Peregrine Falcon makes a visit to CMBO's Northwood Center

Well as things go, yesterday was a nice day to be a bird watcher; despite the heat. I heard that there was a pretty nice hawk flight and that sea watch is starting to pick up as well. Keep the sea watch in mind as it should only get better as the days pass. Soon we will be witness to tens of thousands of scoter (both Black and Surf) in addition to Double-crested cormorants. Not to mention the other ducks/sea birds which migrate past the south Jersey coast.

My birding yesterday morning was quite nice. We walked Cape May Point with some friends again. And, like the birds, these friends do have to migrate back to there own "territories." We wish them well in there travels and look forward to their return in the spring. I have no bird list to share at this point due to the fact that it seems the eBird sever is down and will not let me log onto my account. Once I am able to get my data input to the system I'll edit the list at the bottom of this post for those who would like to see what was around Cape May Point on Monday morning.

Do not despair though, I have a great story to tell. It just so happens at the end of the day as I was wrapping up the store stuff, Sheila and Marleen were getting ready to head out the door. All of a sudden Sheila said that it seemed that some one had left some thing on my truck. Taking a closer look this is what we saw.....
My truck is on the left, can you tell what this bird is? Ok, I gave it away in my title, your right. A young (male?) Peregrine falcon was sitting on the back of my truck! Only in Cape May. For those wondering it is a "Tundra." Or as is stated by some on the hawk watch platform, "typical tundra." But that's not the whole story.

We tried to snap photos as best we could. I was using one of our demo spotting scopes to do a little impromptu digi-scoping but that was not working as I could tell that all the photos were coming out blurry. So we decided to open the door a bit to remove the "glass" factor. Quietly and very slowly we opened the door so as to not scare away the bird. Then, a car drove by.....
And the bird didn't seem to care. So, I figured that I'd try and step out on the front deck to get a few closer and hopefully better digi-scope pics. I did eventually come up with one decent digi-pic......
After a little while longer, Marleen and Shelia were needing to get to their car to get home but didn't want to push the peregrine. After another vehicle drove by, a large RV, it was apparent that this bird was simply fine where "he" was and had no real intentions of moving until ready. So we headed down, I went with them to see if I could get a few better pics. As it turned out, the bird let us approach very closely......
Soon enough, another car came down E. Lake Drive and the peregrine decided that it had enough and flew off. It didn't go too far though, as it flew across Lighthouse Ave. and landed on a Purple martin/House sparrow house. Interestingly after the bird flew I noticed that it left it's calling card in the form of a large scratch on my topper, left by the hallux presumably, when the bird launched into flight.
So, there you have it. The story of the day the peregrine came to visit CMBO's Northwood Center.

Keep in mind that a cold front it supposed to be moving through our area with a reinforcing front to be moving through over the weekend. High temps. are supposed to be in the mid to upper 60's over the weekend. What October is supposed to feel like! Make sure and keep checking in on the birding forecast to see what the weather is doing. Get out birding this weekend and see what's around. We (CMBO and the peregrines) hope to see you down here in Cape May!

Monday Morning Meadows - Sparrows, Wrens, Jaegers and Raptors

Monday's walk at the Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge drew quite a crowd, of both people and birds. The Refuge, a.k.a. the South Cape May Meadows, gets better and better for sparrows as the ragweed seeds mature, and since Sunday night White-throated Sparrows and Savannah Sparrows were flying overhead in decent numbers, it follows that some of each of these species wound up in the Meadows. Savannah Sparrows have present for quite a while, but the scope-posing white-throat presented the first good view of this species I've had this fall, though I've been hearing them since late September. A Dickcissel also called overhead.

The Meadows are still very dry, so shorebirds were limited to Killdeer. We did track down at least two Marsh Wrens, though these were elusive and not seen by all. The offshore action compensated, with at least two adult light morph Parasitic Jaegers close enough they could be readily found with binoculars, especially when they picked out a gull to pursue and drove it high into the air, well above the horizon.

Raptors included several Peregrines, both flying and perched, plus the usual small ones - Merlin, Kestrel, Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks. The group also observed a kettle of 30+ Broad-wingeds. This same kettle wandered over to the Point and apparently appeared and reappeared, plus or minus members, for much of the light-wind morning. 70 species overall, not bad for a two-hour outing on a summer-like autumn day. The full list follows.


Location: South Cape May Meadows
Observation date: 10/8/07
Notes: CMBO's Monday morning meadows walk
Number of species: 70
Canada Goose 25
Mute Swan 5
Wood Duck 3 flyovers, landed at state park
Gadwall 5
American Wigeon 10
American Black Duck 2 first in a long while in the meadows
Mallard 25
Northern Shoveler 20
Northern Pintail 1
Green-winged Teal 5
Black Scoter 20
Northern Gannet 2
Double-crested Cormorant 50
Great Blue Heron 5
Great Egret 2
Snowy Egret 7
Black Vulture 10
Turkey Vulture 25
Osprey 10
Northern Harrier 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk 5
Cooper's Hawk 2
Broad-winged Hawk 35
Red-tailed Hawk 1
American Kestrel 5
Merlin 5
Peregrine Falcon 3
Killdeer 5
Lesser Yellowlegs 5
Laughing Gull 50
Ring-billed Gull 10
Herring Gull 30
Great Black-backed Gull 75
Royal Tern 10
Black Skimmer 20
Parasitic Jaeger 2 2 adults light
Rock Pigeon 10
Mourning Dove 10
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Northern Flicker 20
Eastern Phoebe 1
Blue Jay 5
American Crow 10
Fish Crow 5
Tree Swallow 30
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
Carolina Wren 5
Marsh Wren 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
American Robin 20
European Starling 40
Cedar Waxwing 5
Black-throated Blue Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 50
Palm Warbler 10
Blackpoll Warbler 5
American Redstart 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Savannah Sparrow 20
Song Sparrow 1
Swamp Sparrow 5
White-throated Sparrow 5
Northern Cardinal 1
Indigo Bunting 2
Dickcissel 1
Red-winged Blackbird 50
Eastern Meadowlark 2
House Finch 10
American Goldfinch 5
House Sparrow 20

Snow Geese, Peregrines and Eagles: The Glades by Boat

You know it's going to be a good trip when the first Snow Geese of the fall (for me anyway) fly over, an adult Bald Eagle circles in the distance, and a Peregrine Falcon rockets overhead - all before you leave the parking area!

We tried something a little different yesterday afternoon, a tour of Glades Wildlife Refuge near Turkey Point in Cumberland County by motorboat-towed skiff. This was the brainchild of the folks at Beaver Dam Boat Rentals.

The Glades, owned by Natural Lands Trust, is a large complex of woods, salt marsh, ponds and channels, most of which is inaccessible except by boat. The rich habitat is marvelous for shorebirds, and as the tide went down, exposing mudflats, we encountered the expected October species: many Greater Yellowlegs, a few Lesser Yellowlegs, and varying numbers of Black-bellied Plovers, Semi-palmated Plovers, dowitchers (mostly Short-billed but there were a few Long-billeds), and Dunlin, another first of the fall for me.

We often feature the Glades/Turkey Point area on raptor expeditions, and with good reason. In two hours on the boat, we saw at least 4 different Bald Eagles, 3 different Peregrines, multiple Northern Harriers, Sharp-shinned Hawk, and Cooper's Hawk.

I asked participants if this was a "keeper," and they said definitely, so expect to see more "Tours of the Glades" run by CMBO in the future.

CMBO Villas WMA walk- 10/7/07

The message and list below was sent to me from George Myers, re: the CMBO Villas WMA walk. If you have never been to this location, it's a must bird (in my opinion). And, the CMBO walk is a great way to learn the lay of the land.

"The morning's birding was quite slow and few migrants were observed, although I would have liked to have been there later in the day after reading the reports from the afternoon!"

Highlights:
2 Sharp-shinned Hawks
1 Osprey
3 Cooper's Hawks
2 Merlin
1 American Kestrel
1 Red-tailed Hawk
2 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers
6 Eastern Phoebes
10+ Palm Warblers
5+ Yellow-rumped Warblers
2 Blackpoll Warblers
1 Red-eyed Vireo
1 Northern Waterthrush
1 Bobolink
3 White-breasted Nuthatches
2 Indigo Buntings
2 Brown Thrashers

Peregrines Flying on a Summerish Day, and Yesterday at the State Park

Mark Garland remarked that the north wind and strong flight we had at Cape May today is supposed to happen on sixty degree days. Well it wasn't sixty, it was 87 Fahrenheit and folks were looking for a shady spot from which they could still watch the show.

The stars were peregrines, many of which flew low enough that the crowd could clearly see the pale forehead and thin mustache on many of the juveniles, hallmarks of tundra birds. Jessie Barry told me the Peregrine total for the day was about 150, though she hadn't counted it up yet, including 50 in a single hour. During that hour, it almost seemed the p-birds were coming in flocks. All the other expected raptors were well represented, including a few Bald Eagles and Merlins aplenty.

In late afternoon a cloud wall approached and the wind abruptly shifted to east-northeast and strengthened significantly, apparently signally the arrival of the "back-door" high coming out of the northeast. The flight slowed significantly as soon as the weather changed, though happily it didn't stop and a little cool air at that point was welcome.

A juvenile White-crowned Sparrow fed with the House Sparrow flock in front of the platform, and though the Dickcissel was not seen, it was at least heard.

Chuck and Mary Jane Slugg sent me the list from Saturday's 3:00 p.m. Hawks, Trails and Beach walk. It gives a good sense of what species are around at the state park at this time of year, as well as evidence of a decent hawk flight yesterday, too. CMBO has one or more guided bird walks every day in fall - check one out!


Location: Cape May Point SP
Observation date: 10/6/07
Number of species: 46
Canada Goose 50
Mute Swan 15
Gadwall 6
American Wigeon 4
Mallard 20
Blue-winged Teal 15
Northern Shoveler 12
Northern Pintail 2
Green-winged Teal 6
Great Blue Heron 4
Great Egret 6
Snowy Egret 3
Turkey Vulture 20
Osprey 6
Northern Harrier 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk 5
Cooper's Hawk 5
American Kestrel 1
Merlin 6
Peregrine Falcon 10
Killdeer 1
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Laughing Gull 5
Ring-billed Gull 30
Herring Gull 50
Great Black-backed Gull 100
Forster's Tern 1
Royal Tern 2
Black Skimmer 1
Rock Pigeon 20
Mourning Dove 10
Downy Woodpecker 1
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
Red-eyed Vireo 1
Blue Jay 6
American Crow 15
Fish Crow 2
Carolina Chickadee 2
Gray Catbird 3
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling 15
Palm Warbler 2
Savannah Sparrow 2
Northern Cardinal 5
Red-winged Blackbird 6

Warblers at Cape May Point, and All Quiet on the Western Shore

I just got word that CMBO's Advanced Birding by Ear workshop (part of the Cape May School of Birding), led by Michael O'Brien and Louise Zemaitis, enjoyed a nice nocturnal flight of mostly warblers over Cape May City, including several Cape Mays, Blackpolls, Northern Parulas, Black-throated Blue, yellow-rumps, Palms, Indigo Buntings, and also enjoyed a diurnal morning flight that included those species plus bobolinks and others. This on southwest winds, at least they were southwest where I was, on Delaware Bay 10 miles north of the point. Winds at the point are now out of the north and a good hawk flight is developing.

A leading theory for why Cape May is so good for fall migrants is that birds are pushed by prevailing winds to the coast, and follow the coast south to the point. But Cape May has two "coasts," the Atlantic Coast to the east, and Delaware Bay to the west. I've had great nocturnal flights along the bay the past several early mornings - on east and/or calm winds. [Remember, east means FROM the east]. This morning the wind had a westerly component, and things were pretty thin along the bay. From 5:30 to 6:30 a.m., I counted only 33 nocturnal notes of any kind, representing probably 25 or less birds. By contrast, the preceding three days I was hearing 100-350 notes per hour. The upshot may be that on east winds, some birds are funneled down the bay side. Interesting stuff!

CMBO Beanery walk-10/6/07 & Ruff pic

Karl and Judy Lukens sent me the list below for this morning's CMBO Beanery walk. Karl also shared this picture he took of the Ruff that visited Bunker pond. FYI- the Ruff was seen flying off with the group of Lesser yellowlegs and to my knowledge is no longer at the Cape May Point State Park. Thanks for the photo Karl!

"Slow going on a calm, foggy morning at the Beanery. A Kestrel, a Merlin, and a couple of E. Phoebes kept us interested. Still Flickers moving about, several Savannah Sparrows in the back field, and a female type Blue Grosbeak were also noteworthy."

SPECIES SEEN ~ CMBO TRIP

10/6/2007 ~ in Beanery ~ New Jersey Checklist ~ 31 seen

Green Heron 1
Mute Swan 1
Canada Goose 20
Wood Duck 2
Mallard 2
American Kestrel 1
Merlin 1
Killdeer 1
Laughing Gull 1
Rock Pigeon 5
Mourning Dove 10
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 5
Eastern Phoebe 2
Carolina Wren 5
Gray Catbird 4
Northern Mockingbird 1
Brown Thrasher 1
Carolina Chickadee 1
Blue Jay 3
American Crow 10
European Starling 30
House Sparrow 10
Yellow-rumped Warbler 2
Palm Warbler 2
Northern Waterthrush 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Savannah Sparrow 4
Northern Cardinal 5
Blue Grosbeak 1
Red-winged Blackbird 5