BirdCapeMay.org

In prep for CMBO's coming workshop at Bombay Hook (there's still room - click on Programs & Events and then on School of Birding for more info, or call 609.861.0700 to sign up), I rode the Cape May-Lewes Ferry early this morning and drove up to Bombay Hook to scout things out.

I was hoping for pelagic species from the ferry, but the best I could do were 4 Wilson's Storm-petrels. A few shearwaters have been around Cape May Point, but the wind this morning was very calm, not the sort of conditions to entice dynamic-soaring tubenoses to move around.

Bombay Hook NWR was terrific as always. It's a delight to climb up the observation toward at Raymond Pool and find dozens of American Avocets and Black-necked Stilts waiting. At Tyalor's Gut (Woodland Beach Wildlife Refuge), a Ruff had been discovered by other birders (thanks go out to Sandra Keller for letting me in on it), and the flocks of dowitchers, yellowlegs, Semi-palmated Sandpipers and Least Sandpipers were well-laced with Western Sandpipers. The Westerns are easy to pick out at this time of year, since they still are in good plumage, sporting many rufous-edged scapulars and plenty of spots below. I suspect most of the Westerns I saw were females, typical early in the season, since most had bills at the long end of the spectrum.

Here is a list of some of the more exciting birds reported to the Northwood Center today.

All birds observed at the Cape May point State Park.

Red-headed woodpecker- 1 adult and 1 imm.
Bobolink- 5+
Gull-billed tern- 1
Lesser yellowlegs- 8
Short-billed dowitcher- 6
Solitary sandpiper- 3
Spotted sandpiper- 2

On 7/13/07 from the Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge

Cory's shearwater- 3

There was no report of the Roseate spoonbill at Brigantine NWR today.

Well this morning I wanted to finally see what the new and improved Nature Conservancy's Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge was all about. Those of you who have visited Cape May in the last 6-8 months will remember that this area had been closed off due to a habitat restoration project that was taking place. Many of you know this area as the South Cape May Meadows or simply the "Meadows."







This is a looking S-SSE from the east trail up near the bend in the trail turning away from Sunset Blvd. In other words I am walking toward the beach at this point. Still needs some water.
You have to get a shot of the Cape May Lighthouse.

Here's a view from atop the new raised platform which is nice and high, gives a great 360 view of the property. This is looking in the same direction as two pictures back- SSE.

A couple of Black-crowned night-herons joined the group looking for a few morsels.

This is by far one of my worst digiscoping attempts. But see if you can find the Short-billed dowicthers in the photo. They are not evident here but Least sandpiper, Great and Lesser yellowlegs, Killdeer and Solitary sandpiper were also near by.

Headed out to the beach to see what was out on the sand. Another view of the lighthouse.

Pretty much all of the Piping plover nests that will hatch, have. While I didn't spy any little fluff balls running around I did happen to find this bird relaxing in the sun.

That doesn't mean that the beach was devoid of chicks. While I didn't see any piping plover chicks I did find these. Can you guess what species these are?

Give up? Ok, I'll take it easy on you. After all this isn't the photo quiz section but you should still check that part of the site out as well.

Ok, here's the adult but I'm still going to make you identify the bird on your own.

Heading back up toward Sunset Blvd. on the west trail side, view looking north-westish.

There were a couple of passerine migrants in evidence, a couple of Yellow warblers flew over at about 8:45 along the dunes. I also have it on good authority that there was an adult and imm. Redheaded woodpecker at the Cape May Point State Park this morning.

Some of the last birds I found were a Green heron and another snowy on the west trail.

Birds observed at the CMMBR this morning in no particular order;

Snowy egret- approx. 90

Great egret- approx 10

Great blue heron- approx. 4-5

Green heron

Glossy ibis- 2

Black-crowned night-heron -2

Least Sandpiper- a few

Short-billed dowitcher- approx. 10

Solitary sandpiper- at least one

Killdeer- many

Greater yellowlegs

Lesser yellowlegs

Common tern

Forster's tern

Least tern

Piping plover

Laughing gull

Herring gull

Great black-backed gull

Yellow warbler

Well, today is a special day indeed. You might be asking yourself why I would think that Friday the 13th. is a special day. Personally, I don't see the day as all that unlucky. In fact I asked my wife to marry me on a Friday the 13th......and she said yes!



But today is lucky in different way. How? Well today, we bring you this most excellent web site you are currently viewing. That's why the day is lucky for you.



For me the day is lucky because I finally was able to get some of the best views you could ever hope to have of a Chuck-wills-widow. After about three weeks or so of being quiet the Chuck-wills-widow which resides somewhere in the vicinity of our back yard decided to start calling again last night. The problem was that he would call once and then be quiet for 15 min. or more. Try as I may with the failing light in the evening I was never able to locate the bird. It doesn't matter whether you have the most expensive or least expensive binoculars in the world, there is a finite amount of light available for gathering at any given point in the day. The expensive binoculars just help the world stay brighter a little longer.



What made getting up early this morning worth it was the fact that in the morning the light is working with you. Ever so slightly the daylight is getting brighter and brighter. So when I heard the Chuck-wills-widow call around 5:15 a.m. I sat out on the back porch and tried to put the biting mosquitoes in the background. After a few frustrating minutes I saw a brownish flash in the cleared lot next to our house and then a whitish flash of the tail as the bird came to rest atop a broken off tree next door. This was the view I had been waiting years for. I've actually seen Chuck's once, briefly in a flash of light, in a property behind my parent's house in Florida; this was of course before the land was cleared for a housing development. But now, this bird is calling in my own backyard.



For the next half hour we enjoyed stellar views of the Chuck-wills-widow as it flew around in and out of the trees in the next door property and even with in about 20 yards of us in our own parcel. These birds in particular have always fascinated me being that we seem to know so little about their life histories. This is one of the reasons we named our World Series of Birding team the Steiner/CMBO Northwood Nightjars. After all, how often do you get to study a Chuck-wills-widow in flight?



Another interesting observation we made was the groaning, croaking noise the bird was making. More often then not is signaled it's return to hunting by emitting this croaking noise I could only liken it to hearing a very distant Black-crowned night-heron. It also had a slightly higher pitched similar sounding croaking call it made. Having spent a very limited time with this species these noises were new to me. My question, do these noises pertain to the mate? In other words, was this bird "talking" to a female or even chicks (probably not chicks since all information I could find indicates that the female of this species does all of the parenting work)? At one point it landed on the ground and moved around, I couldn't see it but could hear it moving. How exciting would it be to actually have this species nest with in sight of our house. Chances are it was just moving about in search of more to eat.



All in all one of the most exciting birding experiences I have ever had.



Since I was up and about early I figured that I'd take a quick spin around Higbee's Beach WMA before I headed in to the Northwood Center. I can't say that had anything as exciting as my early morning experience but the local breeders were in evidence this morning. A partial list of species observed from my quick jaunt is below. I also have heard word that the breeding Prtothonotary warblers at the Beanery (Rea's Farm) were singing this morning. As well, a Northern bobwhite was heard in the vicinity of the Beanery.





Not in any particular order;



Carolina chickadee

Tufted titmouse

White-eye vireo

Indigo bunting

Brown thrasher

Orchard oriole

Great-crested flycatcher

Eastern kingbird

Barn swallow

Carolina wren- quite boisterous this morning as usual

Yellow-breasted chat

Common yellow-throat

Field sparrow- also quite boisterous this morning

You have reached 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 July 12, 2007. Highlights this week include sightings of ROSEATE SPOONBILL, CORY’S SHEARWATER, SANDWICH TERN, GULL-BILLED TERN, RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, STILT SANDPIPER, LARK SPARROW and SWAMP SPARROW.

ANNOUNCEMENT:

We are please to announce that on Friday, July 13th, CMBO will be launching it’s new, dynamic website; www.BirdCapeMay.org. This site promises to be a virtual Cape May if you will. With daily to semi-daily sightings reports you can log on to see what is happening in Cape May in real time. Now, you can bird Cape May every day.


Now for the hotline;

An immature ROSEATE SPOONBILL was discovered at Brigantine NWR today, 7/12. The bird was viewed from the end of the gull pond tower road in the freshwater marsh to the east. Additional viewing points to try and look for the bird include the north dike before it leaves the wetland section and the bridge just before the iron tire spikes. NWR staff has opened a small portion of the dike road that extends east from the gull pond tower for viewing, as of the time of compilation of this report. This is a second state record of this species in New Jersey.

A CORY’S SHEARWATER was observed from Alexander Ave. in Cape May Point on 7/11.

On 7/8 two adult SANDWICH TERNS were on Champagne Island in and amongst the nesting ROYAL TERNS.

Three GULL-BILLED TERNS were on Bunker Pond at the Cape May point State Park on 7/11.

As of 7/8 one RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH continued at a private feeder in the Villas.

A STILT SANDPIPER was seen on the CMBO walk this morning, 7/12, at the Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge (CMMBR.)

An unusual find was a LARK SPARROW at Brigantine NWR on 7/6. There has been no further report of this bird since its initial sighting.

On 7/7 a SWAMP SPARROW was also observed at the CMMBR.
CMBO Bookstore hours are as follows; Northwood Center on East Lake Drive in Cape May Point; summer hours, Wednesday- Monday 9:30-4:30. The Northwood Center will be closed on Tuesdays. The Center for Research and Education on Rt. 47 in Goshen is open Tuesday- Sunday 9:30- 4:30. At least one CMBO center will be open everyday to serve our members needs.


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 $35 per year; $45 for families. You can call either center to become a member or visit. Become a member in person and you’ll receive your choice of a FREE gift (in addition to member discount in the stores).

Good Luck and Good Birding!

This morning's "Bird Walk for All People" at Cape May Point State Park was highlighted by an absolutely stunning Stilt Sandpiper, which dropped into Bunker Pond directly in front of the group, landing next to a Short-billed Dowitcher for some nice comparisons. Second in the highlight department was the Eastern Kingbird constructing a nest, fairly exposed at the top of a bayberry bush along the path to the plover ponds. I guess Eastern Kingbirds can afford to be exposed, brazen as they are.

Laughing Gulls pursued Purple Martins returning to the colony, forcing the martins to drop their prey, which seemed to consist mostly of dragonflies. Also of interest were the 10+ Great Blue Herons, an apparent migratory movement.

An excellent morning indeed. The complete list is below.

Location: Cape May Point SP
Observation date: 7/12/07
Notes: First "Bird Walk for All People," with Bert Hixon and Patty Rourke and a crew of folks.
Number of species: 43
Canada Goose 10
Mute Swan 25
Mallard 50
Northern Bobwhite 1
Great Blue Heron 10 May have been more, several groups seemed to arrive in Cape May Point, settle, and fly again. First significant Great Blue movement I've observed this year.
Great Egret 5
Snowy Egret 1
Black Vulture 1
Turkey Vulture 10
Osprey 6
Cooper's Hawk 1 A juvenile perched in the tree line, likely from the local nest.
Killdeer 2
Greater Yellowlegs 5
Lesser Yellowlegs 15
Least Sandpiper 15
Stilt Sandpiper 1 Plopped down into Bunker Pond.
Short-billed Dowitcher 20
Laughing Gull 100
Herring Gull 10
Great Black-backed Gull 2
Common Tern 20
Forster's Tern 5
Least Tern 30
Black Skimmer 1
Rock Pigeon 10
Mourning Dove 4
Eastern Kingbird 2 Building a nest in a bayberry, about 10' up, fairly exposed at 12 o clock in the bush. Brought frayed string to the nest as we watched.
Purple Martin 40
Tree Swallow 2
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 8
Barn Swallow 12
House Wren 1
American Robin 10
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling 4
Common Yellowthroat 1
Northern Cardinal 1
Indigo Bunting 1
Red-winged Blackbird 20
Common Grackle 10
Brown-headed Cowbird 10
House Finch 2
House Sparrow 8
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)