's no doubt here, offering a good chance to compare the thickness of the dark forehead stripes, in particular. Male Piping Plovers are more strongly marked overall, including the thicker forehead stripe and a broader collar that is more likely to be complete, or close to it, than on females, but there is overlap. Click to enlarge]Dave Lord reports that Wood Thrush was in at Vine Street near Belleplain yesterday morning.
[Worm-eating Warbler belts out a song in Belleplain at the triangle Thursday. Photo by Karl Lukens.]
[Broad-winged Hawks are back, this one was at Belleplain. Photo by Karl Lukens.]
[Mike Hannisian had this Red Bat near Goshen.]
[Pectoral Sandpiper at the plover ponds, Cape May Point State Park on Tuesday, by Joey Lounsbury. ]Please support this site, and birds and birding in Cape May, by joining CMBO. Simply visit the membership page and scroll down for all membership options. Join by May 21 to receive the special 2010 edition of CMBO’s annual journal, the Peregrine Observer, featuring accounts and photos of the 2009 Ivory Gull; Pete Dunne's story about his return as Cape May Hawk Counter; 2009 Migration Count results; 2009 Notable Birds; and more! By the way, 60% of our members are from out of state or country. It's only $39 (ind.) and you can join online! Current members (thanks!) will automatically receive the Peregrine Observer, but please invite your friends to join!
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Higbee Habitat Work
Don't be alarmed if you see a tractor at work brush-hogging Higbee Beach Wildlife Management Area in the coming weeks. The WMA has the delightful primary purpose of providing food and cover for migratory birds. To that end, the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife conducts periodic field management - such as mowing, disking, and planting - all for the benefit of birds and other wildlife. The long-term gains for birds (and birders) outweigh the short-term disturbance.
In a nutshell, the NJDFW maintains the Higbee fields in different stages of succession, creating suitable habitat for species ranging from bare-dirt-loving Vesper Sparrows to scrub-shrub birds like Blue Grosbeak, while leaving the existing woods largely alone for forest-using species like Worm-eating Warblers or Hermit Thrushes. Planting of several fields with annual food-bearing species like sorghum, native warm season grasses and pollinator-friendly perennials is planned for this spring, after the mowing and disking - although simply tilling a field and letting annual weeds come in isn't such a bad practice for some species, and that will be done in a couple areas.
In a nutshell, the NJDFW maintains the Higbee fields in different stages of succession, creating suitable habitat for species ranging from bare-dirt-loving Vesper Sparrows to scrub-shrub birds like Blue Grosbeak, while leaving the existing woods largely alone for forest-using species like Worm-eating Warblers or Hermit Thrushes. Planting of several fields with annual food-bearing species like sorghum, native warm season grasses and pollinator-friendly perennials is planned for this spring, after the mowing and disking - although simply tilling a field and letting annual weeds come in isn't such a bad practice for some species, and that will be done in a couple areas.
CAPE MAY BIRDING HOTLINE - THURSDAY, APRIL 22 2010
Hotline: Cape May Birding Hotline
To Report: call (609) 884-2736, or email sightingsATbirdcapemay.org
Coverage: Cape May, Cumberland and Atlantic Counties , NJ
Compiler: David Lord, Cape May Bird Observatory with additions by Don Freiday
URL: http://www.njaudubon.org ; http://www.birdcapemay.org
This is the Cape May Birding Hotline, a service of New Jersey Audubon's Cape May Bird Observatory. This week's message was prepared on Thursday, April 22, 2010. Highlights this week include sightings of apparent spring arrivals, including RUBY-THROATED HUMMINBIRD, YELLOW-THROATED VIREO, BLUE-HEADED VIREO, PROTHONATARY WARBLER, WORM-EATING WARBLER, BLUE-WINGED WARBLER and an announcement about CMBO membership.
-For up-to-the-minute Cape May sightings information, photos and downloadable birding maps and checklist of Cape May, visit www.birdcapemay.org . Follow rarity sightings, many spring arrivals, and spectacles on www.twitter.com/CMBObirds -
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this week’s hotline is that it contains no really rare or unseasonable birds! Apparent spring arrivals follow. A WORM-EATING WARBLER was at Belleplain State Forest on Thursday, April 15. On Friday, April 16, RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD was located in Goshen; PROTHONATARY WARBLER was found at Beaver Dam WMA; and YELLOW-THROATED and BLUE-HEADED VIREO were seen at Higbee Beach. A WHIMBREL was at Nummy Island Sunday, April 18. A COMMON TERN was at St. Peter’s jetty on Monday, April 19, 2010. A KING RAIL was at Tuckahoe Tuesday, April 20. A BLUE-WINGED WARBLER was in Del Haven on Tuesday, April 20.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
If you appreciate this hotline service, and care about the birds of Cape May, please consider becoming a member of Cape May Bird Observatory. Join by May 21, 2010 to receive this year’s special edition of CMBO’S annual journal, the Peregrine Observer, featuring accounts and photos of the 2009 Ivory Gull from some of Cape May’s finest birders and photographers; Pete Dunne’s story about his return as Cape May Hawk Counter; 2009 Cape May Migration Count results; and much more! Current members will receive the Peregrine Observer automatically, but please invite your friends to join!
******CMBO SPRING HOURS are as follows: Northwood Center on East Lake Drive in Cape May Point is open daily, 9:30am to 4:30pm. The Center for Research and Education on Rt. 47 in Goshen is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9:30am to 4:30pm; closed Sundays and Mondays (but open Sunday March 28 for the Optics Sale). ******
The Cape May Birding Hotline is a service of the New Jersey Audubon Society's Cape May Bird Observatory and details sightings from Cape May, Cumberland and Atlantic Counties. Updates are made weekly. Please report sightings of rare or unusual birds to CMBO at 609-884-2736. Sponsorship for this hotline comes from the support of CMBO members and business members, and should you not be a member, we cordially invite you to join. Individual membership is $39 per year; $49 for families. You can call either center to become a member or visit. Become a member in person and you'll receive a FREE gift (in addition to member discounts in the stores).
Good Luck and Good Birding!
To Report: call (609) 884-2736, or email sightingsATbirdcapemay.org
Coverage: Cape May, Cumberland and Atlantic Counties , NJ
Compiler: David Lord, Cape May Bird Observatory with additions by Don Freiday
URL: http://www.njaudubon.org ; http://www.birdcapemay.org
This is the Cape May Birding Hotline, a service of New Jersey Audubon's Cape May Bird Observatory. This week's message was prepared on Thursday, April 22, 2010. Highlights this week include sightings of apparent spring arrivals, including RUBY-THROATED HUMMINBIRD, YELLOW-THROATED VIREO, BLUE-HEADED VIREO, PROTHONATARY WARBLER, WORM-EATING WARBLER, BLUE-WINGED WARBLER and an announcement about CMBO membership.
-For up-to-the-minute Cape May sightings information, photos and downloadable birding maps and checklist of Cape May, visit www.birdcapemay.org . Follow rarity sightings, many spring arrivals, and spectacles on www.twitter.com/CMBObirds -
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this week’s hotline is that it contains no really rare or unseasonable birds! Apparent spring arrivals follow. A WORM-EATING WARBLER was at Belleplain State Forest on Thursday, April 15. On Friday, April 16, RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD was located in Goshen; PROTHONATARY WARBLER was found at Beaver Dam WMA; and YELLOW-THROATED and BLUE-HEADED VIREO were seen at Higbee Beach. A WHIMBREL was at Nummy Island Sunday, April 18. A COMMON TERN was at St. Peter’s jetty on Monday, April 19, 2010. A KING RAIL was at Tuckahoe Tuesday, April 20. A BLUE-WINGED WARBLER was in Del Haven on Tuesday, April 20.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
If you appreciate this hotline service, and care about the birds of Cape May, please consider becoming a member of Cape May Bird Observatory. Join by May 21, 2010 to receive this year’s special edition of CMBO’S annual journal, the Peregrine Observer, featuring accounts and photos of the 2009 Ivory Gull from some of Cape May’s finest birders and photographers; Pete Dunne’s story about his return as Cape May Hawk Counter; 2009 Cape May Migration Count results; and much more! Current members will receive the Peregrine Observer automatically, but please invite your friends to join!
******CMBO SPRING HOURS are as follows: Northwood Center on East Lake Drive in Cape May Point is open daily, 9:30am to 4:30pm. The Center for Research and Education on Rt. 47 in Goshen is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9:30am to 4:30pm; closed Sundays and Mondays (but open Sunday March 28 for the Optics Sale). ******
The Cape May Birding Hotline is a service of the New Jersey Audubon Society's Cape May Bird Observatory and details sightings from Cape May, Cumberland and Atlantic Counties. Updates are made weekly. Please report sightings of rare or unusual birds to CMBO at 609-884-2736. Sponsorship for this hotline comes from the support of CMBO members and business members, and should you not be a member, we cordially invite you to join. Individual membership is $39 per year; $49 for families. You can call either center to become a member or visit. Become a member in person and you'll receive a FREE gift (in addition to member discounts in the stores).
Good Luck and Good Birding!
Bugs!
It started with a bird.
Yesterday, Josh Nemeth and I birded Villas WMA hoping for spring migrants, but mostly encountered local breeders. Perhaps the highlight was the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher nest that Josh found under construction by both members of the pair near the NE corner of the property. Today, I revisited the WMA and one of my foci was to photograph the nest and put a pic up here. I see that Don already beat me to the punch on that one, but I already spent the time and effort photographing and editing, so here it is. I can one-up Don in that both members of the pair are in my photo! If you cannot find the second bird, look at the nest carefully.
With spring migration being lackluster, at best, for the past few days, but with reasonable weather, my sights and camera have turned to bugs. "Bugs" is a term that some of us use for Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) and Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies, aka "odes"). Bugs are now emerging in ever-larger numbers, both in individuals and in species and I even snagged a couple of lifers this morning.
Today, with the sun out and the trees not dripping with birds, I spent more time and focus on looking for newly-emerged bugs. I found a few Harlequin Darners (Gomphaeschna furcillata; lifer!) basking on a tree trunk and thought that I'd clean up one of the pix and present it here. Of course, Don beat me to that one, too.
My first lifer ode of the day, though, was Mantled Baskettail (Epitheca semiaquea).
And finally, ode-wise, though Mike Crewe beat me to putting up a pic of Blue Corporal (Libellula deplanata, I thought that I'd add a pic of a female (Mike posted a male). When I started dragonflying oh those many years ago, there was only one corporal and it was called Corporal Skimmer. We now have Blue and White corporals -- ain't taxonomic change great!
More and more butterflies are also emerging and I saw my first Eastern Tailed Blue (Cupido comyntas) of the season yesterday at Villas WMA...
... and my first Falcate Orangetip (Anthocharis midea; you can just see some orange on it) of the year yesterday at the chunk of Cape May National Wildlife Refuge just west of Rt. 47 at Green Creek.
Finally, bug-wise, I thought that I'd really stretch things and post a picture of a syrphid fly, known colloquially as "flower flies." Though I don't even know the genus of this one, I believe that it's a member of the family Syprhidae, many of which are obvious bee mimics.
It ended with a bird (apologies to Juno); a spanky Chipping Sparrow yesterday at Villas WMA.
Yesterday, Josh Nemeth and I birded Villas WMA hoping for spring migrants, but mostly encountered local breeders. Perhaps the highlight was the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher nest that Josh found under construction by both members of the pair near the NE corner of the property. Today, I revisited the WMA and one of my foci was to photograph the nest and put a pic up here. I see that Don already beat me to the punch on that one, but I already spent the time and effort photographing and editing, so here it is. I can one-up Don in that both members of the pair are in my photo! If you cannot find the second bird, look at the nest carefully.
With spring migration being lackluster, at best, for the past few days, but with reasonable weather, my sights and camera have turned to bugs. "Bugs" is a term that some of us use for Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) and Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies, aka "odes"). Bugs are now emerging in ever-larger numbers, both in individuals and in species and I even snagged a couple of lifers this morning.
Today, with the sun out and the trees not dripping with birds, I spent more time and focus on looking for newly-emerged bugs. I found a few Harlequin Darners (Gomphaeschna furcillata; lifer!) basking on a tree trunk and thought that I'd clean up one of the pix and present it here. Of course, Don beat me to that one, too.
My first lifer ode of the day, though, was Mantled Baskettail (Epitheca semiaquea).
And finally, ode-wise, though Mike Crewe beat me to putting up a pic of Blue Corporal (Libellula deplanata, I thought that I'd add a pic of a female (Mike posted a male). When I started dragonflying oh those many years ago, there was only one corporal and it was called Corporal Skimmer. We now have Blue and White corporals -- ain't taxonomic change great!
More and more butterflies are also emerging and I saw my first Eastern Tailed Blue (Cupido comyntas) of the season yesterday at Villas WMA...
... and my first Falcate Orangetip (Anthocharis midea; you can just see some orange on it) of the year yesterday at the chunk of Cape May National Wildlife Refuge just west of Rt. 47 at Green Creek.
Finally, bug-wise, I thought that I'd really stretch things and post a picture of a syrphid fly, known colloquially as "flower flies." Though I don't even know the genus of this one, I believe that it's a member of the family Syprhidae, many of which are obvious bee mimics.
It ended with a bird (apologies to Juno); a spanky Chipping Sparrow yesterday at Villas WMA.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Peaslee Protho et. al. + Mosquito Report
[Karl Lukens photo'd this Common Yellowthroat at Cape May Point State Park during the walk there today. Nice to see that yellow! Click to enlarge.]Dave Lord sent a report about today's Peaslee's WMA walk: ". . . enjoyed a beautiful look at a Prothonotary Warbler, at the intersection of Dam Rd. and Rt 49., with two others singing in the background. From there we headed to First Avenue, where another Louisiana Waterthrush proved co-operative, and a Blue-Headed Vireo gave a few short sections of it's song. Back in Belleplain, a nice Worm-Eating Warbler showed himself at the Triangle. . ." - makes you wish you were there, and you can be, for the final Peaslee Walk next Wednesday, April 28, which meets 7:30 a.m. at the Belleplain State Forest headquarters, off Route 550 west of Woodbine. No preregistration is needed.
Migrants were lighting up the radar last night, but Vince Elia reports the main species present at Higbee this morning was. . . mosquitoes! It's going to be a tough year with them thanks to all the rain, and that they are bad this early does not bode well. No matter - get yourself a bug shirt and some repellent, and repeat the chant, "insects are a sign of a healthy environment." Vince did have Blue-headed Vireo, Prairie Warbler, and a few Hermit Thrushes.
[Eastern Willets have returned to many of their breeding sites. This one was at Reed's Beach this morning, part of a trio that bickered and chased continuously. Willets have a long term pair bond, but un-mated singles intervene, especially at the start of the season or if some big event, like a storm, disrupts nesting.]
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Nest-building Gnatcatchers, Harlequin Darner
[The first Blue-gray Gnatcatchers returned to Cape May County April 3 this year - this pair clearly has been busy. As is the case with many passerines, the male brought nesting material to the female, who arranged it in the nest. The nest is covered with lichens. Beaver Swamp Road, lunchtime today. Click to enlarge.]Sounds like the Hidden Corners of Belleplain walk today was a great success, and Mike Crewe reports a Black-and-white Warbler at the Northwood Center this afternoon.
While the pictured Blue-gray Gnatcatchers worked on their nest, they gave some chattering notes vaguely reminiscent of a very truncated Worm-eating Warbler's trill, a sound I haven't often heard from them. I'm not sure if it was the male or female making the sound, or both. Birders have to cope with variety in any species' vocalizations, something Mark Garland and I will delve into in our Introduction to Birding by Ear workshop this Saturday - which still has a couple openings.
[I used the great new Field Guide to Dragonflies and Damselflies of New Jersey to identify this small darner as a male Harlequin Darner. It was along Beaver Swamp Road today.]
Add Blue-winged Warbler, a Smattering of Migrants, and What's a BAWW?
With all this adding birds bit, driving to work today I had the somewhat hokey notion of Cape May as an already-great recipe to which migration adds ingredients almost daily, each changing the flavor and improving the dish. . .oi.
Anyhow, with that, add Blue-winged Warbler to the stew, specifically the one that sang a couple times from a residential area along the bay this morning as I cycled past. Also add an apparent increased number of Brown Thrashers, Eastern Towhees, and House Wrens since my last ride a couple days ago.
Vince Elia had some nice April birding at Higbee this morning, with Black-and-white Warbler, Eastern Bluebird, Willet, Merlin, and a nice mixed flock of Palm and Yellow-rumped Warblers, most of which were in full breeding plumage.
Dave La Puma had another Black-and-white Warbler this morning, at Villas WMA, which reminds me - the four letter banding code for Black-and-white Warbler is a somewhat unexpected BAWW, and since we often use banding codes for brevity on CMBOBirds Tweets, Bert Hixon aptly suggested we offer a source for translating the codes into birds. Sooo. . .banding codes can be found in the Pyle guides, or here, courtesy of the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center.
The four letter code is usually derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name, except in the case of names with hyphens (usually the first letter of each hyphenated word is used). For four-word names, the code takes one letter from each word, hence BAWW.
If the resulting abbreviation winds up being the same for two or more birds, it creates a "collision," e.g Barn Owl (BNOW) and Barred Owl (BDOW), and the above rules are not followed for either species involved. This avoids confusion on data sheets but sometimes stymies the uninitiated. You can read more about all this here, or track down: Pyle and DeSante, North American Bird Bander 28:64-79 (2003).
Anyhow, with that, add Blue-winged Warbler to the stew, specifically the one that sang a couple times from a residential area along the bay this morning as I cycled past. Also add an apparent increased number of Brown Thrashers, Eastern Towhees, and House Wrens since my last ride a couple days ago.
Vince Elia had some nice April birding at Higbee this morning, with Black-and-white Warbler, Eastern Bluebird, Willet, Merlin, and a nice mixed flock of Palm and Yellow-rumped Warblers, most of which were in full breeding plumage.
Dave La Puma had another Black-and-white Warbler this morning, at Villas WMA, which reminds me - the four letter banding code for Black-and-white Warbler is a somewhat unexpected BAWW, and since we often use banding codes for brevity on CMBOBirds Tweets, Bert Hixon aptly suggested we offer a source for translating the codes into birds. Sooo. . .banding codes can be found in the Pyle guides, or here, courtesy of the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center.
The four letter code is usually derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name, except in the case of names with hyphens (usually the first letter of each hyphenated word is used). For four-word names, the code takes one letter from each word, hence BAWW.
If the resulting abbreviation winds up being the same for two or more birds, it creates a "collision," e.g Barn Owl (BNOW) and Barred Owl (BDOW), and the above rules are not followed for either species involved. This avoids confusion on data sheets but sometimes stymies the uninitiated. You can read more about all this here, or track down: Pyle and DeSante, North American Bird Bander 28:64-79 (2003).
Monday, April 19, 2010
Fishing Ospreys + American Copper
[Osprey with Bluegill prey, Bunker Pond at Cape May Point State Park this evening. Click to enlarge.]The hawk watch platform at Cape May Point State Park makes an ideal place to meet someone, with its views and benches, one reason many of our workshops meet there - and also why I found myself there this evening, waiting and watching swallows and terns pass, and as many as five Ospreys fish over Bunker Pond at once. They were catching Bluegills - a freshwater fish. Many people assume Bunker Pond is saltwater, but it is not, and therefore important not only for food but fresh water for bathing and drinking for otherwise marine species, like terns and gulls for example.
An adult Bald Eagle, presumably one of the Cape Island pair, appeared on the scene almost immediately after the Osprey pictured caught his fish; luckily the Osprey beat it out of there before the eagle arrived, a consequence of apparent vigilance, and in fact the full sequence of photos showed that as soon as the Osprey caught the fish it began looking left and right, up and down, presumably for predators. The eagle was later seen perched over Lighthouse Pond east.
[This tiny American Copper butterfly was on the gravel path near the platform tonight. Note the mostly orange forewing and the narrow orange band on the gray hindwing. Coppers are often seen as a passing flash of orange, but it was cool this evening, so this one rested in the sun.]
Meadows & Other Reports; Common Tern Arrives
[Double-crested Cormorants were moving this morning despite the northwest wind. The bottom right bird is not a corm, however. . .Click to enlarge.]The northwest wind faded only slightly for this morning's CMBO meadows walk, which featured a female American Kestrel, Bald Eagle, both teal, Glossy Ibis, and especially the Northern Gannet and Red-throated Loon show off Cape May Point, where easily 300 gannets milled and occasionally plunged along with 50+ Red-throated Loons. Several breeding plumage Common Loons were in evidence, along with two pairs of American Oystercatchers, and half a dozen or more Piping Plovers. At least 5 Common Yellowthroats were audible and apparently on territory - one sat up nicely for scope views - and we heard two White-eyed Vireos as well. The full list, along with reports from several of this past weekend's expeditions, is up on Field Trip Reports.
At Sunset Beach pre-walk, I counted 218 gannets in 10 minutes, mainly flying into the wind, i.e. into the bay, not out of it as they normally do. Scoters were difficult to detect unless they flew, because of the chop, but a few Black Scoters at least were evident.
Last night a check of the mouth of Townsend's Inlet, north of Avalon, revealed significant numbers of herons and egrets roosting in phragmites inland from the inlet, viewed from the park north of the inlet looking west. The collection included Great and Snowy Egrets, Black-crowned Night-herons, and at least one Tricolored Heron, but was difficult to count due to the dense phrag. Herons sometimes nest on the ground in phragmites stands on old dredge spoil - we see this on our summer boat tours of Great Egg Harbor Bay out of Somer's Point - and this stand bears watching for that, although it is fairly accessible by boaters and possibly predators from the mainland.
Glen Davis sent word of a Common Tern at St. Peters this morning, an arriving bird I believe.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
The Hummers Are Coming!
Wash out those hummingbird feeders, fill them up (four parts water to one part sugar don't forget!) and get ready, because the hummers are a-coming! Mike Hannisan reports a Ruby-throated Hummingbird in his yard on Friday 16th and Vince Elia phoned one in from his yard the following afternoon.
Chilly Norwesterlies!
The lack of bird news locally over the weekend, amply reflects the dominating, chilly North-west winds that we're currently experiencing. Migrant songbirds have been notable by their absence the last couple of days, but there has nevertheless been some good passage offshore worth watching, as Northern Gannets and scoters and loons make their steady way north, or stage in Delaware Bay. Locations such as the Cape May Point dune crossovers, Second Avenue jetty and Sunset Beach are all worth a look in such conditions.
Despite the wind, the sun still shines down on us and if you can find a sheltered spot, it can be decidedly warm. Yesterday I was pleased to see two new butterflies for the year, as well as as number of now regular species and it is currently possible to see a dozen species on the wing. Pine and Yellow-throated Warblers, and Louisiana Waterthrushes all are on territory so, if in doubt, try Beaver Swamp, Belleplain State Forest or other wooded areas in the north of the county and you're sure of a good time!
Despite the wind, the sun still shines down on us and if you can find a sheltered spot, it can be decidedly warm. Yesterday I was pleased to see two new butterflies for the year, as well as as number of now regular species and it is currently possible to see a dozen species on the wing. Pine and Yellow-throated Warblers, and Louisiana Waterthrushes all are on territory so, if in doubt, try Beaver Swamp, Belleplain State Forest or other wooded areas in the north of the county and you're sure of a good time!
At this time of year, Mourning Cloaks that you see on the wing will be individuals that hibernated as adults through the winter. As such, they tend to look a little worn [photo by Mike Crewe].
Not all dull, brown things are moths!! This Juvenal's Duskywing is typical of its group - dull butterflies that are easily missed as they patrol territories along woodland rides. [Photo by Mike Crewe].
OK, this is more like it! Eastern Tiger Swallowtail at Rio Grande yesterday; a perfect example of what we expect a butterfly to be - big, bold and colorful! [Photo by Mike Crewe].
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail taking salt solutions from damp mud. I think it's fair to say that if butterflies didn't have big colorful wings, we might very well have a different attitude towards them! [Photo by Mike Crewe].
Friday, April 16, 2010
Higbee: 3 Vireos + Snake; Protho Arrives
[Black Rat Snake at Higbee this morning. Often arboreal, rat snakes are predators on bird eggs, nestlings, and even adults - but fascinating in their own right.]Higbee Beach WMA was fairly busy this morning, featuring a quite early Yellow-throated Vireo initially picked out by Dave La Puma, as well as 3 White-eyed Vireos, one Blue-headed Vireo, and 3 Common Yellowthroats. A good Common Loon and Double-crested Cormorant migration was underway overhead, and in the trees were numerous Blue-gray Gnatcatchers and Ruby-crowned Kinglets. The full list is up on Field Trip Reports.
10 minutes at the Concrete Ship - end of Sunset Blvd. - before the Higbee walk revealed that loon and gannet numbers have fallen substantially, at least for that snapshot of time. Only 4 Northern Gannets and 2 Red-throated Loons appeared. A Common Loon flying overhead gave its tremolo call.
Pete Dunne had a Prothonotary Warbler at Beaver Swamp this morning, another arrival.
[Mike Hannisian sent this photo of a Carolina Chickadee extracting nesting material from a bungee cord on his grill!]
[Another nest-building Carolina Chickadee, this one on a pile of fluff of uncertain origin at Higbee this morning.]
Thursday, April 15, 2010
The Meadows in the evening
If you're down at Cape May Point and have an hour to kill in the evening, The Nature Conservancy's Migratory Bird Refuge, south of Sunset Boulevard is always nice in the evening sun. I just took a quick stroll there and found a Glossy Ibis, Great Egret, two displaying pairs of Killdeer, two pairs of Forster's Terns, a few Laughing Gulls, a scattering of both Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal, fishing Ospreys and plenty of displaying Red-winged Blackbirds. A single Common Yellowthroat sang a couple of times from just west of the west path, at the dune end - and of course there were Piping Plovers on the beach. Now that's not a bad way to walk up an appetite for dinner!
A lone Glossy Ibis at The Meadows (aka The Migratory Bird Refuge) this evening [photo by Mike Crewe]
A male Blue-winged Teal in flight reveals the lovely powder-blue forewing patch that gives the species its name. [Photo by Mike Crewe]
A quick beer on the garden bench at home this evening gave me an opportunity for close studies of our local Downy Woodpeckers - remember, even when drinking a beer, it always pays to keep the camera handy! [Photo by Mike Crewe]
More Lunchtime Walk Spoils + a Couple Cool Boat Trips
[A fabulous fresh Eastern Pine Elfin, along Beaver Swamp Road at 1:00 p.m. today. Click to enlarge - the real thing is only 3/4"].The phone isn't exactly ringing off the hook with bird reports, but there is plenty of stuff to look at, as always - see the hotline for the week below. And also check CMBO's Field Trip Reports, for updates on places like Heislerville and Belleplain.
Small flocks of Northern Gannets paralled me during my morning cycle beside Delaware Bay, and the Red-throated Loon concentration continues at the concrete ship. Two Yellow-throated Warblers sang at the end of Beaver Swamp Road at lunchtime, a Bald Eagle flew over, and butterflies (one Pine Elfin and the rest blues) and Blue Corporal dragonflies were active in the sunny sections of the road.
CMBO has a couple really neat boat trips coming up, this weekend and next. I mean, all our boat trips are great (they are listed by date on the preceding link, or see our calendar), but check out in particular our exploration of the Great Egg Harbor and Tuckahoe River aboard the Duke O' Fluke this Saturday, April 17 from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and also our annual Loon and Shorebird Cruise aboard the Osprey next Saturday, April 24 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
[Second calendar year Bald Eagle over Beaver Swamp today. Note the synchronous molt of P1-2. The feathers that grow in will be shorter than the juvenal primaries the bird currently wears, creating a jagged trailing edge to the wing from the mixed generations of feathers by fall.]
Summer?
It was so calm and warm today that it felt like summer! Nice weather for a relaxing stroll, but not if you want to find a decent crop of north bound spring migrants. I took a walk at the Beanery lunch time and once again, the Cattle Egret that had been present early this morning was not there later in the day. Birds were pretty hard to find, but for a scattering of resident Northern Cardinals, Carolina Chickadees and the like. The summery feel was further enhanced by a fly-by from my first Monarch of the year, several Orange Sulphurs flitting over a weedy field and the first Grey Hairstreak fed from the carpet of European Field Pansies.
The day started - for the second time this week - with a Bald Eagle chasing an Osprey and causing it to drop its hard-earned fish. It ended in disaster for both, however, as the fish landed in a garden near Lily Lake and, no doubt, the Fish Crows ended up the only ones to benefit!
The day started - for the second time this week - with a Bald Eagle chasing an Osprey and causing it to drop its hard-earned fish. It ended in disaster for both, however, as the fish landed in a garden near Lily Lake and, no doubt, the Fish Crows ended up the only ones to benefit!
Gray Hairstreak feeding at European Field Pansy [photo by Mike Crewe]
My first dragonfly of the year south of the canal - a female Blue Corporal [photo by Mike Crewe]
CAPE MAY BIRDING HOTLINE - THURSDAY, APRIL 15 2010
Hotline: Cape May Birding Hotline
To Report: call (609) 884-2736, or email sightingsATbirdcapemay.org
Coverage: Cape May, Cumberland and Atlantic Counties , NJ
Compiler: David Lord, Cape May Bird Observatory with additions by Don Freiday
URL: http://www.njaudubon.org ; http://www.birdcapemay.org
This is the Cape May Birding Hotline, a service of New Jersey Audubon’s Cape May Bird Observatory. This week's message was prepared on Thursday, April 15 2010. Highlights this week include sightings of BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCH, SWALLOW-TAILED KITES, GLAUCOUS GULL, BLACK-HEADED GULL, and CATTLE EGRET plus apparent Cape May County arrivals since the last hotline (April 1) of WILLET, CHIMNEY SWIFT, BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER, BLACK SKIMMER, GREEN HERON, BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER, WHITE-EYED VIREO, PECTORAL SANDPIPER, SOLITARY SANDPIPER, BROAD-WINGED HAWK, OVENBIRD, PRAIRIE WARBLER, NORTHERN PARULA, AND BLUE GROSBEAK; and an announcement about CMBO membership.
-For up-to-the-minute Cape May sightings information, photos and downloadable birding maps and checklist of Cape May, visit www.birdcapemay.org . Follow rarity sightings, many spring arrivals, and spectacles on www.twitter.com/CMBObirds -
The BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCH was last seen on Sunday, April 11, 2010, at the junction of Cape and Lincoln Avenue in Cape May Point. www.twitter.com/CMBObirds will Tweet about this bird immediately if it is relocated.
Two SWALLOW-TAILED KITES were seen over Cape May Point on Thursday, April 8, 2010 by birders searching for the Brown-headed Nuthatch.
An adult BLACK-HEADED GULL was seen at the end of Miami Avenue in the Villas on Sunday, April 11, 2010. A GLAUCOUS GULL was seen over Route 47 north of Goshen, flying inland, on Thursday, April 15, 2010.
Three CATTLE EGRETS have been seen in a puddle on the Willow Creek Vineyard (private property) near the intersection of Steven’s Street and Bayshore Road in Cape May, last reported on Sunday April 11, 2010.
Apparent Cape May County spring arrivals (since the last hotline 2 weeks ago on April 1) follow: A WILLET was at Reed’s Beach April 2, 2010. 4 PALM WARBLERS were at Higbee Beach April 2. CHIMNEY SWIFT arrived at the beanery April 2. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher arrived at Belleplain April 3. 2 BLACK SKIMMERS were at Cape May City April 5. GREEN HERON was at Ocean City April 6. BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER arrived at Belleplain April 6. WHITE-EYED VIREO arrived at Higbee April 7. PECTORAL SANDPIPER arrived near Eldora and at the Cape May Meadows April 7. A SOLITARY SANPIPER was seen along Stevens Street in West Cape May on Friday, April 9, 2010; A BROAD-WINGED HAWK was seen heading North over the West Cape May Impoundments on Saturday, April 10, 2010. An OVENBIRD was found at the triangle in Belleplain S.P. on Sunday, April 11, 2010, while a PRAIRIE WARBLER was heard there on Saturday, April 10, 2010. A NORTHERN PARULA was at Jake’s Landing April 11, 2010. A BLUE GROSBEAK was seen at the Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge (aka Meadows) on Monday, April 13, 2010.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
If you appreciate this hotline service, and care about the birds of Cape May, please consider becoming a member of Cape May Bird Observatory. Join by May 21, 2010 to receive this year’s special edition of CMBO’S annual journal, the Peregrine Observer, featuring accounts and photos of the 2009 Ivory Gull from some of Cape May’s finest birders and photographers; Pete Dunne’s story about his return as Cape May Hawk Counter; 2009 Cape May Migration Count results; and much more! Current members will receive the Peregrine Observer automatically, but please invite your friends to join!
******CMBO SPRING HOURS are as follows: Northwood Center on East Lake Drive in Cape May Point is open daily, 9:30am to 4:30pm. The Center for Research and Education on Rt. 47 in Goshen is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9:30am to 4:30pm; closed Sundays and Mondays (but open Sunday March 28 for the Optics Sale). ******
The Cape May Birding Hotline is a service of the New Jersey Audubon Society's Cape May Bird Observatory and details sightings from Cape May, Cumberland and Atlantic Counties. Updates are made weekly. Please report sightings of rare or unusual birds to CMBO at 609-884-2736. Sponsorship for this hotline comes from the support of CMBO members and business members, and should you not be a member, we cordially invite you to join. Individual membership is $39 per year; $49 for families. You can call either center to become a member or visit. Become a member in person and you'll receive a FREE gift (in addition to member discounts in the stores).
Good Luck and Good Birding!
To Report: call (609) 884-2736, or email sightingsATbirdcapemay.org
Coverage: Cape May, Cumberland and Atlantic Counties , NJ
Compiler: David Lord, Cape May Bird Observatory with additions by Don Freiday
URL: http://www.njaudubon.org ; http://www.birdcapemay.org
This is the Cape May Birding Hotline, a service of New Jersey Audubon’s Cape May Bird Observatory. This week's message was prepared on Thursday, April 15 2010. Highlights this week include sightings of BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCH, SWALLOW-TAILED KITES, GLAUCOUS GULL, BLACK-HEADED GULL, and CATTLE EGRET plus apparent Cape May County arrivals since the last hotline (April 1) of WILLET, CHIMNEY SWIFT, BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER, BLACK SKIMMER, GREEN HERON, BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER, WHITE-EYED VIREO, PECTORAL SANDPIPER, SOLITARY SANDPIPER, BROAD-WINGED HAWK, OVENBIRD, PRAIRIE WARBLER, NORTHERN PARULA, AND BLUE GROSBEAK; and an announcement about CMBO membership.
-For up-to-the-minute Cape May sightings information, photos and downloadable birding maps and checklist of Cape May, visit www.birdcapemay.org . Follow rarity sightings, many spring arrivals, and spectacles on www.twitter.com/CMBObirds -
The BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCH was last seen on Sunday, April 11, 2010, at the junction of Cape and Lincoln Avenue in Cape May Point. www.twitter.com/CMBObirds will Tweet about this bird immediately if it is relocated.
Two SWALLOW-TAILED KITES were seen over Cape May Point on Thursday, April 8, 2010 by birders searching for the Brown-headed Nuthatch.
An adult BLACK-HEADED GULL was seen at the end of Miami Avenue in the Villas on Sunday, April 11, 2010. A GLAUCOUS GULL was seen over Route 47 north of Goshen, flying inland, on Thursday, April 15, 2010.
Three CATTLE EGRETS have been seen in a puddle on the Willow Creek Vineyard (private property) near the intersection of Steven’s Street and Bayshore Road in Cape May, last reported on Sunday April 11, 2010.
Apparent Cape May County spring arrivals (since the last hotline 2 weeks ago on April 1) follow: A WILLET was at Reed’s Beach April 2, 2010. 4 PALM WARBLERS were at Higbee Beach April 2. CHIMNEY SWIFT arrived at the beanery April 2. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher arrived at Belleplain April 3. 2 BLACK SKIMMERS were at Cape May City April 5. GREEN HERON was at Ocean City April 6. BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER arrived at Belleplain April 6. WHITE-EYED VIREO arrived at Higbee April 7. PECTORAL SANDPIPER arrived near Eldora and at the Cape May Meadows April 7. A SOLITARY SANPIPER was seen along Stevens Street in West Cape May on Friday, April 9, 2010; A BROAD-WINGED HAWK was seen heading North over the West Cape May Impoundments on Saturday, April 10, 2010. An OVENBIRD was found at the triangle in Belleplain S.P. on Sunday, April 11, 2010, while a PRAIRIE WARBLER was heard there on Saturday, April 10, 2010. A NORTHERN PARULA was at Jake’s Landing April 11, 2010. A BLUE GROSBEAK was seen at the Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge (aka Meadows) on Monday, April 13, 2010.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
If you appreciate this hotline service, and care about the birds of Cape May, please consider becoming a member of Cape May Bird Observatory. Join by May 21, 2010 to receive this year’s special edition of CMBO’S annual journal, the Peregrine Observer, featuring accounts and photos of the 2009 Ivory Gull from some of Cape May’s finest birders and photographers; Pete Dunne’s story about his return as Cape May Hawk Counter; 2009 Cape May Migration Count results; and much more! Current members will receive the Peregrine Observer automatically, but please invite your friends to join!
******CMBO SPRING HOURS are as follows: Northwood Center on East Lake Drive in Cape May Point is open daily, 9:30am to 4:30pm. The Center for Research and Education on Rt. 47 in Goshen is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9:30am to 4:30pm; closed Sundays and Mondays (but open Sunday March 28 for the Optics Sale). ******
The Cape May Birding Hotline is a service of the New Jersey Audubon Society's Cape May Bird Observatory and details sightings from Cape May, Cumberland and Atlantic Counties. Updates are made weekly. Please report sightings of rare or unusual birds to CMBO at 609-884-2736. Sponsorship for this hotline comes from the support of CMBO members and business members, and should you not be a member, we cordially invite you to join. Individual membership is $39 per year; $49 for families. You can call either center to become a member or visit. Become a member in person and you'll receive a FREE gift (in addition to member discounts in the stores).
Good Luck and Good Birding!