Cape May Point State Park: Willow Flycatchers and Piping Plovers

This morning's Bird Walk for All People (every Thursday at 8:30 a.m.) at Cape May Point State Park featured many of the same birds Karl et.al. found yesterday, with the addition of at least 3 Willow Flycatchers. One could be heard from the parking lot, and the others were along the Red Trail.

We ran into Todd Pover of Conserve Wildlife, who was out with Park Superintendant Lorraine McCay checking on beach nesting birds. From the park eastward to Cape May City there are now 11 Piping Plover nests along the beach, and some chicks have hatched already. Very good news for this critically endangered bird.

A female Black Scoter near the beach early on apparently wound up on the beach later, according to Lorraine, clearly a bird that is not doing so well. A few shorebirds flew by high and far, including Black-bellied Plovers and Short-billed Dowitchers.

Our full list is included below:

Location: Cape May Point SP
Observation date: 6/4/09
Notes: CMBO Bird Walk for All People
Number of species: 63
Canada Goose 50
Mute Swan 20
Mallard 10
Black Scoter 1
Double-crested Cormorant 5
Great Blue Heron 1
Great Egret 8
Snowy Egret 1
Green Heron 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron 1
Glossy Ibis 15
Black Vulture 1
Turkey Vulture 4
Osprey 15
Black-bellied Plover 10
Piping Plover 8
American Oystercatcher 2
Short-billed Dowitcher 20
Laughing Gull 50
Herring Gull 10
Great Black-backed Gull 18
Least Tern 40
Common Tern 20
Forster's Tern 40
Royal Tern 1
Black Skimmer 5
Rock Pigeon 10
Chimney Swift 15
Downy Woodpecker 1
Willow Flycatcher 3
Eastern Kingbird 5
White-eyed Vireo 2
Blue Jay 2
Fish Crow 10
Purple Martin 50
Tree Swallow 5
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 5
Barn Swallow 5
Carolina Chickadee 2
Tufted Titmouse 2
Carolina Wren 8
House Wren 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2
Eastern Bluebird 1
American Robin 30
Gray Catbird 2
Northern Mockingbird 2
European Starling 10
Cedar Waxwing 10
Prairie Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 4
Yellow-breasted Chat 1
Chipping Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 2
Northern Cardinal 8
Blue Grosbeak 3
Indigo Bunting 3
Red-winged Blackbird 20
Common Grackle 35
Brown-headed Cowbird 5
Orchard Oriole 1
House Finch 5
House Sparrow 15

Cape May Point, Late Belleplain Notes

[Juvenile Tree Swallow, Cape May Point State Park. Photo by Karl Lukens.]

"CMBO Cape May Point Walk at the State Park. Again the usual suspects were present. Good looks at 2 Blue Grosbeaks, several Indigo Buntings, a couple of singing Chats which we never saw, Yellow Warblers, and Common Yellow-throats. The plover ponds produced 3 White-rumped Sandpipers, 3 Piping Plovers with 4 chicks, a Semi-palmated Plover, and a couple of Semi-palmated Sandpipers. A young Tree Swallow sat on a post looking for someone to feed it."

- Karl (Chuck, Warren, Tom)

Dave Lord sent this summary of the final Belleplain "3 B's" walk for the season:
"Sunday's final 'Birds, Butterflies and Botany of Belleplain' was an enjoyable time, highlighted by Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Fowler's Toad, visible Blue-winged Warbler, a female Five-lined Skink in the family way, and an Emerald Jewelwing Damselfly. These walks, highlighting the diversity of Belleplain's wildlife were a true crowd pleaser, and a wonderful educational moment. Only ten more months until the next one!"

This morning's list from the State Park below-

Location: Cape May Point SP
Observation date: 6/3/09
Notes: CMBO Trip-K,WC,CS,T,+3.Cldy,70,E6.
Number of species: 51

Canada Goose 20
Mute Swan 6
Mallard 25
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Great Egret 2
Glossy Ibis 2
Black Vulture 2
Turkey Vulture 8
Osprey 3
Semipalmated Plover 1
Piping Plover 9
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Semipalmated Sandpiper 2
White-rumped Sandpiper 3
Short-billed Dowitcher 2 fly-over
Laughing Gull 15
Herring Gull 5
Great Black-backed Gull 10
Least Tern 40
Common Tern 1
Forster's Tern 12
Black Skimmer 2
Rock Pigeon 3
Mourning Dove 8
Chimney Swift 6
Eastern Kingbird 5
American Crow 5
Fish Crow 5
Purple Martin 50
Tree Swallow 6 /p
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 3
Barn Swallow 8
Carolina Chickadee 1
Carolina Wren 5
American Robin 25
Gray Catbird 3
Northern Mockingbird 2
European Starling 10
Cedar Waxwing 10
Yellow Warbler 3
Common Yellowthroat 8
Yellow-breasted Chat 2 heard
Song Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 6
Blue Grosbeak 2
Indigo Bunting 5
Red-winged Blackbird 12
Common Grackle 20
Brown-headed Cowbird 5
American Goldfinch 1
House Sparrow 3

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Cumberland Mississippi Kite

Karen Johnson reports that her husband Brian (quoting Karen, "the bum!") had a Mississippi Kite about two hours ago, seen from the Natural Lands Trust's Peek Preserve upstream from Mauricetown.

Beachcombing Bobwhite

[In the "how crazy is this" department, Beth Starr photographed this Northern Bobwhite on the beach (!) at Reed's Beach over Memorial Day weekend. The bird is a female, sexed by its buff throat and supercilium.]

Caspian Tern, White-rumped Sandpipers at Heislerville

An evening visit to Heislerville was highlighted by a single Caspian Tern lounging on the sandbar in the middle of the main impoundment. Caspians are scarce spring migrants in the Cape May area, as most choose more inland migratory routes. Also on this sandbar were 175 Black Skimmers (give or take a few).

Shorebird numbers were much reduced from a week or two ago, but we were still able to tally about 5,000 Semipalmated Sandpipers shortly after high tide. In amongst the throngs of Semi-P's were also at least 18 White-rumped Sandpipers, including one mini-flock of seven. White-rumps are rather late migrants, and many of my higher spring counts have actually occurred during the first few days of June. Numbers will likely be reduced again tomorrow, as south winds are in place for tonight, and we witnessed several large flocks of shorebirds heading north, high over Delaware Bay- quite possibly birds that have packed their bags.

A full list from Heislerville is included below-


Location: Heislerville WMA
Observation date: 6/1/09
Notes: Nice count of White-rumps.
Number of species: 39

Canada Goose 12
Mute Swan 8
American Black Duck 6
Great Blue Heron 1
Great Egret 1
Snowy Egret 8
Black-crowned Night-Heron 12
Osprey 4
Clapper Rail 1
Black-bellied Plover 12
Semipalmated Plover 60
Killdeer 2
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Willet (Eastern) 2
Semipalmated Sandpiper 5000
Least Sandpiper 2
White-rumped Sandpiper 18
Dunlin 50
Short-billed Dowitcher 20
Laughing Gull 100
Ring-billed Gull 4
Herring Gull 6
Great Black-backed Gull 3
Caspian Tern 1
Forster's Tern 6
Black Skimmer 175
Mourning Dove 2
Eastern Kingbird 2
Fish Crow 2
Purple Martin 1
Bank Swallow 1
Barn Swallow 6
American Robin 3
European Starling 6
Red-winged Blackbird 12
Common Grackle 2
Boat-tailed Grackle 3
House Finch 1
House Sparrow 4

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Meadows White-rumpeds and Plover Chicks; Appalachian Birdsong Immersion Workshop Report

It was a stunning blue sky morning in Cape May today following the passage of the recent front. The CMBO Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge (a.k.a. the Meadows) walk enjoyed a good number of Glossy Ibis (carefully checked for White-faced, no luck), two White-rumped Sandpipers from the east path, and the always delightful sight of new Piping Plover Chicks being tended by their parents.

I chose Laughing Gull as the species of the day to click, and interestingly came up with only 63, including a careful scoping of the rips. I kayaked Great Channel, south of Stone Harbor, yesterday and the laughers were busy on the nesting colony their, bringing material, calling, and copulating, copulating, copulating. Between that activity and feeding on horseshoe crab eggs on the bayshore, perhaps the gulls aren't finding the time or need to come down to feed off Cape May Point.

Another interesting behavioral note was provided by 6 Blue Jays, apparent migrants, which flew over from west to east. The full meadows list is below.

Mark Garland and I just finished up our two day Appalachian Birdsong Immersion workshop, set in Sussex County, NJ. What a delightful region and time of year to be there. Listening to and seeing (extremely well!) birds like Cerulean, Blackburnian, Hooded, Canada, and Chestnut-sided Warblers among 95 total species in 2 days was just extraordinary.

Among the visual delights was a pair of Black-billed Cuckoos feeding young in a nest. The cuckoos were making long flights across a field, and I couldn't resist pausing the workshop for a photo opp.

We offer this workshop in late May every year; check out the full list of species from this year: Appalachian Birdsong Immersion May 29-30 2009.pdf.

[Black-billed Cuckoo in flight, Sussex County, NJ May 29, 2009. Photo by Don Freiday.]


Location: South Cape May Meadows
Observation date: 6/1/09
Notes: CMBO Monday walk
Number of species: 59
Canada Goose 10
Mute Swan 20
Gadwall 3
American Black Duck x Mallard (hybrid) 2
Mallard 10
Double-crested Cormorant 10
Great Blue Heron 1 Flyby pre-walk
Great Egret 5
Snowy Egret 1
Green Heron 3
Black-crowned Night-Heron 1
Glossy Ibis 15
Black Vulture 5
Turkey Vulture 10
Osprey 5 Have given up on plover pond nest platform
Semipalmated Plover 4
Piping Plover 10 2 very young chicks; observed agression towards plovers by Least Terns
Killdeer 4
American Oystercatcher 3
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Willet (Eastern) 2
Sanderling 5
Semipalmated Sandpiper 8
White-rumped Sandpiper 2
Laughing Gull 63 Actual count by clicker, including scoping the rips; low; occupied with nesting and horseshoe crab eggs?
Herring Gull 10
Great Black-backed Gull 5
Least Tern 75 Observed harassing Piping Plovers
Common Tern 25
Forster's Tern 100
Chimney Swift 15
Willow Flycatcher 1 heard only
Eastern Kingbird 1
Blue Jay 6 6 apparent migrants flew west to east
American Crow 5
Fish Crow 15
Purple Martin 10
Tree Swallow 5
Barn Swallow 10
Carolina Wren 3
House Wren 2
Marsh Wren 1 heard only
Gray Catbird 3
Northern Mockingbird 2
European Starling 5
Cedar Waxwing 2
Yellow Warbler 1
Yellow-breasted Chat 1 heard only, far out west side
Song Sparrow 2
Northern Cardinal 5
Blue Grosbeak 2 heard only, far out west side
Indigo Bunting 2
Red-winged Blackbird 25
Common Grackle 30
Brown-headed Cowbird 2
Orchard Oriole 1 heard only, far out west of parking lot
House Finch 10
American Goldfinch 10
House Sparrow 10

Weekend Reports From Belleplain, Cape May Pt.

Dave Lord checked in with these two reports from Saturday's walks at Belleplain State Forest and Cape May Point State Park:

"The usual suspects rounded out a good day of birding on the final Belleplain walk of the Spring CMBO Season. Some highlights included both Female and Male SUMMER TANAGERS at the Boy Scout Camp, 2 BLACKPOLL WARBLERS that were heard on Tom Field Road and 2 visible OVENBIRDS having a territorial dispute also at the Boyscout Camp. A nice way to round out a great season of birding Belleplain."

Location: Belleplain State Forest
Observation date: 5/30/09
Notes: CMBO's Final Birds of Belleplain Walk
Number of species: 63

Canada Goose 4
Black Vulture 11
Turkey Vulture 6
Osprey 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Killdeer 2
Laughing Gull 100
Herring Gull 65
Mourning Dove 18
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 2
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker 3
Downy Woodpecker 3
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee 6
Acadian Flycatcher 4
Eastern Phoebe 8
Great Crested Flycatcher 5
Eastern Kingbird 4
White-eyed Vireo 4
Red-eyed Vireo 3
Blue Jay 2
American Crow 4
Fish Crow 3
Tree Swallow 6
Barn Swallow 11
Carolina Chickadee 3
Tufted Titmouse 4
Carolina Wren 5
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 7
Eastern Bluebird 6
Wood Thrush 8
American Robin 15
Gray Catbird 2
Northern Mockingbird 4
Brown Thrasher 2
European Starling 16
Cedar Waxwing 15
Blue-winged Warbler 2
Yellow-throated Warbler 6
Pine Warbler 4
Prairie Warbler 12
Blackpoll Warbler 2
Black-and-white Warbler 1
American Redstart 1
Prothonotary Warbler 1
Worm-eating Warbler 2
Ovenbird 11
Hooded Warbler 2
Yellow-breasted Chat 2
Summer Tanager 3
Eastern Towhee 5
Chipping Sparrow 10
Field Sparrow 5
Song Sparrow 2
Northern Cardinal 5
Indigo Bunting 4
Red-winged Blackbird 6
Common Grackle 4
Brown-headed Cowbird 15
Orchard Oriole 3
Baltimore Oriole 2
House Finch 4


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"Saturday's "Bird Walk for All People" had a beautiful day to enjoy most of the group seeing Piping Plovers, Dolphins swimming by, several Fowler's Toads and one Blackpoll Warbler at the start of the Red Trail. A good taste of Summer just around the bend and Spring loosening its grip."

Location: Cape May Point SP
Observation date: 5/30/09
Notes: CMBO "BIRD WALK FOR ALL PEOPLE." CS+MJS, CB, LB, K+RH, DL +14
Number of species: 58

Canada Goose 25
Mute Swan 24
American Black Duck x Mallard (hybrid) 2
Mallard 8
Double-crested Cormorant 12
Great Egret 8
Snowy Egret 2
Turkey Vulture 2
Osprey 3
Piping Plover 5
Killdeer 1
American Oystercatcher 3
Semipalmated Sandpiper 3
Laughing Gull 75
Herring Gull 60
Great Black-backed Gull 20
Least Tern 19
Common Tern 6
Forster's Tern 17
Rock Pigeon 15
Mourning Dove 6
Chimney Swift 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Eastern Phoebe 2
Great Crested Flycatcher 3
Eastern Kingbird 2
White-eyed Vireo 4
Red-eyed Vireo 2
Blue Jay 4
American Crow 9
Fish Crow 10
Purple Martin 145
Tree Swallow 23
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 8
Barn Swallow 17
Carolina Chickadee 6
Tufted Titmouse 2
Carolina Wren 7
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 7
American Robin 22
Gray Catbird 3
Northern Mockingbird 2
European Starling 30
Cedar Waxwing 6
Yellow Warbler 3
Yellow-throated Warbler 1
Pine Warbler 2
Blackpoll Warbler 1
Chipping Sparrow 3
Northern Cardinal 9
Blue Grosbeak 1
Indigo Bunting 2
Red-winged Blackbird 25
Common Grackle 19
Boat-tailed Grackle 1
Brown-headed Cowbird 12
House Finch 6
House Sparrow 30