For real - e.g. the visiting Danes reported a BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER in the cedars next to the hawk watch this morning. That bird has not been relocated, but Cape May Point is simply loaded with birds - of course mostly Yellow-rumpeds, passerine wise, but loads of sparrows including more White-crowneds than White-throateds, lots of kinglets hover-gleaning in sheltered spots, hawks, herons, 2 American Avocets on Bunker Pond. While searching for the Black-throated Gray I found both Hermit and Swainson's Thrushes along the park exit road, well, in the cedars and Virginia creeper nearby. Two Peregrines and several Merlins blew by in the five minutes I was on the platform, and sharp-shinneds are getting up high in the air despite the still 20-30 mph NE wind. We've got a nice lull in the rain, too.
Mike Crewe told me a Common Nighthawk was sitting on the fence rail at the parking area of the Northwood Center for most of the morning (it's not there now), and an American Bittern apparently walked across East Lake Drive near Northwood as well!
First thing this morning I checked Cape May County Airport, which had a super collection of 700-1000 shorebirds, mostly Black-bellied Plovers, but including both yellowlegs, Short-billed Dowitcher, the four expected peep (Least, Semipalmated, Western and White-rumped), Semipalmated Plover, Dunlin, Ruddy Turnstone, and Pectoral Sandpiper. A Peregrine killed a Laughing Gull after flying around tormenting the shorebirds. The airport can be good under these rainy and windy conditions, especially on a flood tide when shorebirds have few places to go. Enter from the traffic light on Breakwater Road, and follow the signs to the airport diner. Be sure to respect all traffic rules and signs to keep birders welcome there. The downside at the airport is the viewing is through a chain link fence, but it actually isn't all that much of an impediment.
The first Northern Goshawk can't be tomorrow as predicted below, because apparently the raptor banding project caught one yesterday and had it at the banding demo.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Common Eider, White-rumped Sandpiper, Crystal Ball
Yesterday (Saturday) during the day a Common Eider floated itself around Cape May Point, seen opposite the Cape May Point State Park south pavilion by Doug Gochfeld and a bit later at the jetty north of St. Mary's by Vince Elia. The pool atop the Higbee Dike (which, with all this rain, is going to be a mean trick to climb) held shorebirds including 7 White-rumped Sandpipers yesterday morning.
The ol' crystal ball here says Monday for hawks (winds northwest 15 to 25) including maybe the season's first Golden Eagle or Northern Goshawk? That could happen Tuesday, too, with winds WNW early but apparently going SW later, less good.
As far as songbirds, Monday night looks good for a nocturnal flight, with skies clear and wind northwest 10-15. Given not much major has happened on the passerine front in particular and for night-migrants in general since early last week, thanks to the northeaster (s), Tuesday seems like a day to skip work, too.
Now, what to do today? Drink coffee and study bird books? Watch video clips and play sounds of Black-tailed Godwits and other such dreambirds on Cornell's Macaulay Library web site ? Perhaps it's time to venture forth and test the limits of birdable weather. . .
The ol' crystal ball here says Monday for hawks (winds northwest 15 to 25) including maybe the season's first Golden Eagle or Northern Goshawk? That could happen Tuesday, too, with winds WNW early but apparently going SW later, less good.
As far as songbirds, Monday night looks good for a nocturnal flight, with skies clear and wind northwest 10-15. Given not much major has happened on the passerine front in particular and for night-migrants in general since early last week, thanks to the northeaster (s), Tuesday seems like a day to skip work, too.
Now, what to do today? Drink coffee and study bird books? Watch video clips and play sounds of Black-tailed Godwits and other such dreambirds on Cornell's Macaulay Library web site ? Perhaps it's time to venture forth and test the limits of birdable weather. . .
Friday, October 16, 2009
Hawk Watch Hudwit, Higbee Sparrows, and Tern Tips
A Hudsonian Godwit flew over the hawk watch platform today, or so I hear. Just the sort of bird, an over-ocean migrant, you would expect a northeaster to bring.
So were the three Blackpoll Warblers at the Higbee Beach parking lot, though of course we see plenty of these without northeast winds. Higbee was lively enough for a nasty morning, with Baltimore Oriole, lots of sparows including White-crowned, Merlins on a regular basis, towhees, thrashers, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, and flyover Bobolinks (only two, we're getting towards the end of them).
We received quite a bit of positive feedback on the fall warblers post (see below), so here's another thorny i.d. problem dissected, courtesy of Mike Crewe, who wrote the following post and took the photos that accompany it. Mike, a former leader for Limosa, now works for CMBO and will be leading workshops and walks periodically. Click to enlarge the photos.
"One Good Tern...
"On Monday October 5th, an Arctic Tern was reported to CMBO staff as being present on the beach at Second Avenue jetty. It was a couple of days before I was able to get down to have look during a lunch break - and Wednesday was hideously windy! However, a nice mixed group of terns, gulls and skimmers was resting in the lee of the stone jetty at the end of Beach Drive and gave a great opportunity for some quick photography. A short-legged and seemingly short-billed tern was immediately apparent and certainly looked a good candidate for Arctic Tern. But ended up being a good candidate for demonstrating that one shouldn't rely on a single feature to identify a bird!
I put together the following snapshots as an 'educational tour' of the bird.
[Picture one, above, shows the entire bird. Important features which lead to this bird being a Common Tern are the sloping forehead which gives a rather flat-headed profile (Arctic Tern is more round-headed, not unlike a Black Tern in outline) and the obviously dark - almost black - outer primaries, which contrast strongly with the inner, paler primaries (more of this below). Photo by Mike Crewe.]
[Pictures two, above, and three, below, show the bill. Notice in picture two how it looks relatively short and rather stout-tipped. But in picture three it looks longer and with a more attenuated tip. This is a good example of how one has to be careful that the bird's head is truly at right angles to the observer before assessing shape and size. Whilst picture two looks good for Arctic Tern, picture three is clearly within the range for Common Tern. Photos by Mike Crewe.]
[Picture four, above, shows the bird with what is clearly a juvenile Common Tern (right). The legs on our bird (left) appear noticeably short in comparison with the other bird but don't really seem to be short enough to be typical of Arctic Tern. Arctic Tern legs are so short that the length of the lower half of the leg is about the same as the length of the foot. Leg length is variable in terns and this bird just happens to be at or near the shortest length for a Common Tern. In this picture it is also worth noting that the bills look pretty similar in length and the wing pattern is very similar with obviously dark outer primaries (though a Laughing Gull has stuck his head in the way on the right) Photo by Mike Crewe.]
[The final picture now leads us to what we should be really looking at to clinch the identification of this bird - the wing. Apologies for my autofocus which kicked into the background as soon as the bird took off! However, it is possible to see the coloring of the wing here. What is important is the contrast between the very dark, outer three primaries and the paler (though still smudgy grey) inner primaries. This is a classic molt pattern for Common Tern; the whole wing would be much paler in an Arctic Tern, giving a much more uniform appearance. Photo by Mike Crewe.]
"Finally (though really this should be first!), as with many birds, it is often best to start by trying to age the bird correctly. The scattering of black feathers on the forehead show this bird to be older than a juvenile (ie, not born this year) as juveniles would be white here - or buffy if very young. By the end of their second summer (some 14 months after hatching), most Common Terns can be impossible to tell from older, adult, birds as they molt into non-breeding (basic) plumage. However, the extreme darkness of the outer primaries on this bird and rather obvious dark bar on the shoulder (known as the carpal bar which actually runs along the leading edge of the inner wing) strongly suggest that this is a first-summer bird (a confusing name in same ways as the bird is actually in its second summer - but you know what I mean!)
As a more general comment on molt (and I don't want this to get technical so I'll keep it short) it is well worth remembering that adult Common Terns start molting soon after the breeding season finishes, so by fall they look pretty scruffy, with a mixture of new and old feathers. The molt of primary feathers is started, but then suspended until the birds reach the wintering grounds, resulting in the wing pattern seen in the photos here - a mixture of new inner and old outer primaries as well as new and old feathers elsewhere (note in particular on photo one, the neat row of brand new, pale grey wing coverts in the centre of the wing). In sharp contrast to this, Arctic Terns molt almost no feathers at all until after they migrate south and reach the wintering grounds in the Southern Hemisphere. Thus any molting Common/Arctic Tern in fall really should be a Common.
"Terns, a confusing bunch and perhaps best left alone, unless you want to end up getting into the murky depths of gulls!!! - Mike Crewe"
So were the three Blackpoll Warblers at the Higbee Beach parking lot, though of course we see plenty of these without northeast winds. Higbee was lively enough for a nasty morning, with Baltimore Oriole, lots of sparows including White-crowned, Merlins on a regular basis, towhees, thrashers, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, and flyover Bobolinks (only two, we're getting towards the end of them).
We received quite a bit of positive feedback on the fall warblers post (see below), so here's another thorny i.d. problem dissected, courtesy of Mike Crewe, who wrote the following post and took the photos that accompany it. Mike, a former leader for Limosa, now works for CMBO and will be leading workshops and walks periodically. Click to enlarge the photos.
"One Good Tern...
"On Monday October 5th, an Arctic Tern was reported to CMBO staff as being present on the beach at Second Avenue jetty. It was a couple of days before I was able to get down to have look during a lunch break - and Wednesday was hideously windy! However, a nice mixed group of terns, gulls and skimmers was resting in the lee of the stone jetty at the end of Beach Drive and gave a great opportunity for some quick photography. A short-legged and seemingly short-billed tern was immediately apparent and certainly looked a good candidate for Arctic Tern. But ended up being a good candidate for demonstrating that one shouldn't rely on a single feature to identify a bird!
I put together the following snapshots as an 'educational tour' of the bird.
[Picture one, above, shows the entire bird. Important features which lead to this bird being a Common Tern are the sloping forehead which gives a rather flat-headed profile (Arctic Tern is more round-headed, not unlike a Black Tern in outline) and the obviously dark - almost black - outer primaries, which contrast strongly with the inner, paler primaries (more of this below). Photo by Mike Crewe.]
[Pictures two, above, and three, below, show the bill. Notice in picture two how it looks relatively short and rather stout-tipped. But in picture three it looks longer and with a more attenuated tip. This is a good example of how one has to be careful that the bird's head is truly at right angles to the observer before assessing shape and size. Whilst picture two looks good for Arctic Tern, picture three is clearly within the range for Common Tern. Photos by Mike Crewe.]
[Picture four, above, shows the bird with what is clearly a juvenile Common Tern (right). The legs on our bird (left) appear noticeably short in comparison with the other bird but don't really seem to be short enough to be typical of Arctic Tern. Arctic Tern legs are so short that the length of the lower half of the leg is about the same as the length of the foot. Leg length is variable in terns and this bird just happens to be at or near the shortest length for a Common Tern. In this picture it is also worth noting that the bills look pretty similar in length and the wing pattern is very similar with obviously dark outer primaries (though a Laughing Gull has stuck his head in the way on the right) Photo by Mike Crewe.]
[The final picture now leads us to what we should be really looking at to clinch the identification of this bird - the wing. Apologies for my autofocus which kicked into the background as soon as the bird took off! However, it is possible to see the coloring of the wing here. What is important is the contrast between the very dark, outer three primaries and the paler (though still smudgy grey) inner primaries. This is a classic molt pattern for Common Tern; the whole wing would be much paler in an Arctic Tern, giving a much more uniform appearance. Photo by Mike Crewe.]
"Finally (though really this should be first!), as with many birds, it is often best to start by trying to age the bird correctly. The scattering of black feathers on the forehead show this bird to be older than a juvenile (ie, not born this year) as juveniles would be white here - or buffy if very young. By the end of their second summer (some 14 months after hatching), most Common Terns can be impossible to tell from older, adult, birds as they molt into non-breeding (basic) plumage. However, the extreme darkness of the outer primaries on this bird and rather obvious dark bar on the shoulder (known as the carpal bar which actually runs along the leading edge of the inner wing) strongly suggest that this is a first-summer bird (a confusing name in same ways as the bird is actually in its second summer - but you know what I mean!)
As a more general comment on molt (and I don't want this to get technical so I'll keep it short) it is well worth remembering that adult Common Terns start molting soon after the breeding season finishes, so by fall they look pretty scruffy, with a mixture of new and old feathers. The molt of primary feathers is started, but then suspended until the birds reach the wintering grounds, resulting in the wing pattern seen in the photos here - a mixture of new inner and old outer primaries as well as new and old feathers elsewhere (note in particular on photo one, the neat row of brand new, pale grey wing coverts in the centre of the wing). In sharp contrast to this, Arctic Terns molt almost no feathers at all until after they migrate south and reach the wintering grounds in the Southern Hemisphere. Thus any molting Common/Arctic Tern in fall really should be a Common.
"Terns, a confusing bunch and perhaps best left alone, unless you want to end up getting into the murky depths of gulls!!! - Mike Crewe"
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Never Quit
Presumably you've noticed the northeaster.
Nonetheless, there are plenty of birds around. Several people remarked to me today about numbers of sparrows in various places. On this morning's Bird Walk for All People, we managed good views of Winter Wren, both kinglets, and detected both Swainson's and Hermit Thrushes along Cambridge a bit west of Coral Avenue in Cape May Point. My eBird list for the morning reached 68 species, including such things as gannets and Parasitic Jaegers in the rips, hordes of Yellow-rumped Warblers of course, a couple Eastern Towhees near the hawkwatch, and a nice mix of ducks on Bunker Pond and Lily Lake. Even a few raptors were moving this morning, including the indomitable Peregrine Falcon (at least one, anyhow, which flipped the feather to the weather and launched across the bay), and multiple Ospreys.
It sort of looks like Sunday afternoon things (meaning the weather) will improve, with steady northwest winds forecast from then until Thursday afternoon. This means a couple things for birders. One is that, although nocturnal migration of songbirds is unlikely in the northeaster, there are birds around Cape May now, and even if large night migrations do not occur, landbirds have this tendency to filter southward, even during the day. They are unlikely to filter across the bay, so perhaps they will accumulate on Cape Island? Okay, so I'm being hopeful, but we'll see.
Raptor migration will be light except the real fliers, like Peregrines. But, seawatching could be very interesting, so trying the Avalon Seawatch, Stone Harbor, or Cape May Point are worthwhile.
And finally, when it does break, hoo boy it should be pretty fun birding.
Nonetheless, there are plenty of birds around. Several people remarked to me today about numbers of sparrows in various places. On this morning's Bird Walk for All People, we managed good views of Winter Wren, both kinglets, and detected both Swainson's and Hermit Thrushes along Cambridge a bit west of Coral Avenue in Cape May Point. My eBird list for the morning reached 68 species, including such things as gannets and Parasitic Jaegers in the rips, hordes of Yellow-rumped Warblers of course, a couple Eastern Towhees near the hawkwatch, and a nice mix of ducks on Bunker Pond and Lily Lake. Even a few raptors were moving this morning, including the indomitable Peregrine Falcon (at least one, anyhow, which flipped the feather to the weather and launched across the bay), and multiple Ospreys.
It sort of looks like Sunday afternoon things (meaning the weather) will improve, with steady northwest winds forecast from then until Thursday afternoon. This means a couple things for birders. One is that, although nocturnal migration of songbirds is unlikely in the northeaster, there are birds around Cape May now, and even if large night migrations do not occur, landbirds have this tendency to filter southward, even during the day. They are unlikely to filter across the bay, so perhaps they will accumulate on Cape Island? Okay, so I'm being hopeful, but we'll see.
Raptor migration will be light except the real fliers, like Peregrines. But, seawatching could be very interesting, so trying the Avalon Seawatch, Stone Harbor, or Cape May Point are worthwhile.
And finally, when it does break, hoo boy it should be pretty fun birding.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Confusing Fall Warbler Clinic
We had quite a warbler show last weekend. Despite the now over-whelming preponderance of Yellow-rumped Warblers in the species mix passing through, all the following species, plus several others, can be found through the end of October at least, of course some more easily than others. All the following photos were taken on Saturday, October 10 2009 - in the same tree (!) in Cape May Point. One general suggestion on fall warblers - virtually all will show at least a muted version of their spring patterns, so if you know them in spring, look for that in fall. That being said, the following species can be a little tricky.
[Know thy common birds. Yellow-rumped Warblers can seem variable, but in the fall they all are quite brown loooking - not green, not yellow, not even gray, really. The are biggish for a warbler, with stout (for warblers) black bills . They sport a dark cheek, white eye-arcs, and coarse streaking on the breast. Some fall birds show the yellow spots on the sides of the breast found on all spring birds, but some do not. Of course, they all have a bright yellow rump, if you can see it. When they fly off you often catch flashes of white from their tail corners, making for a bright going-away view between that and the yellow rump. Yellow-rumpeds call more than other warbler species, and mix their tiup call note with their rising seep flight note. Photo by Don Freiday, click to enlarge.]
[Ah, there we are, a better view of the rump. But beware, other species can show yellowish rumps, including the next one. Photo by Don Freiday, click to enlarge.]
[Get good at this one, too. Another biggish warbler, with breast sometimes gray-brown, sometimes yellow (eastern breeding birds are yellow, though we get more gray ones overall). The signature is of course the yellow undertail coverts, that and the constantly pumping tail. If it's on the ground, especially in the dunes, it's probably a Palm Warbler. This one is obviously in a tree, demonstrating something typical of the later warblers - they are adaptable, feeding in multiple locations and often switching from insects to berries or tree sap. We saw several warblers picking bugs from spider webs. Photograph by Don Freiday, click to enlarge.]
[Believe it or not, this Pine Warbler is a fairly bright individual for fall. Note the yellowish eye-arcs, nearly forming an eye-ring, the murky streaking on the sides of the breast, and the very prominent wing bars. Fall female Pines can be completely without yellow coloration, and have been called Empidonax flycatchers by the unwary who relied on colors without considering shape and behavior. As warblers go, Pines are built like, and tend to move like, musclebound bodybuilders. Photo by Don Freiday.]
[In this photo we can see one thing Pine Warblers don't have, and that is definite streaks on the back, which is helpful information, because with their underparts yellowish towards the front and white towards the back, they can be confused with the next species. . .]
[Know thy common birds. Yellow-rumped Warblers can seem variable, but in the fall they all are quite brown loooking - not green, not yellow, not even gray, really. The are biggish for a warbler, with stout (for warblers) black bills . They sport a dark cheek, white eye-arcs, and coarse streaking on the breast. Some fall birds show the yellow spots on the sides of the breast found on all spring birds, but some do not. Of course, they all have a bright yellow rump, if you can see it. When they fly off you often catch flashes of white from their tail corners, making for a bright going-away view between that and the yellow rump. Yellow-rumpeds call more than other warbler species, and mix their tiup call note with their rising seep flight note. Photo by Don Freiday, click to enlarge.]
[Ah, there we are, a better view of the rump. But beware, other species can show yellowish rumps, including the next one. Photo by Don Freiday, click to enlarge.]
[Get good at this one, too. Another biggish warbler, with breast sometimes gray-brown, sometimes yellow (eastern breeding birds are yellow, though we get more gray ones overall). The signature is of course the yellow undertail coverts, that and the constantly pumping tail. If it's on the ground, especially in the dunes, it's probably a Palm Warbler. This one is obviously in a tree, demonstrating something typical of the later warblers - they are adaptable, feeding in multiple locations and often switching from insects to berries or tree sap. We saw several warblers picking bugs from spider webs. Photograph by Don Freiday, click to enlarge.]
[Believe it or not, this Pine Warbler is a fairly bright individual for fall. Note the yellowish eye-arcs, nearly forming an eye-ring, the murky streaking on the sides of the breast, and the very prominent wing bars. Fall female Pines can be completely without yellow coloration, and have been called Empidonax flycatchers by the unwary who relied on colors without considering shape and behavior. As warblers go, Pines are built like, and tend to move like, musclebound bodybuilders. Photo by Don Freiday.]
[In this photo we can see one thing Pine Warblers don't have, and that is definite streaks on the back, which is helpful information, because with their underparts yellowish towards the front and white towards the back, they can be confused with the next species. . .][. . .which is much longer of wing and more athletic than Pine (note the primary projection) and does have those back streaks. This Blackpoll Warbler is showing the yellow legs and feet that separate it from similar Bay-breasted, but a more visible feature to separate Bay-breasted and Blackpoll is the very white undertail coverts on Blackpoll, which tend to buffy on Bay-breasted. Blackpolls do always have yellow soles to their feet, but not all have legs this bright - time for the very best optics you can get your hands on. Photo by Don Freiday.]
[Fall warblers separate the birders from the bird watchers, at least some of them do. This acrobatic little thing (that it is acrobatic and little are both field marks, separating it from some warblers and all vireos) has a short tail, a white eyebrow and dark eyeline, white-undertail coverts, and a distinctly, and distinctively green back: Tennessee Warbler, photo by Don Freiday. Click to enlarge.]
[Grand finale - Vince Elia called this one a "birder's bird." Field conditions view, we see a short tail, a fine bill, and a yellowish breast with obvious streaking all the way across.]
[Look how mouse-gray the back and crown are - the color is distinctive on fall female Cape May Warblers, the warbler we perhaps get asked most about, since, after all, it is Cape May. Note the bit of green on the rump, which on brighter Cape Mays is yellow. Photo by Don Freiday, click to enlarge.]
[Our Cape May again, front-on. Cape May Warbler bills are very pointy and slightly decurved - compare it with, say, the Yellow-rumped's. Photo by Don Freiday, click to enlarge.]
[Fall warblers separate the birders from the bird watchers, at least some of them do. This acrobatic little thing (that it is acrobatic and little are both field marks, separating it from some warblers and all vireos) has a short tail, a white eyebrow and dark eyeline, white-undertail coverts, and a distinctly, and distinctively green back: Tennessee Warbler, photo by Don Freiday. Click to enlarge.]
[Grand finale - Vince Elia called this one a "birder's bird." Field conditions view, we see a short tail, a fine bill, and a yellowish breast with obvious streaking all the way across.]
[Look how mouse-gray the back and crown are - the color is distinctive on fall female Cape May Warblers, the warbler we perhaps get asked most about, since, after all, it is Cape May. Note the bit of green on the rump, which on brighter Cape Mays is yellow. Photo by Don Freiday, click to enlarge.]
[Our Cape May again, front-on. Cape May Warbler bills are very pointy and slightly decurved - compare it with, say, the Yellow-rumped's. Photo by Don Freiday, click to enlarge.]
Bald Eagle Record, 1000 Peregrine Year
[3 of the 9 Marbled Godwits seen on last night's CMBO Stone Harbor Point walk, with 2 sleeping Western Willets. An annoying Peregrine kept flushing the birds. I also hear 4 Tricolored Herons were seen. Photo by Karl Lukens, click to enlarge.]Come to the hawk watch in the next few days and you can see the record-breaking Bald Eagle, because they are all record-breakers now. Eagle number 341 yesterday was the first to break the single-season record, and by day's end we were up to 353. What a success story that is.
Speaking of success, we've passed another milestone with 1,000 Peregrines for the season so far - that happened several days ago. The record is 1,793, set in 1997, a record we are not likely to break now, since though there are plenty of Peregrines to come we are past the peak for them. Hawk totals through yesterday are up on View from the Field.
The state park was pretty birdy this morning, with CMBO's walk garnering a nice list of 73 species. Karl Lukens noted in his report that there were more sparrows than usual, which jives with what I heard while listening in the dark along the bay. Of 400 flight notes in the hour before first light, aboout half were Yellow-rumped Warblers but most of the rest were sparrows - Song, Savannah, Chipping, Swamp and Field. No thrushes, one American Bittern, a few other warbler species. This was enough nocturnal movement to induce me to go to the dike before work just in case, but we fairly quickly concluded that "it" wasn't happening, it being a major morning flight. Birds were moving, but not thousands. Other state park birds included numbers of both kinglets, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Common Snipe, and American Pipits overhead. The rips had quite a few Northern Gannets and a couple Parasitic Jaegers this morning.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Bird Notes, Including the Tree Swallow Phenomenon
From today's Two Mile Beach walk, courtesy of Chuck and MJ Slugg: "A variety of raptors were hunting the dunes, ponds, and marshes. The Tree Swallows made quite a spectacle swirling in the air and massing on the beach."
I can't believe I forgot to mention this, but yesterday (Monday), right at sunrise as I was setting up to hawk count on the platform, a MASS of Tree Swallows emerged in unison from the South Cape May Meadows to the east, swirled upward in a tight vertical form that looked very much like a tornado, and headed out south, high overhead. The whole thing transpired in less than 5 minutes. I counted 2,000-3,000 with only one quick try (I had to look for hawks at the same time), Pete counted 4,000-6,000 with several tries. This was one of the most impressive bird spectacles I have ever seen.
From yesterday at the meadows/TNC Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge, courtesy of Karl Lukens: "CMBO Morning Walk at the Meadows. Cold, cloudy, and breezy, but also birdy. Lots of Yellow-rumps, and good variety of waterbirds, including a Moorhen, 1 Pintail, and numerous Pied-billed Grebes. A Lesser Black-backed Gull was found on the beach. - Karl (Pete, Chuck, Mary Jane, Marc, Lynne, Steve, David, Tom)"
From Villas WMA and the state park butterfly walk, both on Sunday, courtesy of Kathy Horn: "Highlights of todays Villas WMA walk included a 3rd-year Bald Eagle that soared in, landed on a nearby snag for excellent scope views, then departed by flying directly overhead; the many Palm Warblers that gave views from all angles, patiently teaching us their chips as we walked through them; and the 4 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers that required a bit more effort to 'get on.'
There was also lots to see on todays butterfly and dragonfly walk at the State Park. A fall rosa-form of the common buckeye obligingly showed both wing views. Numerous red admirals were recent arrivals. And a side trip to a local blutterfly garden brought sightings of the less-common sleepy orange and an ocola skipper. "
I can't believe I forgot to mention this, but yesterday (Monday), right at sunrise as I was setting up to hawk count on the platform, a MASS of Tree Swallows emerged in unison from the South Cape May Meadows to the east, swirled upward in a tight vertical form that looked very much like a tornado, and headed out south, high overhead. The whole thing transpired in less than 5 minutes. I counted 2,000-3,000 with only one quick try (I had to look for hawks at the same time), Pete counted 4,000-6,000 with several tries. This was one of the most impressive bird spectacles I have ever seen.
From yesterday at the meadows/TNC Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge, courtesy of Karl Lukens: "CMBO Morning Walk at the Meadows. Cold, cloudy, and breezy, but also birdy. Lots of Yellow-rumps, and good variety of waterbirds, including a Moorhen, 1 Pintail, and numerous Pied-billed Grebes. A Lesser Black-backed Gull was found on the beach. - Karl (Pete, Chuck, Mary Jane, Marc, Lynne, Steve, David, Tom)"
From Villas WMA and the state park butterfly walk, both on Sunday, courtesy of Kathy Horn: "Highlights of todays Villas WMA walk included a 3rd-year Bald Eagle that soared in, landed on a nearby snag for excellent scope views, then departed by flying directly overhead; the many Palm Warblers that gave views from all angles, patiently teaching us their chips as we walked through them; and the 4 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers that required a bit more effort to 'get on.'
There was also lots to see on todays butterfly and dragonfly walk at the State Park. A fall rosa-form of the common buckeye obligingly showed both wing views. Numerous red admirals were recent arrivals. And a side trip to a local blutterfly garden brought sightings of the less-common sleepy orange and an ocola skipper. "