Over in the backbays, Tricolored Herons continue to show well around the Wetlands Institute and Nummy's Island areas and Brown Pelicans are worth keeping an eye out for as groups of up to six have been seen from Sunset Beach, all the way round the point and up the beachfront to Stone Harbor. Four passed right over my head when I was on the free bridge between Nummy's Island and Stone Harbor yesterday. At least eight Western Sandpipers were scuttling around on the Stone Harbor beach yesterday and 10 Piping Plovers remain at the point there.
Well, that's what passes as a quiet period for Cape May! One final bonus has been the appearance of a scattering of Lark Sparrows this past few days, culminating in a very obliging bird that fed for most of the day right on the track at the westernmost of the two dune crossovers behing the South Cape May Meadows. Most of us paid our respects and a fine array of photo opportunities were snapped up!
Lark Sparrow at South Cape May Meadows (photo by Cameron Rutt).
Lark Sparrow at South Cape May Meadows today - note how a change in light can produce a very different-looking bird (photo by Mike Crewe).
Lark Sparrow at South Cape May Meadows - once considered to be essentially a south-western species, Lark Sparrows are now expected in small numbers at Cape May in Fall (photo by Karl Lukens).
There's much interest in the notable insect movements around Cape May at the moment and today attention switched to the large numbers of Soybean Loopers that were swarming through the area and feeding at flowers from Cape May Point at least as far north as Goshen. This species habitually moves north in good numbers periodically and it looks like we are going to have a good year in 2012 as the southerly airflow continues to push insects northward (photo by Pat Sutton).