June's Final Surprise?

Perhaps Clay Sutton tallied the final surprise bird of June on Wednesday (27th) with a Mississippi Kite which drifted south over Hidden Valley - the first raptor of Fall!! Well, in reality it is probably a non-breeding bird that has spent spring and early summer wandering the east coast and a little edge of Northerly in the wind for a short period brought it to the cape.

As I type, a real hum-dinger of a thunderstorm is rattling away outside and certainly put paid to working through the moth trap for a while! Such summer storms bring much needed water to Cape May though and at least the temperature has temporarily dropped from yesterday's 91F! If weather patterns like this continue, it will certainly be worth being out there looking for birds, as any passing migrants will be downed by the passing showers. Check out wetland areas for early returning shorebirds (Vince Elia reported two Spotted Sandpipers at the Plover Ponds on 28th) and beaches for wandering terns.

Mississippi Kite over Hidden Valley on Wednesday [photo by Clay Sutton].