Mild Weather Continues

The mild weather that has been such a feature for us this winter continues - and continues to provide us with quirky bird sightings! The single Glossy Ibis continues to be reported on odd occasions from either the state park or the South Cape May Meadows, but probably spends much of its time in those little tucked away corners that we can't get to. The Cackling Goose also continues to commute between Pond Creek Marsh and Lake Lily on a regular basis with the local Canada Goose flock and our local pair of Bald Eagles seem to be on regular sorties around the point, stirring up the ducks at the moment. I have to say, they do seem restless at present and currently don't seem to be thinking of settling down on a nest - but there is still time. At least one Orange-crowned Warbler continues at the state park, usually seen on the red trail or on the first 100 yards or so of the blue/yellow trail. Subtle plumage differences suggest there may be a minimum of three different Orange-crowneds in the state park at the moment. On the 4th, Glen Davis came up with the latest surprise bird of the season with a Brown Pelican which settled for a short time on the water just off St Peter's, before heading off east. Almost exactly an hour later, Dave Lord reported what was presumably the same bird off North Wildwood, heading back south. I've heard of no further sightings so far.

A large influx of Razorbills off the coast of North Jersey seems to have just about trickled down to us with one or two sightings locally of this species. Most notably, Dave Lord reported one on the channel to the west of the toll bridge at Nummy's Island on 4th and three birds were again reported from Townsend's Inlet on 5th. This is an annual winter visitor off Cape May but appearances are unpredictable and often involve birds simply passing by offshore, so if you are looking for one, you need exactly the right combination of luck and patience!

Finally, the female Rufous Hummingbird continues to entertain visitors to the CMBO store at Goshen on route 47, to February 7th at least.

Will Eurasian Collared Dove finally stay and breed with us? The three birds that turned up last year are still hanging out along Whilldin Avenue, so it seems we may soon be adding Cape May to the long list of sites conquered by this tenacious species.

This great photograph of a male Northern Harrier was taken at Nummy's Island on February 3rd by Sean McDermott and is a wonderful study of the 'Gray Ghost' in action. Nummy's Island offers excellent opportunities to bird from the car in the winter and, if you are really lucky, you can get opportunities like this!

Dont forget the weekend:

Saturday February 11th is the day of the Cumberland Eagle Festival and we look forward to seeing you there! We will be there with a CMBO stand at the Mauricetown Fire Hall, as well as having our team of great volunteer leaders available at the four eagle watchpoints throughout the day. Do come along and enjoy a great day out - there's even indoor lectures to go to if we get a short burst of rain. See you there!!

Find out more about the Cumberland Eagle Festival here: http://www.facebook.com/wintereaglefest

Cape May pelagic a rousing success!

[All pictures copyright by Tony Leukering. Click on image(s) for larger version(s).

Yesterday's pelagic trip, organized by See Life Paulagics was superb. The trip was conducted on the Starlight Fleet's Atlantic Star, a very comfortable 110' head boat sailing from Wildwood Crest. An auspicious forecast had everyone excited for the possibilities and, though the weather turned out not as benign as forecast, expectations were met. And surpassed!

Departure in the pre-sunrise hours (at 6:06 am, if you must know the precise time) had us on the ocean by the time the sun came up, heading a bit south of ESE to a temperature break (a meeting of water masses of different temperatures, which often concentrates food resources, thus the birds that take advantage of such) about 32 miles out.

[Two Red-throated Loons flying north past Cape May and the rising sun.]

Even before the first smidge of the sun was in view, flying Red-throated Loons and all three species of scoter were being counted. Razorbills were also quickly added to the day list, with singles and flocks being encountered frequently in the first ten miles outbound. Once well out at sea, a few Herring Gulls encouraged us to finally initiate chumming with bread, beef fat, and fish parts, which eventually got us a horde of ship-following gulls and Northern Gannets vying for scraps.


Not only does chumming allow for great photo ops of common species, such as the following pictures of a variety of ages/plumages of Northern Gannet...

[2nd-cycle Northern Gannet]


[2nd- or 3rd-cycle Northern Gannet]


[Subadult Northern Gannet]


[Adult Northern Gannet showing off its crazy, striped feet!]

... but the sheer activity of 50-150 birds trailing the boat attracts other, perhaps more-valued, beasties, such as this 2nd-cycle Black-legged Kittiwake (six or so kittiwakes on trip)...


... and this light-morph Northern Fulmar (12+ on trip).



However, by the time that there were lots of gulls and gannets following the boat, participants had already been reveling in the stars of the show, which included this large Fin Whale...


... seven Common Murres...


... hordes of Dovekies (700 for the whole trip)...

[Distant singles and flocks flying by]

[Some allowing fairly close approach]

[Some allowing quite close approach]

... and, most importantly, Atlantic Puffins, of which the trip total was 18!


It is hoped that five or six more pelagic trips will be conducted this year on the Atlantic Star, including the one during the CAPE MAYgration event in mid-May; details for all will be announced on this venue and, perhaps, we'll see you there!

While the cat's away...

Well, whilst I was up enjoying the delights of coastal Massachusetts in February (Snowy Owl, Northern Shrike, Black Guillemots, Razorbills - you know the kind of thing!) with some of our wonderful volunteer field trip leaders and assistants, it seems that Cape May birders were out and finding all sorts of things. Here's a summary of the past few days since my last post.

February 1st saw a Black-legged Kittiwake reported by Glen Davis off Sunset Beach, two Palm Warblers noted by Will Kerling at the Cape Island Preserve and a pair of Harlequin Ducks found by Gail Dwyer by the southernmost stone jetty at Stone Harbor Point. A couple of hours later, the two Harlequin Ducks - or perhaps more likely another pair - were at the 8th Street jetty in Avalon and a Razorbill was also present there. Of greatest interest to local birders will be the report of a Western Tanager at Cape May Point State Park on February 2nd and a further report from the same site today. The report today came from the western end of the blue trail near the metal bridge, not far from where the trail breaks off from the red trail loop. This is presumably the bird first seen at the point on January 25th.

The relatively mild winter continues to turn up birds that one would normally expect to be further south at this time of year; a Glossy Ibis at the South Cape May Meadows, Little Blue Heron at the Coastguard Ponds/Two-mile Landing area and a male Blue-winged Teal at the state park are the most recent hangers-on to be reported. Up to seven Green-winged Teal have been in the meadows too, most recently reported by Will Kerling on January 22nd. In stark contrast is the almost complete absence of what might be considered 'hard weather birds'. Glen Davis mentioned a couple of fly-over Common Redpolls at the state park a few days ago which remains a very rare bird this far south this winter. Records reported to ebird for this year so far show just two sightings in North Jersey and a couple of singletons to the south of us on the Delmarva Peninsula. Similarly, last winter's glut of Pine Siskins is in stark contrast to a mere five reports this year so far for New Jersey as a whole and I only know of two reports from Cape May County - thanks to an email from Cynthia Allen in Cape May Court House, who had one at her feeder on February 2nd. Such short-term trends are the norm for birds that move in response to food availability and mean very little at the local level. This is where adding your sightings to the bigger picture via ebird come in handy - so don't forget to get on line!!

Some recent photos are crying out to be revealed to the world, so here they are:

Debbie Hudson got amazing views - and photos - of this young Bald Eagle at The Beanery recently. Its dark brown underparts show it to be a bird still in its first cycle of feathers and thus likely to be one of the three youngsters that fledged last year from our south-of-the-canal list. Learn more about bird molt and plumage on our workshop on this very subject in August.

Razorbills are pushing south in good numbers this year and many are coming close to shore. This trio of birds was enjoyed by Pat & Clay Sutton at Townsend's Inlet on February 2nd. [Photo by Pat Sutton]

Another object of interest to students of molt and plumage. This Ruddy Turnstone - photographed just a few days ago at Avalon - is clearly in breeding plumage. Such oddities crop up from time to time and often we can only speculate as to what is going on I would guess, from the rather heavy wear on the tertails and wing coverts, that this bird has retained last summer's feathers, rather than obtained next summer's early but maybe it's just ended up completely 'the wrong way round', so its plumage reflects late summer rather than late winter... [photo by Beth Polvino]

Who can stop photographing Long-tailed Ducks? They are magnificent birds and they're right into the midst of their courtship right now - and what fabulous sounds they make! Don't forget our Longtails in Love program, fast approaching on February 18th. [Photo by Beth Polvino]

Nice Weather and Nice Birds

It was a day of fine weather today with sun and mostly cloudless skies at the point - as well as a good number of birders out in the field it seems! Though temperatures were only around 48F with a cooling breeze, it was much warmer in sheltered corners and there was certainly a feeling of spring in the air. Cape May Point State Park was the place to be today with the lingering Yellow-breasted Chat and Orange-crowned Warbler being joined by Nashville Warbler and Common Yellowthroat. I also heard tell of two Short-eared Owls reported from there early morning. A Pacific Loon was found by Jim McConnell at very close range at St Peter's on 26th but unfortunately the message didn't get out to active birders, though Jim did report the bird promptly. This is the first record of this species at Cape May that wasn't a brief seawatch fly-by so there's many who will be hoping that it resurfaces...

January 27th saw an Eastern Phoebe appear at the Willow Pond at The Beanery and both Canvasback and Eurasian Wigeon were at the Corbin City Impoundments. Back to today though, and what was most interesting was that Tom Reed reported another Nashville Warbler at the Mauricetown Bridge - two in one day - are they moving? What is presumably the male Eurasian Wigeon that had been in the state park until the turn of the year was found at Pond Creek Marsh lunchtime and finally, a little further away but of interest, two Iceland Gulls were reported from Barnegat Light this afternoon.

Red-headed Woodpeckers continue to be reported from Cox Hall Creek WMA, including this smart adult [photo by Debbie Hudson].

A fine portrait of the two color morphs of Lesser Snow Goose. The darker form - often called a Blue Goose - is most common in eastern populations of the Lesser Snow Goose. Though it occurs in the Greater Snow Goose too, it is much less common in that subspecies, whilst 'blue' Ross's Geese are rarest of all. These two birds were photographed by Karl Lukens at Brigantine recently.

This female Common Goldeneye spent three days on Lake Lily this week but was not reported today.

New Arrivals

It is usual to presume that not much is happening in the way of bird movements in Cape May in January, but the last 24 hours has suggested otherwise. Hottest news involves a male Western Tanager, found at the intersection of Cape Avenue and W. Lake Drive around 4PM this afternoon. Unfortunately it flew off westward all too soon but may well still be in the area and will be looked for tomorrow. It headed off between Oak and Alexander Avenues into an area that was too well wooded and scrubby to get into. On Lake Lily, at least 25 Hooded Mergansers were present today (there having only been four there recently until now) as well as a female Common Goldeneye - a scarce bird south of the canal. The Cackling Goose, male Greater Scaup, juvenile Common Merganser and female Redhead continue on Lake Lily today.

Just as intriguing as the tanager comes a report of an adult male Painted Bunting at a backyard feeder in Cape May which first appeared on 21st and was still present on 24th. The site is currently unviewable but news will be put out if the bird moves to a better location. It is tempting to think that this may be the same bird that was on Bayshore Road back in early December and has perhaps been lurking somewhere ever since; but perhaps it - and the tanager - are evidence of bird movements here even at this time of the year.

Interestingly, I noticed at least four Gray Catbirds calling in the last 24 hours after having had none for several weeks, as well as two Fox Sparrows at Higbee's Beach this morning and calling Golden-crowned Kinglets at Higbee's and the state park. Warren Cairo reported a Yellow-breasted Chat still present at the state park today.

Gray Days Hold Off The Birders

A run of dreary, gray days seems to have kept people away as messages of local birds have been a little thin on the ground lately. Despite the weather, though, there has been a few goodies around, starting with the gulls that Tony posted about on Saturday. It was a strange day - three good gull species in a Cape May contect, yet none of them really hung around to be seen again. The Black-legged Kittiwake hasn't been reported since it moved off south on Saturday, the Iceland Gull turned into a mere fly-by (though Chris Hajduk had what was probably the same bird again on Monday at the Coastguard Unit, but viewing conditions were poor). The Glaucous Gull did stay for a while but was selective in who it showed itself to and hasn't been reported since Saturday.

Continuing birds include a Lark Sparrow in Ocean City, along the dune edge at the end of Seaview Road and Waverly Boulevard, up to nine Snow Buntings, two Orange-crowned Warblers and a Yellow-breasted Chat at the state park, Yellow-breasted Chat at The Beanery, two Tree Swallows at Cape May Point, the Dickcissel on Harvard Avenue and the three Eurasian Collared Doves along Whilldin Avenue and environs. The Rufous Hummingbird was still at Goshen at least to January 21st and at least one Black-headed Gull continues along the bayshore in Villas/North Cape May.

The first round of our winter raptor survey on Sunday 22nd produced a rather thin collection of wintering raptors, but I'm tempted to think that this is more to do with a mild winter than a real drop in population numbers. Time will tell. Having birders out in a concerted effort to count raptors always pays dividens in other ways though and reports of interest that evening included Tricolored Heron and American Bittern at Avalon Boulevard and House Wren and Palm Warbler at Dennis Creek WMA. Also of interest, Tom Reed had at least two Red-headed Woodpeckers along Cooks Beach Road on 20th and Clay Sutton reported a Golden Eagle at Corbin City Impoundments the same day.

Finally, a large whale was sadly beached at Ocean City on the 23rd and, I presume, is now dead. There were pictures on the web but not from the right angle to see which species was involved.

So, quiet for birders, but still things to be enjoyed out there - indeed, the topsy turvy mild winter continues to produce surprises with Orange Sulphurs still flying today - Will Kerling had two, I had one at Higbee's Beach and Jimmy Dowdell reported one from Bivalve in Cumberland County - our first record outside of Cape May County this winter. Will Kerling reported seeing a dead Black Rat Snake on the road a week or so back which I presumed could have been an individual that was wintering in a basement or somewhere else relatively warm as it seems pretty early for any reptiles to be about, but I was amazed to see the head of a turtle (presumed either Red-bellied or Painted) taking air in Lake Lily today! Anything is possible it seems!

Gulls at Miami Beach and elsewhere

Don Freiday started things off this morning, texting at 8:26 that the adult Black-headed Gull that has been wandering the southern Cape May County Bayshore was with Bonaparte's Gulls off Miami Ave. in Villas. I quickly bounced out of my house to find it, as I had been looking from the yard quite extensively this month without seeing the beast. It was raining, visibility was not the best and I could not find much in the way of small gulls; I went back inside.

Then, Larry Scacchetti texted at 9:17 that there was a Black-legged Kittiwake at Miami Ave. with the Bonaparte's Gulls! I bounced out again and, lo and behold, there was an adult Kittiwake! While occasionally seen from Cape May Point and other sites on Cape Island, kittiwakes are quite rare up the Bayshore. Sam Galick got some nice pictures of the bird, one of which is below.



Shortly after seeing the Black-legged Kittiwake, I found the adult Black-headed Gull flying into the gulls on the spit north of Miami Ave. It eventually started heading south, so I bolted into the house to get my camera and managed to get back out to the back deck just in time for the bird to fly right by (see below).



Then, Mike Crewe found an Iceland Gull flying south past Sunset Beach a bit before 11:00, which Scott Whittle later found on the beach at St. Peter's, Cape May Point. Now, a quick update, the white-winged gull at St. Peter's is, apparently, a Glaucous Gull. Also there were the two Tree Swallows that have been lingering in the area since before Christmas. Updates to come.