Black Tern, Bobwhite, "If only it were fall" Weather

In the scarce/rare bird department, Vince Elia and Mike Crewe found Black Tern in the South Cape May Meadows/TNC Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge today, and to that report Mike added 2 Caspian Terns and 2 White-rumped Sandpipers. Vince had a Northern Bobwhite calling from the dunes at St. Peters, which may seem weird but isn't, really, since bobwhites show up in Cape May Point regularly, if erratically. Vince also watched 6 Cedar Waxwings and 2 Eastern Kingbirds fly south from the point out over the Bay - what were those birds up to?

If you want to know what sort of weather pattern sets us drooling in fall, take a look at what's happening tonight - the front definitely has not cleared yet (you could probably pack the air into humidity balls and pelt the neighbor's cat or something), but there is a spectacular rainbow along the bay right now, the front is scheduled to clear any minute (can't wait!), and the winds will be northwest overnight and tomorrow, with cooling temperatures. . . which might not mean much in spring as opposed to fall, but on the other hand - any bird that has found itself north of where it wants to be (kite? vagrant?) is apt to go south tomorrow, and northwest winds means it will wind up in Cape May.

I'm still nursing bug wounds from our MAPS station in Bear Swamp, Cumberland County, but at least I got to listen to a singing Kentucky Warbler all morning, and we banded three new Acadian Flycatchers (the species seems to be thick this year), and also heard 3 Swainson's Thrushes, late but not completely unexpected in this prime migrant thrush habitat.

Catch The Bug!

Saturday saw Tony Leukering, Joe Bens and I wandering the back roads of Belleplain in search of some of Cape May's fabulous dragonflies. We found a good number of species and got some great pictures, but at the end of the day, it wasn't one of these magnificent beasties that made it as Bug of the Day, it was the Water Strider.

There are several species of Water Strider in the genera Gerris and Aquarius and they can be difficult to identify to species, even in the hand. These are familiar creatures which can be found in almost any body of fresh water during the summer and readily catch our eye as they skate across the water by spreading their weight on long legs, such that the tension at the surface of the water supports them. Having three pairs of limbs gives them ample opportunity to use those limbs for more than just walking! The front pair are used for grabbing prey, the middle pair are used like oars to row across the surface of the water and the back pair are used as rudders for steering. We spent some time watching the activities of these little guys and eventually voted them as Bug of the Day thanks to the individual pictured below. Water Striders are true bugs (in the order Hemiptera) and as such, have a needle-like tongue or stylus, which they incert into their victims and suck out the contents - just like a hypodermic! Life is tough out there you know!

For anyone interested in dragonflies and damselflies, we are now entering peak season and any visit to wetlands in the Cape May area will be productive - even dry woodland rides are used by several species so keep an eye out wherever you happen to be. And don't forget to stop by the CMBO store and pick up a copy of the new guide to New Jersey Dragonflies and Damselflies - happy hunting!

Bug of the Day for a very good reason! This Water Strider was voted our Bug of the Day for this one selfless act - it took out a Deer Fly before the fly got to us!! [photo by Mike Crewe]

This Spicebush Swallowtail was collecting mineral salts from damp mud on Pine Swamp Road. [Photo by Mike Crewe].

It's impossible to comprehend what metamorphosis must be like when you don't have to go through it!! Here, a Swamp Darner is caught in the act of emerging from its larval case There's a lot to see here; the empty larval skin (known as an exuvia once vacated) can be seen as a dark brown insect shell clinging to the sand wall while the adult emerges through a split in the back of the skin. The adult's abdomen is yet to emerge, but notice how the legs are all tucked up out of the way and notice the bright yellow wing buds. [Photo by Mike Crewe]

A half hour later and we now have what is clearly a dragonfly. The legs are now being used to hang on to the old exuvia, the abdomen is free and expanded and the wings have been pumped to full size from those withered little beginnings. I have never witnessed the full emergence of an adult dragonfly like this before and was surprised to see the rich green coloration of the wings. However, this color will gradually disappear to leave clear, transparent wing membranes. [Photo by Mike Crewe]

Just a shot of a great dragonfly to round off this post with. The sight of the scintillant wings of a Halloween Pennant, gold against a backdrop of rich summer green, is reason enough in itself to be out in the field - get the bugging bug and enjoy a new insight into the lazy days of summer! [Photo by Mike Crewe]

Wilson's Phalarope, MIKI, King Rail, Southern Breeders, Baltimore Oriole

Vince Elia found perhaps the nicest bird of the day, that being a female Wilson's Phalarope at Cove Pool in Cape May, a.k.a. Mt. Vernon Crossing, a.k.a the east side of TNC's Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge, a.k.a. the South Cape May Meadows. Go to the end of Mt. Vernon Ave. and walk out to the top of the dune, checking the pool to your right, which has been good for shorebirds this spring. The bird apparently was found later in the day in the main part of the Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge.

Dave La Puma found a Mississippi Kite at Villas WMA today. The MIKI flew off a perch and over the main pond there.

First thing in the morning I dug around the Great Cedar Swamp Division of the Cape May NWR near Tuckahoe long enough to save several road-crossing Diamond-backed Terrapins from roadkill death, and also long enough to hear the deep, low, loud "stuck pig" (my name) call of a King Rail. Tuckahoe WMA itself was rich in southern breeding birds - though I didn't detect Kentucky or Hooded Warblers or Summer Tanager, a bike ride in the Tuckahoe Lake area yielded 6 Acadian Flycatchers, 6 Yellow-throated Warblers, 5 Worm-eating Warblers, 5 Prothonotary Warblers, 3 Hairy Woodpeckers, and a really good chance to test my Bug Tamer gear on strawberry flies. . . Dragonflies were active as well, more on those later,

Finally, the veenk note of a Baltimore Oriole in the sycamore near my home in Del Haven at dawn this morning was a surprise enough to make me track down the bird, an adult male. Baltimores, though common migrants, are uncommon nesters in Cape May County, usually found north county. According to eBird, only 2 have been reported so far in Cape May in June, this one and one found by Will Kerling at TNC's Lizard Tail Swamp.

Fog Lifts

[Black Skimmer, South Cape May Meadows yesterday. Click to enlarge photos.]

I set out O-dark-thirty yesterday to do a bit of dawn sea-watching before the Bird Walk for All People , hoping for shearwaters or storm-petrels in the rips on the falling tide - and found Cape May socked in with fog. Oh well, time for more artsy birds-and-fog pictures. . .

[Missed that time.]

[Is that a Black-necked Stilt ?]

Two Black-necked Stilts appeared through the mist at the meadows, disappearing again by the time Karl Lukens got there. It wound up being a bit of a funny morning with respect to Karl and the stilts, because around 8:00 a.m. I saw them again from the dunes at Cape May Point State Park, and watched them fly southwest way past the lighthouse, out over the bay, then come back again and plop down in front of the hawkwatch just as Karl pulled up. I called Karl to let him know where they were - and the minute we hung up, before he could go look, the stilts took off and flew back towards the meadows and, as far as I know, were not seen again!

[The Great Egrets at the meadows were specializing on apparently abundant American Eels - this one caught 5 in 10 minutes. Karl tells me the meadows were rife with eels before the TNC/Army Corps restoration project, too.]

[Never say die.]

[The Black-necked Stilts in their flyby of Cape May Point State Park. This is likely the same pair that was around earlier this spring - where have they been spending their time?]

[I walked out of the Northwood center around 11:00 a.m. yesterday with an armload of boxes, and almost dropped them when FOUR Mississippi Kites soared over Lily Lake! They swooped and dove over town - this one was over, I mean right over, Pavilion Circle, below treetop level - and shortly before noon Richard Crossley had SEVEN from his house near Pond Creek Marsh. Three were seen later still at the Beanery by Chuck and MJ Slugg.]

[Another one of the Mississippi Kites, this one a bit ragged. All the kites I saw were first summer birds (=second calendar year). Adults have uniform gray underparts with dark tails.]

Stilts, Flock of Kites, and Good News about Delaware Bay Shorebirds

If you missed the tweet, a pair of Black-necked Stilts appeared in the very foggy South Cape May Meadows this morning, and then reappeared flying over Cape May Point, past the lighthouse and over Delaware Bay, and eventually back toward the meadows. Four Mississippi Kites soaring over Lily Lake around 10:45 this morning as I emerged from the CMBO Northwood Center grew to 7 (!) over Richard Crossley's house, overlooking Pond Creek Marsh, an hour or so later.

The happiest news, though, is via Larry Niles, who I ran into this morning at Northwood. Larry told me (and said I could quote him) that this was the best spring for Delaware Bay Red Knots in the last 13 years of his work on the species, and Ruddy Turnstones, too, with excellent crab spawning, 15,000 Red Knots tabulated on aerial surveys, and the birds making weight rapidly and leaving for the Arctic on time or even a bit earlier than usual. NJA's David Mizrahi told a similar story today about Semipalmated Sandpipers - lots of horseshoe crab eggs, fat birds, and on their way north on time. Keep your fingers crossed, but we might be winning this one.

Photos from this morning will be posted soon, and the bird list from this morning's state park walk is up on Field Trip Reports.

Cape May Point State Park Results Up

Karl Lukens et. al. had a good walk this morning at the state park, with Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Blue Grosbeak and other highlights. Hopefully we'll do as well for our inaugural Thursday Bird Walk for All People tomorrow, which meets at 8:30 a.m.

Belleplain Breeders on Memorial Day

[Acadian Flycatcher is the greenest-backed of NJ's 4 breeding empids (though some Alders look pretty green). It is also the longest winged, with on average the longest primary projection past the tertials of any of them. The tertials are the wing feathers (with pale outer edges on our empids) that lie over the rest of the folded wing, with the primaries sticking out beyond. Primary projection is a good clue to look at on almost any bird. In general, the longer distance migrants are longer winged, with longer projection. Click to enlarge photos.]

I beat the outbound traffic on Route 47 early Monday morning (don't EVER try to go north from Cape May after about 11:00 a.m. at the end of a summer holiday weekend) and went up to Belleplain State Forest. A good project for post-spring-migration birding is to study, really study, the breeding birds. The nice thing about breeders is they are not going anywhere, e.g. the Acadian Flycatchers at the "four corners" area of Belleplain State Forest, near the entrance to Lake Nummy campground, which is where the pictured bird was photographed. This is a great time to put a scope, or a camera, on otherwise elusive species to learn details of shape and plumage, and to listen to calls and songs over and over again. Just be careful not to bother the birds.

One thing to notice on the photos, all the same bird, is how the eyering appears, or doesn't, from photo to photo. Acadians almost always show a complete eyering. . .if you look carefully, from different angles and in different light.

This Acadian sang steadily, occasionally throwing in its squeaky pweek call note. There is disagreement about how to describe Acadian's song - I hear it as descending, and the sonogram bears that out with a pronounced rise but a complex, lower finish, so the old mnemonic pizza or PEET-suh works great for me. Yet other birders hear it rising; for them so-PEET works. Mnemonics are for the ear of the listener; the important thing is learn the sound and find the words that help you remember. And as with other species, individual Acadian songs can vary slightly.

[Acadians have very large, broad bills (for empids, anyway), all pale below. Yellow-bellieds, which don't breed as far south as NJ but are an i.d. contender in migration, have a shorter, narrower bill, and are smaller and more compact overall. YBFL's also have yellow or olive-yellow throats, not white. Least Flycatcher has a doinky little bill, and the lower mandible shows a dark tip if you get a good look. Willow and Alder bills are closer to Acadian in size.]

[Of the empids, Acadians have the pointiest wings, with p10 (outermost) and p6 about the same length, and p7-9, in between, sticking out farther beyond p6 than on other empids. P6 is longer than p10 on all the other emipids, which together with their shorter primaries contributes to a rounder appearance on the open wings.]

[Hooded Warblers love Belleplain's Mountain Laurel thickets. This male made a nice piece of eye candy after all that empid study; so did the laurel, still very much in bloom.]

[Black-and-white Warbler doing what BAWW's do, gleaning insects from branches. This one is a male, note the dark cheek.]

Belleplain had all the other usuals, including Summer Tanagers on Frank's Road and elsewhere, and Kentucky and Prothonotary Warblers in a few places, including along Sunset, and the Louisiana Waterthrushes were chipping there, too. Yellow-throated Warblers were a bunch of places (I was on my bike), and although I found no Red-headed woodpeckers, Hairy Woodpeckers were unusually easy to find, with a half dozen or more for the morning.