Kicking Off Bird Year 2011

[One of two American Woodcock in a Cape May Point yard today. Click to enlarge photos.]

Our fourth annual Kick Off Your Year List in Cape May field trip yielded 76 species and a whole lot of fun. Highlights, besides those pictured, included 8 Marbled Godwits and 5 "western" Willets at Stone Harbor, seen from the north side of the Nummy Island toll bridge; several Purple Finches plus Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and both nuthatches in Cape May Point; Purple Sandpipers in Cape May and at Stone Harbor and Avalon; and some great company! Lists from the sites we visited are up on Field Trip Reports.

[One of the field trip particpants specifically requested Fox Sparrow; this one obliged along New England Road. Fox Sparrows are fairly common winter birds on the Cape May Peninsula, unlike farther north in the state.]

[Two Short-eared Owls at Jake's Landing performed on cue, joining a "Gray Ghost" Northern Harrier to abuse a perched Red-tailed Hawk around 4:40 p.m., then perching and hunting just across Dennis Creek.]