Painted Bunting, Bird News & Some Record-breaking Insects

Hot news today involves the discovery of a stunning adult male Painted Bunting at private feeders along Bayshore Road, just north of the Hidden Valley Ranch turn. At least, I say hot news, as it transpires that the bird was first photographed by a curious home-owner on Monday! Such situations always help to put things in context and remind us that there must surely be an aweful lot of birds that escape the avid rarity-hunters eyes! If you go looking for this bird over the weekend, please do respect the privacy of local home-owners and obey any on-site instructions.

Always a stunner! The adult male Painted Bunting on Bayshore Road today [photo by Karl Lukens].

Other recent news involves a good run of birds at The Beanery - which included Yellow-breasted Chat, two Blackpoll Warblers, Lincoln's Sparrow, Orange-crowned Warbler and four Palm Warblers, followed by four Baltimore Orioles there today. The Cape Island Preserve Ash-throated Flycatcher was last reported on November 30th but may still be worth looking for while the weather remains mild. The Rufous Hummingbird was still at our Goshen store on route 47 on November 30th at least. The state park continues to provide good views of parties of Lesser Scaup along with the other expected species there, as well as up to four Eurasian Wigeon (two male/two female at various times) and a female Redhead. One Eurasian Wigeon was briefly reported from Lake Lily too.

Blackpoll Warblers have certainly made the bird news here at Cape May with higher than expected numbers hanging around through November and feeding heavily on Porcelainberry fruits. [Photo by Tony Leukering]

A single Barn Swallow was at the state park on November 30th and at least three Cave Swallows were there on December 1st with a handful of Tree Swallows. A Dickcissel was reported flying over Cape May Point by Sam Galick this morning and Chuck and MJ Slugg enjoyed three Red-headed Woodpeckers at Cox Hall Creek WMA today. These birds have been hanging there for a while now and seem to be best looked for pretty much in the very middle of the site. While raptor passage is pretty much over for the season now, a few birds still find there way down to the point and it was intriguing to see some 80 Turkey Vultures and five Black Vultures thermaling over the point today.

Tom Reed continues to feed me little gems of information from the Avalon seawatch and sightings there today included two Red-necked Grebe, Harlequin Duck, King Eider and Razorbill. Further afield, it was nice to hear from Loralea Kirby at Egg Harbor Township, just outside our usual reporting area in Ocean County. Loralea had both Ruby-throated Hummingbird and a female Indigo Bunting in her yard on November 29th.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird at Egg Harbor Township [photo by Loralea Kirby].

Indigo Bunting at Egg Harbor Township on November 29th [photo by Loralea Kirby].

Record-breaking Insects.
Will Kerling has done more than most in furthering our knowledge of butterflies around Cape May this year and has also been known to turn his hand to dragonflies and damselflies. Aware of published data on latest dates for various species, Will and I have both been looking at trying to set new latest dates for any species that may happen to be around. Being from the UK, the very act of looking for such insects in December is pretty weird to me but, with temperatures not exactly warm at around 50F today, we did check a few places in bright sunshine and little wind at lunchtime and we did set some records - or at least the insects did! Will Kerling and Sam Galick both independently recorded Sachems today, while I found a very tatty-looking Fiery Skipper in Bill and Eddie Schul's front yard (unbeknown to me at the time, Bill had already left me a message about this individual, as well as two Monarchs). As far as we are aware, these constitute the first records of any skipper species for December in New Jersey - though there will of course be people with notebooks from earlier years still waiting to be published!! Bring out your sightings and we'll turn them into records!

Fiery Skipper at Cape May Point today [photo by Mike Crewe].

Turning to dragonflies and damselflies, the excellent New Jersey Odes website gives just one species as recorded in New Jersey in December - the ubiquitous Green Darner. Three damselfly species known to be common around Cape May Point all have latest dates of November 1st, so it seemed there was work to be done here! This is a fairly new data set so record-setting is perhaps not too difficult at the moment, but Will and I are still both pleased to have kept tabs on these three species of damselfly throughout November, with two of them making it into December. Pictures follow...

Male Rambur's Forktail at the Plover Pond on TNC property at the South Cape May Meadows, December 2nd [photo by Mike Crewe].

Male Familiar Bluet at the Plover Pond on TNC property at the South Cape May Meadows, December 2nd [photo by Mike Crewe]. Will Kerling also found one at Lighthouse Pond in Cape May Point State Park.

Male Citrine Forktail at TNC's South Cape May Meadows, November 26th [photo by Mike Crewe]. This species still eludes us in December at the moment!

Hawkwatch Officially Over

It's always a sad day at Cape May. The first of December that is. Why? Because that is the first day since the end of August that you can go to the Hawkwatch Platform at Cape May Point State Park and see - well, no-one. I went down to the platform lunchtime under a chilly but sunny sky and was greeted by a telling sight. A car with Wisconsin plates, loaded to the brim with gear. This could mean only one thing - the last of our wonderful team of seasonal staff was heading out of town.

All packed up and ready to go. The time to head out of town is here.

If you only ever come to Cape May during the peak of migration, this is certainly a sight you are unlikely to ever see - a lunchtime hawkwatch looking like the poop deck of the Marie Celeste...

So how has the season been? Well, expert statisticians will do a better job than I, but you can make your own minds up by casting an eye down the seasonal totals for this year and comparing them with those of previous years. Most obvious to me are the figures for American Kestrel. This year's total for the whole season was not that much more than the record one-day count, set back in 1999. Not that long ago and a very worrying trend for this species. Compare too the seasonal totals (left hand column) with record totals (far right column) for Osprey, Northern Harrier, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk and Merlin...

Seasonal totals at the Hawkwatch (click on picture to enlarge)

Of course, one cannot draw conclusions from a single set of data - it might just have been a poor year weather-wise this year for drifting birds to the coast. But there are figures here that should at least have us all asking questions and seeking out more data for answers. Once duly processed and analyized, it is data such as these that allow important environmental and conservation decisions to be made which benefit not only wildlife, but the planet we live on - and therefore us...

Long term projects such as the Cape May Hawkwatch and Avalon Seawatch form part of the very backbone of what Cape May Bird Observatory is all about. And none of this would be possible without the help and cooperation from our neighbors and sponsors. We thank the Cape May Point State Park and their staff for allowing us to operate the Hawkwatch within their boundaries and we especially thank our sponsors - this year Swarovski Optik - for their greatly appreciated support.

But wait....

It's not over for all of us though; don't forget that birding continues year-round at Cape May and you can bet we are looking forward to the forthcoming Chrsitmas Bird Count (give us a call if you want to help!) and the excitement of the winter season. See you in the field!!

Some Recent Bits and Pieces

As the season rolls on, the text messages thin out, but there's still plenty to keep us occupied with here. The weekend saw the three Eurasian Collared Doves on Lincoln Avenue finally behaving themselves and, though they have been here for several months now, I reckon this was the first weekend when they could actually be called 'easy to find'! This is the first time that this species has stayed for such a protracted length of time at Cape May and (provided they're not all boys or all girls!) it must surely be time to speculate on whether they will stay here and breed now. Perhaps the answer will lie in the weather we get over the winter period. To me, it is certainly interesting that I have not heard a single territorial call out of any of them yet. Along with the collared doves, a White-winged Dove appeared on Saturday too and hung out for most of the day on the corner of Lehigh and Lincoln Avenues. This may be the bird that was on Seagrove Avenue recently, but it appears to now have a chest injury of some sort.

White-winged Dove at Cape May Point on Saturday, looking a little under the weather [photo by Mike Crewe].

Close scrutiny of the White-winged Dove revealed an open injury on its chest (just  visible here) [photo by Mike Crewe].

The young male Redhead continued on Lighthouse Pond over the weekend and a female and two male Eurasian Wigeons were also present there. The Ash-throated Flycatcher at Cape Island Preserve continued to at least 26th and the same day saw another one found by Pat Sutton at Woodcock Lane. This location is a nice, walkable section of the Cape May National Wildlife Refuge and is situated on Rte 47 at the small settlement of Dias Creek. Staying with flycatchers, a Western Kingbird was found on 26th at Exit 13 on the Parkway - that's the turn off for Avalon.

Ash-throated Flycatcher at Woodcock Lane on the Cape May National Wildlife Refuge [photo by Pat Sutton].

Stone Harbor Point continues to hold good numbers of Snow Buntings, though as ever they can be elusive. Kevin Karlson reported 80 there on 26th, along with two Short-eared Owls. Late news broke of a Northern Shrike photographed at Thompson's Beach on 27th, while the Avalon Seawatch continues to produce some wonderful birding experiences with another two Black-legged Kittiwakes in the mix this morning and Northern Gannets in large numbers. For me, an interesting sign of the times was that I saw 24 gulls on the South Cape May beach on Saturday and three of them were Lesser Black-backs - a remarkable percentage!

Purple Sandpipers are arriving on Cape May's stone jetties right now - this one was at Avalon at the weekend [photo by Beth Polvino].

As the autumn hawkwatch season starts to wind right down now, spare a thought for Melissa, doggedly sitting it out until the end of the month to round off this year's figures. But there's still a few raptors out there, as these wonderful photos show - and which I felt deserved a wider audience, in celebration of Cape May's spectacular annual raptor passage:

Adult male Northern Harrier checks out the platform [photo by Tony Leukering]

The Peregrine serves as a logo for Cape May Bird Observatory for a reason; this species is a common autumn migrant through here, having recovered spectacularly from the bad old days of DDT, they are awesome to watch and truly magnificent to watch. And when you get a close encounter like this...

... well, what else is there to say!! [Both Peregrine photos copyright Tom Johnson]

Thanksgiving Gifts

Well, Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday gave us some nice birds to be thankful for, the highlight of which was undoubtedly the very obliging Le Conte's Sparrow - though sadly it appears to have been a one-day wonder. For me personally, Thanksgiving Day also gave me my 160th bird species fror my yard list - an Orange-crowned Warbler, which hung around long enough for photos! It seems to have been a good autumn for the latter species, with occasional reports from a number of sites over the past several weeks. If you are still looking for one, I would suggest checking weedy field edges where there is plenty of seeding goldenrod or Frost Aster; regular sites lately have been Cape May Point State Park, Cox Hall Creek WMA and Cape Island Preserve, but there is plenty of suitable habitat elsewhere too.

Le Conte's Sparrow at Higbee's Beach WMA on Thanksgiving Day. The small Ammodramus sparrows are inveterate skulkers, making identification potentially pretty tough. However, with patience and an ounce of luck, you can work your way into their world and study the finer details. Here, the combination of gray ear coverts and a shawl of chestnut spots on the nape, rules out all other species. [Photo by Mike Crewe]

Orange-crowned Warblers are typically late-season migrants through Cape May. This one graced my yard on Thanksgiving Day and was followed by an awesome roast turkey dinner with good friends - what a day! [Photo by Mike Crewe]

This morning I tried my luck at St Mary's as there has been something of a trickle of Black-legged Kittiwakes at Avalon of late as well as one seen by Tom Johnson off Higbee's Beach on 22nd. I had no luck with that species but there was a reasonable backwards and forwards of Black and Surf Scoters, a few Long-tailed Ducks, Bonaparte's Gulls and Forster's Terns and plenty of Northern Gannets. Though it was relatively short, there was also a nice overhead movement of American Robins, Cedar Waxwings, Red-winged Blackbirds, American Godlfinches, House Finches and Eastern Bluebirds this morning and a Red-breasted Nuthatch was on Lincoln Avenue, which reminded me that this was only my third one for the fall!

Black-legged Kittiwakes are worth looking for offshore right now. Note the 'dipped in ink' wing tips and dark shawl behind the head [photo by Tom Johnson].

Something of a holy grail at Cape May, this Northern Fulmar was photographed on 19th during an offshore boat trip to the southeast, so was perhaps in Delaware waters. Though this species is commonly seen from land further north in its range, down here they seem to prefer to stay well offshore [photo by Tom Johnson].

The seawatch at Avalon has been remarkable all week - rather than repeat all of Tom Reed's counts, I would suggest you check out his posts on our View from the Field blog. I can't believe that there are any more Red-throated Loons north of us, they must just be sneaking round the back and flying by repeatedly just to annoy us!! Perhaps the most interesting bird at the seawatch this week (on 22nd) was an odd-looking gull which may well prove to be a Black-headed x Ring-billed Gull hybrid. Such birds have been reported before and, though it seems like a weird combination pairing, the features of the bird would support this idea. Stone Harbor Point seems to be holding good numbers of Snow Buntings right now, with a high count so far of 90 on 24th, when a Lapland Longspur was also with them. Up to six Ipswich Sparrows are also at Stone Harbor Point. The occasional single Cave Swallow gets reported from the state park, but so far there has been no notable movement of this species recorded this year. Down at the point, recent reports have also included a scattering of Baltimore Orioles (two up at Del Haven on the bayshore too), a male Redhead and a second male Eurasian Wigeon on Bunker/Lighthouse Ponds on at least 24th and 25th, and a Short-eared Owl flying offshore on 24th.

The above two photos show the odd gull off Avalon on November 22nd. The overall appearance is of a Black-headed Gull, but note the darker upperparts, extensive dark smudging on the head, the slightly heavy-looking bill and that odd, dark streak towards the tip of the outer primaries [photos by Tom Johnson].

Finally, I hear that the highly elusive Ash-throated Flycatcher was re-found at Cape Island Preserve this morning (26th).

Le Conte's Sparrow today

This morning, Chris Vogel found a Le Conte's Sparrow at Higbee Beach that remained in the same spot all day long. The bird was in southwestern corner of the the northeastern-most field at Higbee - if you need a map, there's one below. The sparrow was hanging out in the grass along the path, marked on the map with a green arrow. This bird, very rare in Cape May, is extremely secretive but is confiding once located.

Le Conte's Sparrow (Higbee Beach, Cape May). 24 November 2011. photo copyright Tom Johnson

Map showing the location of the Le Conte's Sparrow at Higbee Beach (marked by green arrow). This is only a few hundred feet south of the parking lot at the west end of New England Rd. in Cape May.

Winter Lurks Around The Corner

Leaves falling from the trees is the one big sign that autumn is waning and that means that winter is not far away. But what is the first real sign of winter for you? For me here at Cape May, it's hearing a strange, chattering noise outside, somewhere around 8:30PM, well after it's dark. Even over the sound of the music I'm playing it's audible. Then I remember the date - it's the second half of November. It's not yet another group of beer-laden youngsters heading down to the canal woods, it's the first serious movement of Snow Geese passing over the point. And last night was a serious movement! Snow Geese were calling overhead in the evening later on when I went to bed; I awoke to their sounds a couple of times in the night and they were calling overhead when I got up for breakfast this morning. Indeed, skeins were still heading south as I checked the bay off Sunset Beach before work this morning.

Snow Geese over the Delaware Bay today - I think they're trying to spell out a message.... [photo by Mike Crewe].

Though so far it is only a small sample size, I couldn't help notice very few youngsters amongst the Snow Geese that I've seen this November. Of course, geese are relatively long-lived for birds and the odd poor season is not the end of the world, but it is worth getting into the habit of keeping a record of the percentage of young birds in a flock as a longterm guide to the health of the species. Arctic breeding birds have a cycle which centers around the boom-and-bust years of lemming populations. When lemmings are abundant, predators such as Arctic Foxes and jaegers feed on them, which means the goslings get left alone (they're harder to catch, usually because of the protection of their parents). In poor lemming years, goslings are top of the dining list! In the UK, these predater-prey relationships have been studied closely for some years and good breeding seasons for Brant, for example, are often apparent when the birds arrive to winter there from Russian breeding grounds. In poor lemming years, there is also often an earlier-than-usual passage of skuas as they head south to find better feeding areas (which usually means hassling Sandwich Terns along the UK coastline!).

The Avalon Seawatch also offers a great insight into the advance of winter, as Double-crested Cormorants are replaced by loons, and scoter are replaced by Long-tailed Ducks and Common Eider. This past two days, the seawatch has been truly spectacular and I was glad to have been there Monday afternoon and helping to count the total of 16,851 Red-throated Loons that we counted passing south - a new day record for the CMBO Seawatch. Check out Tom Reed's report of the events on our View From The Field postings. And yes, they were pretty much all counted, as groups were not big enough to have to estimate numbers, but continued pretty much non-stop all day at around 2,000 birds per hour on average. Now that is Migration Magic!!!

Other news from the past few days: The Nature Conservancy's Cape Island Preserve has been in the news since the Ash-throated Flycatcher showed up there on Friday and stayed - somewhat elusively - to at least 21st. Visitors there also added Orange-crowned Warbler and Vesper and Grasshopper Sparrows, while Melissa Roach reported a Yellow-billed Cuckoo there this morning. This preserve doesn't get mentioned too much by us, but it is for a reason. There are no visitor facilities there and there is almost no parking so it's not an ideal place to encourage great numbers of people to. However, a small trickle of folk is manageable and the site is accessed at the east end of Wilson Street, off Seashore Road just north of West Cape May. One or two Purple Sandpipers and Great Cormorants can now be found at favored sites; the former at stone jetties anywhere along the coast, the latter most recently at Lake Champlain in Villas and on the concrete ship.

A late Least Flycatcher at the state park on 19th caused a few hearts to flutter temporarily with thoughts of Dusky Flycatcher, but it wasn't to be it seems. One or perhaps two Cave Swallows graced the Hawkwatch area over the weekend and reports of good bird numbers at Cox Hall Creek WMA included Red-headed Woodpecker, Orange-crowned Warbler and plenty of Eastern Towhees - the latter also showed up at my feeder, along with a female Purple Finch. Returning where we started, with winter birds, Tom Johnson reported a Black-legged Kittiwake flying north off Higbee's Beach this morning, while a couple of evenings ago, I took one of my regular strolls down to Higbee's Beach at dusk and counted 15 American Woodcock whirling around against a setting sun. There's birds out there - let's go birding!!

It's that man again!

Yes, it's that man again - Jimmy Dowdell, taking his dog for a walk and finding the first Ash-throated Flycatcher of the year south of the canal. I wouldn't mind so much if it wasn't for the fact that the rest of us have been tearing the place apart looking for one for weeks! Today's bird graced the western edge of The Nature Conservancy's Cape Island Preserve. This is a smallish tract of land, accessed from the east end of Wilson Street, off Seashore Road in West Cape May. If you go looking for this bird, please note that there is no parking area here and just a small amount of room for on-street parking.

Among other news this last couple of days, Cedar Waxwings, American Robins and Eastern Bluebirds continue to flock around the point and provide a fabulous spectacle. Best numbers seem to be around the state park and Cape May Point itself, as well as in the open areas around Cox Hall Creek WMA. Three Eurasian Collared Doves continue around Lincoln Avenue at the point and reports of single Nashville Warblers have come from the state park and Cox Hall Creek, with Blackpoll Warbler also still lingering at the state park and an Orange-crowned Warbler at Cape Island Preserve today. One or two Purple Finches are starting to turn up at local feeders now, after a few days of high-flying birds overhead. Continued diligence at the Hawkwatch Platform today produced five species of swallow (Bank, Cave, Tree, Northern Rough-wing and Barn) and a passing Golden Eagle, while Bald Eagles continued a presence at several sites - at least three could be seen over The Beanery at lunchtime for example. The Rufous Hummingbird was still present at CRE, Goshen today and Bob Fogg reported a Clay-colored Sparrow at the Schellenger Tract off Bayshore Road in Del Haven.

The Seawatch at Avalon continues to produce daily good sightings at the moment and I'm indebted to Tom Reed for keeping me kept up to date on sightings there. At least two King Eiders, three Razorbills, Black-headed Gull, two Red-necked Grebes, White-rumped Sandpiper and Marbled Godwit have all been logged in the last three days and large movements of Ring-billed Gulls and Northern Gannets have been enjoyed.

Ash-throated Flycatcher at Cape Island Preserve. For east coast birders used to bright yellow Great Crested Flycatchers, this can often appear a rather drab species [photo by Mike Crewe].

Bank Swallow - one of an impressive list of five species of swallow at the Hawkwatch Platform today [photo by Tony Leukering].