The 2012 Hawkwatch Team: (left to right) Clay Taylor (Swarovski Optik - 2012 sponsors), Erin Lehnert, Elizabeth Errickson (Interpretive Naturalists), Alyssia Church (George Myers Naturalist), Pete Dunne (CMBO Director), Tom Reed (Hawk Counter).
With winds drifting to north-west for a while in the afternoon, a reasonable showing of raptors was achieved with a day total of 102 birds counted - not a bad start so early in the season. With many pairs of eyes present throughout the day, a good range of other birds was seen too, including fly-over Buff-breasted, Stilt and Pectoral Sandpipers, all the expected swallows for early September, Green Heron, Gull-billed and Caspian Terns, several Brown Pelicans, a bedraggled adult Yellow-rumped Warbler and much, much more. So far today (September 2nd) two Lark Sparrows and a fly-over Mississippi Kite have been reported from Cox Hall Creek WMA and Buff-breasted Sandpipers continue to zip through our area - try South Cape May Beach or the dredging impoundment at Higbee Dike if you want to find one.