BirdCapeMay.org

[If only Common Grackles were 6 feet tall and carried snow shovels. Del Haven yesterday, click to enlarge photos.]

If Mike Crewe hadn't been so busy of late shoveling and dealing with lack of power, he would have posted his photos of the two Eastern Meadowlarks at his feeder, undoubtedly driven out of the Cape Island fields of Higbee/Hidden Valley. They are my pick for the "best" feeder birds on Cape Island born of the recent storm - sad though it is to see birds challenged so.

Michael O'Brien and Louise Zemaitis have had a couple nice feeder/yard birds on Cape Island similary storm-forced, with Eastern Phoebe and Chipping Sparrows included yesterday.

CMBO-CRE in Goshen is finally plowed and shovelled out, and hosted Brown Thrasher, Gray Catbird and Eastern Towhee at the feeders today.

Truth is, other than Mike Fritz's report of a nice mixed bag of alcids off NJ (but north of Cape May) while mackeral fishing pre-storm, the only non-feeder reports coming in have just a few roadside birds - including poor American Woodcock, all around the Cape, how they will survive I don't know, especially in light of another snowfall forecast for tomorrow.

In other news, the Cape May "team" - birders collected at one of the few houses Sunday that had both functioning electricity and cable - garnished a meager 10 bird species during the Superbowl, including Peregrine, Red-tailed, and some sort of vocalization flashed in the background of a commercial (yes, these are TV birds we're talking about) that was part Indigo Bunting, Yellow Warbler, or maybe something completely different. . .can't say our senses were at full faculty at the time. . .

As of Monday evening, my advice for would-be visitors to Cape May Point is - think twice before making the journey, at least over the next couple of days. The snow might look pretty but there's still a lot of homes with no power at all after three days (including ours!) and some streets in town still have power lines down across the road. The blizzard that hit us on Saturday looks like it was the worst in living memory and - on top of that - another similar day of bad weather is forecast for Wednesday.

At present the CMBO Northwood Center remains closed; this morning we managed to fight our way in, sadly discovering that a number of our Red Cedars that line the entrance steps had succumbed under the weight of snow and snapped in two. We had to cut a couple to get in.

Birds seem to be riding the weather reasonably well. I've not heard of any signs of birds being found suffering from starvation, though the local American Woodocks may well be the first to succumb - I saw several wandering aimlessly on Sunset Boulevard today. There are plenty of feeders in the area and it's important - now that we've produced an artifically high bird population by feeding - that we maintain all feeders as best we can.

Stay warm and stay healthy and we'll keep you posted on how Wednesday develops.

CMBO's Northwood Center will be CLOSED today due to the heavy snow and power outage, and will be closed tomorrow in accord with normal winter hours. Be sure to check here or call ahead if you plan to stop by Northwood this week to make sure we've been able to reopen. Northwood's normal winter hours are Wednesday to Monday 9:30 to 4:30, closed Tuesdays.

CMBO's Center for Research and Education is open Tuesday through Saturday 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., closed Sundays and Mondays. We're busy shoveling and the plow truck has gotten itself stuck in the parking lot at the moment, but we currently anticipate being able to open as usual tomorrow.

[Fox Sparrow, Del Haven (10 miles north of Cape May on the Bay) today. "This, the largest of our sparrows, seems to be a regular transient in March and November while a varying number remain through the winter." (Stone, 1937) Click to enlarge all photos.]

20+" of snow fell, and it falls still. Birds rained on the feeders today, and, now that the power's back on, we can let Witmer Stone cast wise light on the scene. A re-read of his 1937 classic was overdue - what better for a birder to do in a Cape May blizzard, in between laying on the floor and poking the camera's nose out the dog door towards the feeders?

[The two Sandhill Cranes continue along Seashore Road/Broadway on Cape Island, photographed here by Joe Brennan.]

Michael O'Brien, on his way back from Florida's Space Coast Birding festival, had 5 Razorbills from the Cape May Lewes Ferry today, 2 in NJ waters.

Bob Brown gave me a call to report the Virginia Rail still at the Beanery this morning, along with a few Rusty Blackbirds. Bob had the cranes on Seashore a bit south of the mailbox with 1062 on it.

Chris Hajduk reports from the Poverty Beach area: "Double digits of both loons, Red-breasted Mergansers, Long-tails, Bufflehead, and Great Cormorants. The King Eider is still present and is actually closer to Poverty. Still a long scope though. No Harlequins. Long-tailed Ducks are calling and displaying in Cape May Harbor. Buffleheads doing their bobbing and weaving also. Actually experienced two new things today. Heard the call of a Red-throated Loon several times (the ocean is quiet today). Also saw two Common Loons in a confrontation. Mostly posturing with wings spread, neck arched up with head pointed down. One eventually dove and swam away."

[This Boat-tailed Grackle sang merrily along Pierce's Point Road this morning, probably not oblivous to the approaching storm but certainly acting that way. Click to enlarge photos.]

Weather and radar guru David LaPuma (now a colleague here at CMBO-CRE working in the research department) and I were talking about the approaching weather and its potential effect on seawatching. David noted the strong southerly flow up the Atlantic coast as the low approaches, and then a strong easterly and finally northeasterly flow right into our region through Sunday AM. He theorized this could/should push whatever is offshore closer to shore over the next few days, and could bring more southerly pelagics into the region and close to the coast. We're thinking about alcids primarily here. Predicting seabird movements is confounded by a huge array of variables, including especially food availability and tides, and as David noted this is all a gigantic "maybe."

Birders, including me, have a tendency to think that seawatching from shore might be most interesting with east winds, hoping birds will be pushed close to shore. My experience is frankly that that seldom happens, or if it does the viewing conditions are so difficult we don't see them! The best seawatching seems to happen when the conditions are good for viewing, especially when those conditions coincide with some unique food availability like baitfish concentrated in the rips off Cape May, or migrating menhaden or mullet. Hurricane birds, of course, are a whole 'nother subject.

This might all be moot, since we might not be able to get to the shore to look for the next day or two!

John Steiger contacted me to let me know the eagles he photographed (below) were not the Avalon birds, or at least they weren't along the Avalon Causeway. They were photographed about 9 miles farther south, along Wildwood Blvd. between the George Reading Bridge leaving Wildwood and Rio Grande. They were on the first of the three Osprey nests on the right just before the entrance to the parkway at Exit 4

Will Kerling called to report the two Cape Island Sandhill Cranes were foraging in someone's driveway off Seashore Road/Broadway south of the West Cape May bridge.

A Red-tailed Hawk soaring with a fresh pine bough in its talons highlighted my lunchtime walk on Reed's Beach Road, and a Mourning Dove cooed a full, long song. Yesterday a Northern Cardinal was in full song at Beaver Swamp. Spring's coming.

Hotline: Cape May Birding Hotline
To Report: call (609) 884-2736, or email sightingsATbirdcapemay.org
Coverage: Cape May, Cumberland and Atlantic Counties , NJ
Compiler: David Lord, Cape May Bird Observatory with additions by Don Freiday
URL: http://www.njaudubon.org ; http://www.birdcapemay.org

This is the Cape May Birding Hotline, a service of New Jersey Audubon Society's Cape May Bird Observatory. This week's message was prepared on Thursday, February 4, 2010. Highlights this week include sightings of GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE, KING EIDER, HOUSE WREN, EURASIAN WIGEON, REDHEAD, EASTERN PHOEBE, ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK, VIRGINIA RAIL, RUSTY BLACKBIRD, and an announcement about the cancelled Cumberland County Eagle Festival.

-For up-to-the-minute Cape May sightings information, photos and downloadable birding maps and checklist of Cape May, visit www.birdcapemay.org . Follow review list sightings and spectacles on www.twitter.com/CMBObirds -

A GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE was found in the Tuckahoe WMA impoundments in Northern Cape May County on Thursday, January 28th, 2010. It has not been relocated since the initial sighting.

An EASTERN PHOEBE was seen on a roadside pond near 4065 Bayshore Road on Cape Island on Tuesday February 2nd, 2010

A HOUSE WREN was seen along Sunset Boulevard in Cape May on Sunday, January 30, 2010.

The immature male KING EIDER continues at the Coast Guard Jetty in Cape May (private beach but viewable from a great distance by looking north from Poverty Beach) last reported Monday, February 1st, 2010

Two drake EURASIAN WIGEON and a drake REDHEAD continue on Lily Lake in Cape May Point through Wednesday, February 3, 2010.

A light-morph ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK was seen at the Corbin City WMA from the tower on Sunday, January 31, 2010.

A VIRGINIA RAIL has been seen several times this week in the pool of open water west of Bayshore Road near the railroad tracks at the Beanery. A flock of RUSTY BLACKBIRDS is also there. Be sure to eBIRD all your Rusty Blackbird sightings this month for the Rusty Blackbird Blitz.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The Cumberland County Eagle festival scheduled for Saturday, February 6 has been cancelled due to expected severe weather. Next year's festival will be Saturday, February 5, 2011.

CMBO is offering a special to new and upgraded membership renewals. Join CMBO for the first time or upgrade from Individual or Family to The Hundred and receive Charley Harper's Migration Mainline- Cape May lithograph poster, valued at $50. Call either CMBO center to ask an associate about joining today!

******CMBO Bookstore WINTER HOURS are as follows: Northwood Center on East Lake Drive in Cape May Point is open Wednesday through Monday, 9:30am to 4:30pm; closed Tuesdays. The Center for Research and Education on Rt. 47 in Goshen is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9:30am to 4:30pm; closed Mondays and Tuesdays. ******

The Cape May Birding Hotline is a service of the New Jersey Audubon Society's Cape May Bird Observatory and details sightings from Cape May, Cumberland and Atlantic Counties. Updates are made weekly. Please report sightings of rare or unusual birds to CMBO at 609-884-2736. Sponsorship for this hotline comes from the support of CMBO members and business members, and should you not be a member, we cordially invite you to join. Individual membership is $39 per year; $49 for families. You can call either center to become a member or visit. Become a member in person and you'll receive a FREE gift (in addition to member discounts in the stores).

Good Luck and Good Birding!

[This pair of Bald Eagles was along Wildwood Blvd. between the George Reading Bridge leaving Wildwood and Rio Grande. They were on the first of the three Osprey nests on the right just before the entrance to the parkway at Exit 4. Photographed this morning by John Steiger.]

Eagles, eagles everywhere, even without an eagle festival. We'll see them for sure on the Wintering Hawks, Eagles and Owls workshop February 13-15 ( follow the link and scroll down to the workshop list), which has only four openings left.

This morning I walked the North Wildwood seawall overlooking Hereford Inlet, which was unusually sparse in the bird department compared to my last visit. Less than 10 ducks, less than 5 loons, less than 10 Sanderlings, only 1 Black-bellied Plover and that was a flyover, not even 50 gulls. Negative data is still data, so you have to ask about the scarcity, what's up with that?

The best explanation is probably the tide, in this case low tide, which means birds in the coastal system could go wherever they wanted to roost, probe, or find a shallow dive to food. Or maybe food is depleted in Hereford Inlet, so the birds are feeding elsewhere.

An alternative explanation is simple math: in North America, wildlife populations reach their low ebb in late winter/early spring, since no new animals are being recruited (born/hatched) and they've been dying since last summer. Annual mortality in birds is startling high, especially for young of the year, exceeding 75% for first year birds in some species.

A lone American Pipit foraged in a melted patch on the dunes, and an "Ipswich" Savannah Sparrow sat atop some bayberry bushes giving its flight note, which seemed to be "thicker" - more modulated or buzzy) and less descending than a "normal" Savannah's seep. Seemed. This flight call bit is sometimes splitting hairs. You only hear a few calls at a time in winter, so it's a good time to practice.

The other landbirds of interest were robins in periodic waves coming from North Wildwood (or offshore?) and flying northwest, maybe 1,000 in total. What they were doing, I don't know.

Due to the approaching storm system, we have been forced to cancel the Cumberland County Eagle Festival scheduled for this Saturday, February 6. Opportunities to see Bald Eagles in southern New Jersey still abound this winter, including on many of CMBO's Field Trips.

In fact, there's a viewable eagle nest just up the road from CMBO's center on Route 47 in Goshen, at Beaver Swamp WMA, where I see eagles every day. The nest at Beaver Swamp is so huge that the incubating female is sometimes invisible, or only the top of her head will be sticking up. If we get the 12-20 inches of snow forecast for Friday-Saturday, you wouldn't want to drive down the road into the WMA for quite a few days after.

In other news, Mike Crewe had the King Eider at Poverty Beach, I think that was Monday, and found an Eastern Phoebe by a roadside pond near 4065 Bayshore Road on Cape Island yesterday. This morning an American Kestrel flew north over Kimble's Beach Road.

Wanted: Ivory Gull remembrances. More specifically, we're looking for 1) a birder less than 18 years old who came to see the Ivory Gull last November, and 2) a birder of any age who traveled a long distance from out of state (or country) to see it. Both are invited to join a small cadre of noteable observers to write a ~ 500 word essay on the bird and the impact it had on the writer and in general. The resulting works will be published in the Peregrine Observer, CMBO's annual journal for members, beginning with an interview with Jim Dowdell, who discovered the bird, and including a selection of Ivory Gull photos.

Anyone meeting one of the above criteria who is interested in contributing, or who knows a likely candidate, please send an email by clicking the link at the top of this page for reporting sightings. Initially please just let us know you are interested and offer a bit of information on what you might say. Since we have no idea how many people may respond, please don't be disappointed if we are unable to use your thoughts.

[This Virginia Rail is weathering the cold at the Beanery, of late forced into the patch of open water on the west side of Bayshore Road near the railroad track crossing. Photo by Karl Lukens, click to enlarge.]

Karl Lukens sent the following report from yesterday around Cape May Point: "Most all the ducks were on Lily Lake today (the only open water around) with the Redhead and Eurasian Wigeon among them. 6 Tundra Swans still on frozen Bunker pond. Lots of Fox Sparrows in the yard and at the State Park. 4 Horned Larks at the edge of the main Runway at the Cape May County Airport, but could find no Pipits, maybe better when there are some grassy edges . While looking for the Rusty Blackbirds at the watery area near the old Railroad crossing on Bayshore N of the Beanery on the west side, I lucked into the Virginia Rail that Mike Crewe reported there earlier. Not bad for a snow covered day in Cape May."

I'll say not bad!

This morning I poked around Jake's Landing and Old Robbin's Trail. At the horse farm near where Old Robbin's Trail runs off Route 47, sparrows had concentrated under cedars where the horses had cleared patches of ground. Continuing the Fox Sparrows everywhere theme, in a single scan I did an actual count of 25 Fox Sparrows, not a record-breaking number but still pretty significant. Five or ten more were on Jake's Landing Road where it meets the marsh, and a first year Bald Eagle was perched in the snags on the right as you head out the road, and a single American Pipit flew over the marsh.

[The sign says it all. Chuck and MJ Slugg do a great job with CMBO's bulletin boards, like this one at the Beanery. Photo by Roger Horn, click to enlarge all photos.]

Though there's a limit to how much "car birding" I can stand, yesterday was a good day to slowly drive back roads, looking for birds forced to forage along the roadside by 10" of snow. Today, I bet, will be even better - for those who have it off.

Yesterday, starting at the Cape May County Airport off Breakwater Road, Horned Larks foraged on the newly plowed runways, and a small flock of American Pipits fed among mud clods kicked up by the plows along access roads. Multiple Hermit Thrushes and the common sparrows were easy to find there, too.