Grosbeaks, more butterflies...

It's been a mixed week weatherwise, though not unusual for the time of year; after Tuesday - with its balmy temperatures - produced a spectacular butterfly flight, things took a turn for the worse for insects on Wednesday and Thursday as temperatures dropped again and the insects found themselves grounded. Indeed, it was rather sad to see so many thousands of Red Admirals just too cold and tired to move, being gobbled up by birds or simply trampled under foot. You normally expect a butterfly to get out of the way and in this instance I think that their rather cryptic underwing markings meant they went un-noticed by most people while sitting helpless on the ground. On Thursday at Higbee Beach, we were picking them up off the trails and placing them out of harm's way, but of course these boom and bust populations are part of nature's way of ensuring that the species survives.

Will Kerling, who has been studying butterflies in the USA far longer than me, mentioned to me that this is the biggest movement of spring butterflies that he can remember. Interestingly, I checked up on Red Admiral ecology in the eastern US States in the excellent Butterflies of the East Coast by Cech and Tudor, published in 2005. I was impressed to discover that they had effectively predicted this year's major movement by stating that such large migrations typically occur approximately once every ten years, with previous events noted in 1981, 1990 and 2001. So maybe we could have expected it last year, but perhaps weather trends weren't quite right last spring.

With a warming of temperatures on Friday, butterflies were again in the news and I heard reports from as far away as Asbury Park in North Jersey, as well as throughout Cape May County. Text messages to my phone revealed a very widespread movement with numbers perhaps even more impressive than on Tuesday - Tom Reed, for instance, texting 500+ butterflies a minute passing Stone Harbor Point mid-afternoon. My own observations around Cape May Point were intriguing, since Tuesday had produced a movement largely of Red Admirals with a few American Ladies and Question Marks, but Friday seemed to be largely of the last two species, with Red Admirals in the minority. These movements are of course a successful strategy for the butterflies, which allows them to overwinter in the warmer south and avoid the worst of the cold weather in the north.

American Ladies and a Red Admiral fuelling up on Chives at Cape May Point [photo by Mike Crewe].

Debbie Hudson sent me this picture of Red Admirals at her bird feeders in Green Creek - which they were having to share with Ruby-throated Hummingbird and Baltimore Oriole!

As well as the butterfly migration, another highlight at the Northwood Center this past 10 days or so has been the Rose-breasted Grosbeaks at the feeders. This species doesn't breed with us here, but migrants stop off each year and just for a short period it is possible to get really good views of what can be a rather retiring species here. Getting up close and personal with birds often gives an opportunity to take birding skills to the next level - so if you are at Northwood, see if you can tell the age of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak you are looking at. Here's some pictures to help you...

A typical adult male (ie more than 12 months old) Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Note that the wings are solidly black and white with no brown feathers [photo by Mike Crewe].

A typical second-year male (ie hatched last year) Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Note that the wings have light brown primaries, secondaries, primary coverts and median coverts. The head and mantle feathers also have brownish tips to them. These wing feathers are retained from the previous year, when the bird would have been all brown and looked very much like a female [photo by Mike Crewe].

Female Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Less showy than the males, the females are nevertheless nice birds. However, since they are always brownish, ageing them can be harder than ageing males and it is not always possible to do in the field. The molt is the same as that of the male so it would be usual to expect a second-year female to show a contrast between paler, more worn primaries and the fresher feathers in the rest of the wing. As this bird generally looks to be in all fresh plumage, I would guess that it is an adult - but in-the-hand would be the best way to check. [photo by Mike Crewe]

Recent Reports
Warblers and other assorted summer arrivals have been in the news here over the last 36 hours or so; locations around Cape May Point and at Cox Hall Creek WMA have all been good for a variety of warblers, with Cerulean and Blackburnian being sighted amongst the commoner species. Warbling Vireo, Yellow-breasted Chat, Wood Thrush and Blue-winged Warbler were singing well at Higbee Beach Friday morning and I hear that over 200 Whimbrel were logged on The Osprey boat trip. One or two reports of migrant Red-headed Woodpeckers are coming in from around Cape May Point, including The Beanery, where both Yellow-billed and Black-billed Cuckoos were seen this morning. Sam Galick reported a Tennessee Warbler from the state park today and a Cape May Warbler was reported from there by Stephanie Brown on 4th.

A White-winged Scoter was reported from the concrete ship on 4th and a Luna Moth became a star attraction at the Northwood Center today as it spent most of the day hanging in a juniper right over the road at the store entrance.

A day full of birds

Today was a great day to be in Cape May - and things are certainly starting to warm up for The World Series of Birding on May 12! This morning, our Bird, Bugs & Botany was great on Birds and botany, short on bugs, due to overnight rain and overcast skies. Most of the trees are well into leaf now and it's a lot easier sorting all those oaks out now. There was a wealth of plants to be enjoyed for the first hour, but after that we could resist all those birds calls and songs no more and our second hour (and beyond!) saw us focussing on some nice little feeding groups that were working their way through the canopy. Black-and-white, Black-throated Green, Yellow-throated, Blackpoll and Yellow-rumped Warblers, Northern Parulas, Blue-headed and Red-eyed Vireos, Scarlet Tanagers - it was a real treat, and all mixed in with the local Eastern Bluebirds, Chipping Sparrows and assorted woodpeckers. A couple of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds made rapid fly-bys and Green Heron and Belted Kingfisher both boosted our lists.

The Northwood Center was pretty busy today too, with Blackburnian and Blackpoll Warblers reported early on and at least one female and four male Rose-breasted Grosbeaks coming to the feeders. Wednesday evening at Northwood also provided me with great views of a superb male Scarlet Tanager and an adult male Baltimore Oriole in the birdbath. Wherever you go in Cape May right now, you are likely to find birds!

As well as all the songbird action, I hear that shorebirds are building up nicely at both Stone Harbor/Nummy's Island and Heislerville and, with clear skies right now, I reckon things will be moving out there - what will tomorrow bring?!

Some recent pictures
It's been a while since I had time to put up a photo gallery of recent pictures, so here's a few that arrived recently.

Bob Fogg was the latest victim of the White-faced Ibis saga at Cape May. While this is essentially a western bird, White-faced Ibises are turning up with increasing frequency here, to the point where it isn't really safe to assume that all those fly-over birds are glossys!  Bob photographed these ibises near his home recently and it was only after he had downloaded the pictures onto a computer that he noticed the bird on the left - a White-faced Ibis, complete with pretty red eye and pale face!  [Photo by Bob Fogg] (Click on picture to enlarge).

Woodpeckers have their own little battles to contend with and if you are there with the camera, you might get lucky - here a Downy Woodpecker fancies its chances with a Red-headed Woodpecker and both provide a great photographic opportunity [photo by E J Nistico].

Having seen several incubating Great Horned Owls along the Delaware Bayshore marshes during the weekend of the Cumberland Eagle Festival, it was interesting for me to receive this photo which clearly demonstrates how much this year's youngsters have already grown. These birds are up in Salem County. [Photo by Jeff White]

For the first few weeks of the Osprey's return, they were certainly one of the most popular targets for camera-toting birdwatchers. I received a lot of photos of this species fishing, but I particularly liked this one as it shows off the Large-mouthed Bass that has been caught so nicely [photo by Joe Siekierski].

I haven't made it over to the back bays to look for birds for several months, so it was nice to hear today that the marshes are already filling up with shorebirds - here, just four of a larger flock of Whimbrel is shoe-horned into the frame - I'm told that there is still plenty of these smart shorebirds to be seen out there [photo by Beth Polvino].

This juvenile, molting into first-summer White Ibis was found at the Wetlands Institute near Stone Harbor earlier this week and typically didn't hang around too long [photo by Cathy Smith].

Another look at the young White Ibis at Stone Harbor. Such birds are a fine example of why you need to be out there and looking at this time of year! [Photo by Karl Lukens]

Someone flicked the switch...

Someone flicked the switch last night and the difference was palpable. April 30th hovered somewhere around 57F with something of the threat of rain in the air. May 1st, after a bit of a rainy night, temperatures zoomed up another 20 degrees at the point and I wouldn't mind betting that the north of the county touched 80F. Birds have been finding their way to Cape May in dribs and drabs so far, but that's pretty typical for April. There's been no major arrival of night migrants as yet, though day-flying migrants such as swallows and martins have certainly been arriving in good numbers. One of the things you can afford to do when you live in Cape May is experiment with your time, rather than needing to maximize birding time by sticking to the tried and tested locations. Having been out of the country for a week, I was keen to see what had been arriving in my absence so yesterday I was out at a little wetland on the 'unfashionable' east side of the peninsula and was surprised to find a nice selection of birds. At least 80 Barn Swallows, plus smaller numbers of other hirundines, were hawking insects over a grassy meadow and two Eastern Kingbirds argued with each other over a favored perch. Seven dapper Blue-winged Teals floated serenely on a nearby pond, a Green Heron flushed from the reedy margins and both Indigo Bunting and Orchard Oriole were in song - both firsts-of-the-year for me. Better still, warblers were mooching through the field edge and in a nearby piece of wet woodland. I could hear the soft 'sigh' of a Blue-winged Warbler, a startling male Prairie Warbler in full razzamataz showed up and a brief glimpse of a white eyering eventually fully evolved into a Nashville Warbler. Ahhh, spring migrants are here - and here now!

Jumping forward to today, the fully 180 degree turn-around in the weather was provided by a very welcome warm front from the south. Such fronts seem always to be accompanied by rain at this time of year, but the clouds slowly rolled away and with the improving weather came a fantastic migration of butterflies. I was slaving over a hot laptop when Tom Reed's initial text message came through, alerting us to a noteworthy northward movement of Red Admiral butterflies, but it wasn't until I took a well-earned cup of Earl Grey (old habits die hard don't you know!) later in the afternoon that I became aware of a steady stream of butterflies pressing northward wherever I loooked! Only one place to be right now I thought, so I took my trusty camera down to the wonderful Beach Plum bushes at Higbee Beach - and they were awesome! The early spring meant that many bushes were past their best but there was still plenty of flowers to keep these hungry travellers happy. Here's a few photos of the diners:

I am sure we will never know how many Red Admirals poured through Cape May today, but reports came from across the whole county and they provided a truly amazing sight as they plodded steadily northward. In some areas, flocks were streaming westward, perhaps individuals that had wandered out to sea during the Delaware Bay crossing. Red Admirals are easily recognized by their bright red wing bands, though these can be dully orangey in worn individuals [photo by Mike Crewe].

A pretty good number of American Ladies accompanied the Red Admirals (a ratio of about 1:20 where I was viewing from). As with the admirals, the vast majority were large-sized, brightly-colored and seemingly pretty recently emerged individuals - this year's first batch with the 'wanderlust' gene switched on [photo by Mike Crewe].

Each year we get a variable number of Painted Ladies accompanying the American Ladies, so here's a quick ID guide to telling them apart - you can do it on the upperside or the underside, but the underside works best. This is an American Lady - note the two large eyespots on the underside of the hindwing [photo by Mike Crewe].

This is the only Painted Lady that I managed to find this afternoon on the Beach Plums - maybe more will come later, but the last two years have been pretty poor for this species here. Note that Painted Ladies have four small eyespots on the underside of the hindwing [photo by Mike Crewe].

Not surprisingly perhaps, a few other species seemed to be caught up in the butterfly frenzy, the next commonest species being Questionmark. You may well have seen some of these already this year, but most likely you will have seen the form that hibernates with us as an adult (you will know it because the hindwing is the same color as the forewing). Individuals that emerged from a chrysalis in the current year have dark hindwings, like the one in the photo here; these will have emerged somewhere down in the Southern States - perhaps South Carolina or Georgia - and will be surging through to repopulate the North. My large Siberian Elm tends to weep sap at this time of year and at least 35 Questionmarks were lapping up this rich food source this evening - quite a sight! [Photo by Mike Crewe.]

Careful checking around the flowers might reveal something else lurking amongst the commoner species; this Snowberry Clearwing is a day-flying species that is related to the sphinx moths and clearly escapes predators by pretending to be a bumble-bee [photo by Mike Crewe].

Sunday I was up at Belleplain for the latest in our new series of wildlife walks. As ever, the wildlife did not let us down with Great Crested Flycatchers, Ovenbirds and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers clearly here in good numbers now and many other treats in store:

For most of the group, a chance encounter with a very docile and approachable Rough Green Snake was a real walk highlight as it crept stealthily through the bushes [photo by Mike Crewe].

Heading back from Belleplain via Cape May Court House, Tony Leukering and I discovered that eight Cattle Egrets were gracing the lawns of the Eastern Shore Care Home, near Avalon Golf Course. This site has a remarkable ability for attracting this species each spring [photo by Mike Crewe].

Cattle Egrets really are smart in their full breeding regalia [photo by Mike Crewe].

Now that May is here, you can look forward to the native flowers starting to take charge over the alien interlopers. I found these two 'kiss-and-tellers' at Cold Spring this evening. This plant is called Jack-in-the-pulpit (you can see Jack in the middle there) and the flower is followed by a cluster of brilliant red berries [photo by Mike Crewe].

Last - but probably not least... My dear wife will be pleased to hear that I finally caught the Black Widow in our basement!!! [Photo by Mike Crewe.]

Recent Reports

The greater number of our summer migrants are with us, at least in small numbers now; Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are at the Northwood Center feeders, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are whizzing through and Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Summer Tanager and assorted warblers all await you. Yellow-throated Vireos are typically scarce in the county, but have been reported from Peaslee WMA as have Red-eyed Vireo, Acadian Flycatcher and American Redstart. Tom Reed found two Least Terns at Stone Harbor Point on April 27th, while scarcer bird finds of late have included an American Golden Plover at Shephard Davis Road, Cumberland County on April 28th, a White Ibis at Brigantine on April 30th and an intriguing report of a Northern Wheatear at the state park on 27th but I have heard no further word on that bird.

A Swallow Spectacular at Cape May Point

[One of very many Barn Swallows over
Cape May Point last evening. Photo by Tom Reed.]

Yesterday's very strong northwest winds ushered in a few hundred swallows (and one Swallow-tailed Kite) to Cape May- and while I didn't hear of any Kite reports today, there were still a large number of swallows to be found along the beaches, marshes and ponds between the 2nd Avenue jetty and Bunker Pond.

[Well over 30 Cliff Swallows could be found between Bunker Pond and the South Cape May Meadows last night-- a notable spring count. Days with northwest winds always tend to produce at least a few of these in April. Photo by Tom Reed.]

[Chimney Swift at eye-level over the east path of
the Meadows last evening. Photo by Tom Reed.]

Sam Galick and I spent a bit of time perusing the swallows late in the morning, and came up with the following very broad estimates: 525 Barn Swallows, 250 Tree Swallows, 125 Purple Martins (many of these likely belonging to the State Park colony), 40 Bank Swallows, 30 Northern Rough-winged Swallows, and 20 Cliff Swallows. Over 100 Chimney Swifts were also evident. It should be noted that there were actually quite a few more Bank and Cliff Swallows last evening, and it appears that some of these escaped on today's more subdued breeze out of the east.

[A Bank Swallow over Bunker Pond. Photo by Tom Reed.]

Bug of the week (or Where's Waldo?)

[Click on image(s) to see larger version(s). All photos copyright by Tony Leukering.]


While I really had intended this semi-regular feature to treat only those groups of arthropods that are not very popular with birders and other naturephiles (thus, no butterflies or dragonflies/damselflies), today I took a picture that just screamed to be used on the blog. So, this one time only, here's a dragonfly as the bug of the week.


Harlequin Darner is about the earliest dragonfly species to emerge each spring in southern New Jersey, flying from early April into June, at the latest. In my previous springs here in Cape May, I've spent most of my field time on Cape Island, which has so little native forested habitat left that Harlequin Darner is very rare there. This spring, though, I've been concentrating my field time in the northern half of the county, in an endeavor to learn the early-season dragonflies to be found there and not on the island. I've been amazed at how common Harlequins are there, particularly on the various powerline cuts that I've wandered through.


Today's wanderlust had me heading to the Swainton area, specifically to look for Frosted Elfins, but I think that it was just a wee bit cool for them. Harlequin Darners, however, were quite common. Despite the many that I've seen this spring, I was very surprised when watching one fly around and then land on the bole of a Pitch Pine to note that there were others perched on that same pine! In fact, more than just a few others! Hopefully, you can find the seven individuals in the picture, above.


Darners, as a group, tend to perch hanging from vegetation, though some, like Harlequins, will perch on the trunks of trees; perching on the ground is somewhat rare in the group. So, I also spent some time photographing Harlequins perched on the ground.

One of the nicest aspects of Harlequin Darner for photographers, at least, is their penchant to hover in place for long enough to get a camera focused on them. Thanks to the bright sun, I was able to have both reasonable depth of field and a fast-enough shutter speed to both get the whole bug in focus and to nearly freeze the wings. Thanks, Sun!

Spring bug progression, too

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

While Tom Reed noted the progression of arrivals of bird species in the past week or so, bug season, too, is progressing from the very earliest overwintering/emerging/arriving species to later-spring species. So, while Blueberry Azures are now quite hard to find, recently-emerged species such as Lilypad Forktail,


Painted Skimmer,


and Frosted Elfin are now in evidence.

Though those second and third bugs (above) appeared around normal first dates, the Lilypad Forktails were apparently about a month early! Josh Nemeth found the first, a pair at Beaverdam SWA on the 16th; the previous first-date record for New Jersey was something like 15 May. Just to see if that was a local phenomenon, Glen Davis and I visited the best-known site for the species in Cape May County, Tarkiln Pond, on the 20th, and found them out in force (the photograph above was taken then). Also out now are Cobweb Skippers (below), a very local and rarish beast in Cape May County; I photographed two different individuals on the 20th.

A lot of other insect species are out now -- most of which are not biting things! -- and birds are taking advantage of them. While toodling around Belleplain SF near Lake Nummy on the 13th, I photographed both female and male Blue-gray Gnatcatchers stealing silk from a Tent Caterpillar nest for their own nest.

Tent Caterpillars are the larvae of a couple species of tent catepillar moth, particularly the Eastern Tent Caterpillar Moth, which fact provides an adequate segue to the next topic:  the new moth guide!

Yes, it's out! Finally!

This new guide in the Peterson series covers southeastern Canada and the northeastern U.S. and presents photos of individual moths in life as we find them, rather than as pinned specimens with wings spread unnaturally. The book presents nearly 1500 species of the "few thousand" present in the area covered, a considerably better ratio than all other North American moth guides, particularly as it doesn't skimp on the micros -- those very small moths that most guides ignore because they're a) difficult, b) mostly not sexy by the casual moth-lover's standard, and c) tiny. Did I mention that they're tiny (most measured in single-digit millimeters)?

I have been test-driving the book for a few days and find that it is fairly useful. The biggest drawback is that southern New Jersey is near the southern boundary of the area covered by the guide, such that I suspect that the percentage of local species covered in the guide is smaller than might be true for, say, the eastern Great Lakes region. Regardless, it's a magnificent new resource, and I have already identified a number of lifers! The book is available for purchase at both CMBO centers.

Mixed bag of birds, weather

Spring continued to proceed nicely in Cape May this week. An early leaf-out was accompanied by a few nights of southerly winds, which helped usher in a number of new migrants. I heard from a few folks who visited Belleplain Saturday morning, and their reports included an early Summer Tanager along with Red-eyed Vireo, Blue-winged Warbler and Hooded Warbler.

[A Pine Warbler in Belleplain this weekend-- one of 14 species of warblers
found there during the past few days. Photo by Tom Reed.]

Seawatching from Cape May Point continues to produce fair numbers of Northern Gannets, and the occasional Parasitic Jaeger or Common Tern is also now a possibility. A widespread flight of Double-crested Cormorants could be viewed throughout the peninsula on Saturday.

[While Gannets are easy to see this time of year, most aren't as close as
this one, which passed over the dune crossing at St. Pete's during a
windy morning earlier this week. Photo by Tom Reed.]

Shorebird numbers are also on the rise. The first reports of Semipalmated Sandpipers have started tricking in, while Western Sandpipers have been fairly reliable in the Nummy/Stone Harbor area, with a high count of 34 on Wednesday (a good total for April). Dowitcher, Dunlin and Black-bellied Plover numbers are all increasing, and Whimbrel are beginning to infiltrate Atlantic Coast marshes. I counted over 40 migrating north past the South Cape May Meadows on Friday morning, and nearly 60 were in the marshes behind North Wildwood today.

It's also worth visiting a nearby salt marsh during a calm evening in the near future. Clapper Rails, Willets, Marsh Wrens and Seaside Sparrows are all very vocal right now at locations such as Cook's Beach, Jake's Landing and Stipson's Island. Enjoy these marsh-dwellers before biting insect season really starts.

[Now is a great time to see and hear Seaside Sparrows, such as this one at Cook's Beach yesterday. You may notice that it's banded! Photo by Tom Reed.]