Bird Reports, a Whole Lot of Learning, and Why we're Glad Cooper's Hawks Aren't the Size of Dogs

With very light winds, the hawk flight was light this morning, but included enough of both common accipiters (Sharpie and Coop), Broad-wingeds, and Bald Eagles to keep it interesting for CMBO's Hawks in Flight workshop. Loads of short-distance migrants like sparrows and kinglets are around, a female Greater Scaup remains with the other ducks on Bunker Pond, and a few Pine Siskins and Purple Finches were flybys at the hawk platform, as were Eastern Meadowlarks, American Pipits, Wilson's Snipe, and a great bird south of the canal: White-breasted Nuthatch, picked by Michael O'Brien as it flew past headed for the lighthouse.

I heard of a few American Woodcock south of the canal in the predawn. Pick a fieldy-brushy-woodsy-wettish spot with a good view of the horizon at dawn to try for this species. Saltmarsh Sparrows have been found at Two-mile Landing off Ocean Drive, along with 1-2 Nelson's Sparrows.

Mike Fritz sent a note reporting on last night's Sunset Birding at Stone Harbor walk: "Lots of Monarchs finally, and the Seaside Goldenrod is now in full bloom. Also had a pod of about 12 Bottlenose Dolphins just outside the surf." Among the birds found were 3 Common Eiders, a Marbled Godwit, Northern Gannets, Brown Pelicans, Red Knots, and all the usual Stone Harbor good stuff.

We had some neat happenings around the hawk watch today . . .

[NJAS's Nature Center of Cape May had a big bunch of kids at the state park learning about hawks, helped by Richard Crossley (second from left), Linda Dill and Kim Hannum of NCCM, and CMBO Interpretive Naturalists Ari Waldstein and Josh Lawrey. This photo was taken only a few minutes before the events depicted below happened - some of the kids got to see the whole affair. . . photos by Don Freiday, click to enlarge all.]

[At least 2 Wilson's Snipe were flying around the state park at mid-morning. Note the pointed wing (woodcock have round wings) and the long, downpointed bill. The bill pointed down, plus erratic flight, help separate snipe from dowitchers.]

[And then there was this juvenile Cooper's Hawk, which flew into the sparrow thicket in front of the platform, emerged, and then, well, look what it did. . .click to enlarge any of these photos.]

[The victim, happily, was a House Sparrow., at the wrong place, wrong time. The school kids, however, were in the right place - wish all readers could spend more time in Cape May. It must be tough, working jobs elsewhere, at nurseries or gas stations or offices (like me, now), when migration is in full swing. Seize the day - Get down here!]

Warblers in the Night

[Yellow-rumped Warbler landing pre-dawn along the beach at Cape May City, having just come in off the ocean. Watch especially around lighted areas for arriving migrants before dawn. Photo by Michael O'Brien, click to enlarge.]

[Michael O'Brien "killed" this Yellow-rumped Wabler in flight, which is to say, he took a great photograph of a difficult subject - but that's not how photographers say it. Click to enlarge.]

[Karl Lukens sent this Golden-crowned Kinglet photo, at the hawk watch yesterday, to go with the Ruby-crowned (see below). I neglected to note about the Ruby-crowned that it is a male with its crown feathers raised. Seeing that much red on a Ruby-crowned is not usual. Karl's Golden-crowned is a male, too - told by the orange center to the golden crown. Click to enlarge.]

Chuck and MJ Slugg report: "The Two Mile Beach walk [every Tuesday 8:30 a.m.] had long strings of migrating Double-Crested Cormorants and swirls of Tree Swallows peppering the sky." Close to 50 species were found on this walk, which has a bit "kinder" start time than some other CMBO weekly morning walks.

Winds seem to be west now (pre-dawn), and are forecast to go light southwest mid morning, which means there easily could be passerine migrants today (Michael had 20 calls/minute going on overhead in Cape May around 5:30 a.m. ), and that hawks will be moving early and kettling quite a bit in the light wind, in some ways making for the most interesting hawk watching if difficult counting.

Cape May Flight Report

[Ruby-crowned Kinglet pauses at the Higbee Dike this morning. Click to enlarge most photos.]

There were birds out there last night - Derek Lovitch, Mark Garland, Michael O'Brien and I watched them bloom on the radar images during the Phillies game - but you wouldn't have known it from where I was listening along the bay on the west side of the Cape May penninsula in the pre-dawn this morning. The 30+ shooting stars crossing a glorious October night sky about matched the total number of flight calls I heard in an hour's listening, but the birds had to be somewhere, didn't they? There was decent diversity, including a Least Bittern.

Then Michael texted me that he was hearing 30 calls a minute on the beach front in Cape May, like a morning flight of Yellow-rumped Warblers with some sparrows. West winds put the birds ocean-side or offshore, I guess. We wondered if today was going to be the big Yellow-rumped Warbler flight, but it was not - just another good day.

I hurried to Cape May Point hoping to glimpse some owls against the sunrise - when lo and behold a Long-eared Owl flew through streetlight level through my headlights, across Broadway headed west, about a quarter mile south of the West Cape May Bridge! Better to be lucky than good.

Owl-watching yielded only an American Woodcock and the fun, unusual sounds of courting ducks on Lighthouse Pond - be sure to spend some time with the Northern Shovelers and their churk-chuurk - ing.

Morning Flight was Yellow-rumpeds and kinglets of both kinds, with scattered other species, and a mixed flock of shorebirds on the dike including Pectoral Sandpipers, Lesser Yellowlegs and, later in the morning, Cameron reported as many as 19 White-rumped Sandpipers up top.

[Michael O'Brien, left, and Scott Whittle throw down on a passing Blue-headed Vireo. We had several Blue-headed's this morning, along with Pines, Palms, Blackpolls, Chipping Sparrows, juncos, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, and others. Another highlight was the Yellow-rumped Warbler flying by with a loose tailfeather trailing behind - this bird was labeled a "get on this. . .hmmrp. . .long-tailed. . .thing!" before we figured it out.]

[Scott's dog Monkey supervises. Monkey and Scott have been welcome fixtures at Cape May this fall.]

[Seen any of these lately? Yellow-rumped Warbler at the dike.]

[This Broad-winged Hawk over the State Park this morning shows a missing primary and some tail damage.]

[Two Brown Pelicans over St. Mary's this morning, from the hawk watch.]

I hear from Tom McParland that his Golden Eagle and Josh's from yesterday were both adults, likely the same bird?

In the extra-limital department (since it is north of Cape May), a Sage Thrasher is being viewed right now at Sandy Hook. The following is from Scott Barnes: "A Sage Thrasher is currently being viewed at Sandy Hook (20 Oct).The bird is at Plum Island (accessed via B-lot) and is feeding in Poison Ivy thickets at the southwest corner of the northern cove.In other words, take the crosswalk across the road to Plum Island and head straight (west) until you hit the edge of the large scrub thicket. The bird is being seen here.

Spectacles and More to Come

Pete paused while hawk counting this afternoon to pick a flyby Sandhill Crane from the hawkwatch, a nice find but unfortunately long gone.

All CMBO's seasonals joined Michael O'Brien and Derek Lovitch, down from Maine, on the platform in the South Cape May Meadows to watch for owls, and were not disappointed. One Long-eared Owl, one Barn Owl, and one "sp." appeared. Michael also told me about a truly wonderful sighting: a Pied-billed Grebe TOOK OFF and circled, wings beating like crazy, as it gained altitude against the sunset and headed south.

My evening amazement came from the throngs of sparrows, finally detectable in full at the state park now that the wind has laid down, and there were a LOT - I eBirded 350 Swamp Sparrows and 150 Song Sparrows - and that is just what I heard or saw. I also found 10 Hermit Thrushes and a Winter Wren foraging near the yellow trail as light faded. The best, though, was the Ruby-crowned Kinglet, one of dozens. This one, though, hover-gleaned next to my ear, wings brushing my hair, and shortly after landed on me, clinging to my sweater as it looked for its next prey.

The folks at the meadows watched a Cooper's Hawk flying along the dune at owl time, and I had two high Ospreys in near dark that seemed to be heading across the bay. Migrants are flying overhead already (8:00 p.m.), and we'll all be listening once the Phillies game is done.

Golden on the Way, Warblers at the Beanery

Josh Lawrey had a Golden Eagle a little west of Vineland, Cumberland County at 12:36. At 1:52, Tom McParland saw one (same) over Route 47 near Woodcock Lane, Cape May County, though it was headed north towards CMBO-CRE, apparently.

The hawk flight had gotten up into the stratosphere when I left Cape May around 11:30 a.m. this morning, i.e. the sharp-shinneds were "disappearing" straight overhead.

Michael O'Brien found 11 species of warblers on the sunny edges of the Beanery, a sort of repeat of what he found there during the CMBO workshop yesterday.

If you have never tried listening for nocturnal migrants, tonight would be the night to go out. Winds are forecast to be light west, going to nearly calm late in the night, making listening conditions great. Passerines, herons, owls, who knows?

Kinglet and Hawk Flight

Apparently not everything moved last night, but kinglets sure did, with a "ton" around, especially on the west side of Cape Island. I listened for migrants around 5 a.m. and heard almost nothing, just a couple Yellow-rumpeds and Savannah Sparrows.

The many White-crowned Sparrows are still at the state park, and a Nashville Warbler entertained platform regulars in the cedars at the end of the platform. Duck numbers on Bunker Pond continue to increase, most noticeably today in the Gadwall department. One of the many flyby Eastern Meadowlarks landed in the state park parking lot. Pipits were regular over the platform, and I heard one Purple Finch.

And hawks are flying - I had over 200 Sharp-shinneds in the 9-10 a.m. hour while swing counting for Pete, and a few Broad-wingeds, harriers, eagles. . .good day shaping up.

Mike Crewe tells me there are three Common Eiders in the Coral Avenue scoter flock this morning.

Images from a Windy Day

What a marvelous day in Cape May. Click to enlarge all photos.

[Peregrine Falcon moving the Laughing Gull it just killed to a less windy location at the Cape May County Airport. A Peregrine came over the hawk watch today carrying a Sharp-shinned Hawk! Another Peregrine was doing more than playing with a female American Kestrel, which eventually dove into the cedars next to the hawk watch and stayed there for 2-3 minutes to escape, not exactly normal behavior for a kestrel. There were 10 kestrels on the wires at the Beanery as I drove home this afternoon.]

[The two American Avocets spent all day on Bunker Pond.]

[Ruby-crowned Kinglet hover-gleaning. Hover-gleaning allows tiny, athletic birds like kinglets access to prey that larger, clumsier birds can't reach.]

[There were more White-crowned Sparrows than White-throated Sparrows at Cape May Point State Park today.]

[This Swainson's Thrush was feeding on Virginia Creeper berries near the Cape May Point State Park entrance. Note the buffy eye ring and supraloral, forming spectacles.]

[A nearby Hermit Thrush also fed on Virginia Creeper. Note that the eyering is whitish, not buffy, that the spectacle-effect is absent, and that the bird has rufous edging to the primaries and primary coverts.]

[Field conditions, Northern Gannet from Coral Avenue. Pointed at all ends, big, with a completely black "hand."]

[The scoter flock off Coral Ave held all three species, including this male White-winged Scoter, 4th bird from left. Note the slightly larger size compared to the Black Scoters, and of course the markings around the eye and on the bill.]

[A Common Eider was also with the scoters, center bird, more or less. Bigger, browner, with a sloping forehead.]

Tomorrow and Tuesday should be awesome days of birding.