BirdCapeMay.org

Michael O'Brien checked the state park this morning and said overall shorebird numbers were low but the Baird's Sandpiper was still at Bunker Pond.

Karl Lukens reports the following.

From the meadows /TNC Migratory Bird Refuge Friday night: "Shorebirds are down and water level is up but we did get most of the usual suspects. A couple more ducks showed up including 1 Am. Wigeon, 1 Shoveler, with 2 Blue-wing Teal. 3 Black Terns and 15 Royals in addition to the Common, Forster's and dwindling Leasts were observed.We were also swarmed by ~1000 Tree Swallows."

From the Beanery /Rea Farm this morning: "This morning was rather slow for land birds but we did come up with enough to keep us interested. A female Dickcissel at the winery fence in the back field gave everyone a good look, and 3-4 Blue Grosbeaks were also seen, as well as a Prothonotary Warbler and several Hummingbirds.The Prothonotary was last seen chasing a Baltimore Oriole across the field. A Black-crowned Night-Heron, and 3 Green Herons were also observed."

Karl's full Meadows and Beanery lists are below:

SPECIES SEEN ~ CMBO TRIP
8/24/2007 ~ in Meadow ~ New Jersey Checklist ~ 53 seen
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Great Blue Heron 3
Great Egret 2
Snowy Egret 1
Green Heron 4
Mute Swan 4
Canada Goose 30
American Wigeon 1
Mallard 20
Blue-winged Teal 2
Northern Shoveler 1
Turkey Vulture 1
American Oystercatcher 2
Semipalmated Plover 15
Piping Plover 3
Short-billed Dowitcher 3
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Greater Yellowlegs 2
Lesser Yellowlegs 6
Ruddy Turnstone 6
Sanderling 50
Semipalmated Sandpiper 2
Least Sandpiper 8
Stilt Sandpiper 1
Ring-billed Gull 6
Great Black-backed Gull 35
American Herring Gull 10
Laughing Gull 60
Royal Tern 15
Least Tern 10
Black Tern 3
Common Tern 50
Forster's Tern 10
Rock Pigeon 8
Mourning Dove 6
Chimney Swift 6
Eastern Kingbird 2
Tree Swallow 1000
Purple Martin 20
Barn Swallow 10
Carolina Wren 2
Gray Catbird 1
Northern Mockingbird 2
American Robin 1
American Crow 1
European Starling 10
House Sparrow 20
House Finch 5
American Goldfinch 2
Yellow Warbler 1
Northern Cardinal 2
Red-winged Blackbird 8
Common Grackle 1
Brown-headed Cowbird 3



SPECIES SEEN ~ CMBO TRIP
8/25/2007 ~ in Beanery ~ New Jersey Checklist ~ 41 seen

Great Egret 1
Green Heron 3
Black-crowned Night-Heron 1
Canada Goose 30
Mallard 8
Great Black-backed Gull 1
American Herring Gull 1
Laughing Gull 8
Forster's Tern 2
Rock Pigeon 15
Mourning Dove 20
Chimney Swift 3
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Downy Woodpecker 4
Tree Swallow 15
Purple Martin 4
Barn Swallow 5
Cedar Waxwing 6
Carolina Wren 6
Gray Catbird 1
Northern Mockingbird 1
American Robin 4
Carolina Chickadee 3
Tufted Titmouse 1
American Crow 3
Fish Crow 1
European Starling 20
House Sparrow 20
House Finch 5
American Goldfinch 5
Prothonotary Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 2
Northern Cardinal 3
Blue Grosbeak 4
Dickcissel 1
Bobolink 4
Red-winged Blackbird 10
Common Grackle 12
Brown-headed Cowbird 5
Baltimore Oriole 3

[The sleeping bird in the center of this photo, digiscoped backlit at 20 power, was one of the "final exam" quiz birds for our workshop. Click to enlarge - and can you identify it and the surrounding species? After three days of practice, most of the participants could. Photo by Don Freiday].


CMBO's Cape May School of Birding Shorebird Workshop finished today with 30 shorebird (sandpiper and plover) species over the three days of the workshop, and a whole lot of fun was had by all. The Roseate Spoonbill flyby at 8:45 this morning at Brig, from the gull tower, was certainly appreciated by all participants (and myself and Michael O'Brien, since it was a state lifer all around) even if it didn't add to the shorebird list.

I had been wondering if we'd encounter Hudsonian Godwit, given the northeasterly flow and rain for the past few days, and got that wish - sort of. Two Hudwits flew over the south dike at Brig, headed north and calling. Unfortunately not everyone got on them in time, but there was much else to see. Hudsonian Godwits usually migrate to South America by leaving the northeast and flying south across the Atlantic Ocean, so rain and east winds are good conditions to see them.

[Here's an easier chance at the quiz species from above - White-rumped Sandpiper, top center, Photo by Don Freiday. ]


Brigantine was loaded with shorebirds (full list below), especially on our second pass around, when the tide was nearing high and all the salt marsh mud flats and beaches were covered with water. Western Sandpipers piled into the impoundments, and we also extracted 5 Red Knots, a species I feared we had missed for the workshop.

[Red Knot scratching it's chin. Perhaps it's wondering how to age Western Sandpipers. . .Photo by Don Freiday.]






As we worked on our quiz white-rumped, we also picked out backlit Western Sandpipers from the nearby flocks. Michael hazarded that one of them, because it was slender, was a juvenile, which shows you just how far birding by shape and size can take you.

Our Brig list follows; scroll down to see the results from the past two days. Lots of birds, lots of laughing, lots of learning.

Location: E B Forsythe NWR
Observation date: 8/24/07
Notes: CMBO's Shorebird Workshop. With Michael O'Brien. Counts are VERY rough.
Number of species: 74
Canada Goose 50
Wood Duck 2
American Black Duck 50
Mallard 25
Northern Shoveler 10
Green-winged Teal 40
Double-crested Cormorant 200
Great Blue Heron 5
Great Egret 25
Snowy Egret 25
Black-crowned Night-Heron 1
Glossy Ibis 25
Roseate Spoonbill 1 First or second year
Turkey Vulture 5
Osprey 10
Northern Harrier 2
Cooper's Hawk 1 Can't swear this wasn't a Sharpie.
Peregrine Falcon 2
Clapper Rail 5
Common Moorhen 1
Black-bellied Plover 400
Semipalmated Plover 400
American Oystercatcher 20
Greater Yellowlegs 100
Lesser Yellowlegs 100
Willet 5 1 western, 2 juv eastern, 2 u eastern
Spotted Sandpiper 5
Whimbrel 5
Hudsonian Godwit 2 flyovers heading north, may have landed. RElated to northeasterly flow?
Ruddy Turnstone 5
Red Knot 5
Semipalmated Sandpiper 3000
Western Sandpiper 500
Least Sandpiper 50
White-rumped Sandpiper 50 1 adult was nearly full breeding plumage
Stilt Sandpiper 20
Short-billed Dowitcher 800 a few already full winter - lighter gray than long-billeds
Long-billed Dowitcher 50 all adults. Tended to cluster. Wing molt usually evident.
Laughing Gull 500
Herring Gull 700
Great Black-backed Gull 100
Gull-billed Tern 10 several juveniles
Caspian Tern 2
Common Tern 2
Forster's Tern 150
Black Tern 2
Black Skimmer 75
Mourning Dove 10
Eastern Kingbird 5
Fish Crow 50
Tree Swallow 300
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 10
Bank Swallow 10
Carolina Wren 5
Marsh Wren 2
American Robin 5
Northern Mockingbird 5
European Starling 5
Cedar Waxwing 5
Yellow Warbler 10
Common Yellowthroat 5

Sharp-tailed Sparrow sp. 1 If Sibley's right that juv's of this species have few streaks and are brighter than Salt-marsh, then this looked plumage-wise like a Nelson's. However, Michael O'Brien noted, "the juv sharp-tailed sparrow we were looking at looked and sounded like a Saltmarsh to me. The degree of breast streaking is more variable than Sibley indicates and they are often very bright. In terms of bill shape and size (the only solid structural feature I know of), it looked like a Saltmarsh to me. This is probably an under-appreciated ID problem that deserves more attention. For now, though, there's no evidence that Nelson's should be in NJ for another 3-4 weeks."

Seaside Sparrow 10
Song Sparrow 5
Northern Cardinal 1
Blue Grosbeak 1
Bobolink 20
Red-winged Blackbird 300
Eastern Meadowlark 5
Boat-tailed Grackle 10
Brown-headed Cowbird 10
House Finch 5
American Goldfinch 5
House Sparrow 5
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

I was just speaking with Laura the other day about posting that we are working on integrating the new eBird Rare Bird Google Gadget on BirdCapeMay (many of you might have seen this featured as a top story on www.birdingonthe.net).

Now I find out that it's done! Look above this post, click the link and you will be directed to the new gadget which will help to keep you informed of up to the minute rare bird sightings. The default has been set to focus on New Jersey.

So, this is our latest effort in bring you the most innovative birding site available. Keep visiting as we are working on a number of other aspects, which are sure to please.

If you want more info about eBird or the how the new gadget works, use the link provided below.
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/Google_Gadget.html

We began day two of CMBO's Shorebird Workshop at the base of the free bridge from Stone Harbor to Nummy Island, on the Nummy Island side, hoping to extract godwits and who knows what else. "We" means me and Michael O'Brien, plus a cast of fun and already quite skilled participants. Leading a shorebird workshop with Michael is a privelege - he wrote the book, literally (The Shorebird Guide, co-authored by Richard Crossley and Kevin Karlson) - and I find myself learning as well as teaching.

Three Marbled Godwits fed on the shoreline across Great Channel, with many dowitchers and other species, but we missed Red Knot, and that means we'll probably miss it for the workshop unless we find one at Brigantine tomorrow, which I've done before but only rarely. The only eastern Willet we saw was out in the marsh near a group of feeding egrets and herons, which happily included several Tri-coloreds, a bird which has declined to my eye in recent years, as well as several Little Blues. Many Western Willets fed along the shore of Great Channel, looking very godwit-like. Check out Michael's article on this site, in Tigrina Times under Field Identification, for info on how to separate Eastern and Western Willets, a likely split sometime soon.

After some time well spent at the Center for Research and Education in Goshen learning from the master (that would be Michael), we headed for Port Norris, hoping to catch the tide right. High tide for Bivalve was forecast for 6:05 p.m., and we were at the Port Norris Strawberry Avenue access from 2:00 to 4:30, which seemed just perfect - when we left the tide had flooded out any shorebird habitat. So 4 hours to 2 hours before high tide, or probably 2 to 4 hours after, seems about right for shorbirding that site. The rising tide made it fun in that shorebirds were continually pushed closer to us, and there was lots of movement.

A perched Merlin greeted us at Port Norris, and later a juvenile Peregrine made life miserable for a patch of Forster's Terns, but the absolute highlight was a juvenile Clapper Rail, still sporting some fuzzy tufts of down, which got itself trapped in a tiny clump of spartina as the tide rose. It proceeded to walk/swim from clump to clump until it reached the concealment of a large patch - within 20 yards of the boardwalk the whole time!

Shorebird wise, the most interesting thing at Port Norris (besided great overall abundance of birds) was the presence of juvenile, and only juvenile, Western Sandpipers, and adult, only adult, semi-palms. The juv. Westerns made for point blank studies from the boardwalk - of course I had no camera with me for either them or the juvenile Ruddy Turnstone that perched, every feather perfect, on the railing with a group of Forster's Terns. As Michael said, "Well, it is a tern-stone". . .

Full lists for Nummy Island and Port Norris are below.


Location: Nummy Island
Observation date: 8/23/07
Notes: CMBO Shorebird workshop, day 2. Tide falling, from between 3 hours to low to 1 hour to low.
Number of species: 43
Double-crested Cormorant 10
Great Egret 10
Snowy Egret 10
Little Blue Heron 3
Tricolored Heron 4
Black-crowned Night-Heron 2
Glossy Ibis 10
Osprey 5
Clapper Rail 5
Black-bellied Plover 10
Semipalmated Plover 10
American Oystercatcher 25
Greater Yellowlegs 15
Willet 25 1 juv Eastern on the island proper, the rest Westerns along Great Channel/the mussel beds
Marbled Godwit 3
Ruddy Turnstone 10
Sanderling 10
Semipalmated Sandpiper 5
Western Sandpiper 10 adults were all we detected
Least Sandpiper 5
Short-billed Dowitcher 100
Laughing Gull 50
Herring Gull 10
Great Black-backed Gull 20
Caspian Tern 2 adult with begging juv in tow
Royal Tern 10
Common Tern 30
Black Skimmer 10
Rock Pigeon 5
Mourning Dove 5
Eastern Kingbird 1
Northern Mockingbird 1
Yellow Warbler 2
Magnolia Warbler 1
American Redstart 1
Northern Waterthrush 1
Common Yellowthroat 3
Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow 1 heard (M. O'Brien pointed it out, call note)
Song Sparrow 2
Bobolink 5
Red-winged Blackbird 5
Boat-tailed Grackle 10
House Sparrow 5
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)


Location: Bivalve - Strawberry Ave.
Observation date: 8/23/07
Notes: CMBO's shorebird workshop.
Number of species: 30
Great Egret 10
Snowy Egret 40
Glossy Ibis 3
Osprey 10 We saw one juv. that had caught itself a fish.
Merlin 1
Peregrine Falcon 2
Clapper Rail 5 Incl one juv that darted grass clump to grass clump as tide rose.
Black-bellied Plover 40
Semipalmated Plover 1000
Greater Yellowlegs 20
Lesser Yellowlegs 20
Willet 1
Spotted Sandpiper 2
Ruddy Turnstone 4 1 juv
Semipalmated Sandpiper 3000 all adults
Western Sandpiper 20 all juvs
Least Sandpiper 20
Short-billed Dowitcher 250 ads and juvs, mostly ads. At least one hendersoni.
Laughing Gull 25
Herring Gull 10
Great Black-backed Gull 25
Caspian Tern 2
Forster's Tern 50
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 2
Eastern Kingbird 5
Purple Martin 10
Tree Swallow 5
Marsh Wren 1
Common Yellowthroat 5
American Goldfinch 5
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Now that the rain has finally broken, for the most part, I figured I'd get out before work to look for a few of these migrants which are being reported and I'm having no luck relocating.

While it was a foggy start to the morning, things were burning off at a good rate. We didn't have a huge amount of time for birding this morning so we decided for a quick jaunt around the Cape May Point State Park. Try as we might, we were unsuccessful at getting any glimpses of the previously seen Buff-breasted or Baird's sandpipers.

Not that it was particularly good conditions for migration, there were a few Yellow warblers in evidence today and still decent numbers of Blue-gray gnatacthers sounding off in the trees. Plenty of "plinking" from Bobolinks above us, none could be counted though, given the fog.

Even thought we might not have had the luck that some other before us had, the birding was still good. And, given a little more time we might have turned up our sought after species. It will be interesting to find out if the CMBO "Birds of Cape May" walk turns up any of those species. Another thought would be to try TNC's CMMBR as the rain might have added enough water to make the property a little more inviting to would be hungry shorebirds.

While the weather for migration doesn't look to promising for this weekend, the positive side is that many species my not move out. Besides, you never know what you may turn up that has slowly been working it's way south. So don't count birding out for this weekend.

Location: Cape May Point SP
Observation date: 8/23/07
Number of species: 49
Mute Swan 16
Mallard 3
Blue-winged Teal 2
Great Blue Heron 1
Great Egret 12
Snowy Egret 2
Osprey 1
Semipalmated Plover 23
Greater Yellowlegs 8
Lesser Yellowlegs 3
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Sanderling 1
Semipalmated Sandpiper 20
Least Sandpiper 45
White-rumped Sandpiper 1
Pectoral Sandpiper 1
Short-billed Dowitcher 6
Laughing Gull 12
Herring Gull 6
Great Black-backed Gull 4
Royal Tern 2
Common Tern 2
Forster's Tern 16
Least Tern 6
Black Tern 3
Black Skimmer 12
Rock Pigeon 8
Mourning Dove 10
Eastern Kingbird 8
American Crow 2
Purple Martin 22
Tree Swallow 45
Bank Swallow 3
Cliff Swallow 1
Barn Swallow 25
Carolina Chickadee 4
Carolina Wren 6
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 6
American Robin 5
European Starling X
Cedar Waxwing 15
Yellow Warbler 4
Northern Waterthrush 1
Northern Cardinal 8
Bobolink X
Red-winged Blackbird 26
Orchard Oriole 1
American Goldfinch 2
House Sparrow X
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org/)

Before this morning's CMBO walk at TNC's Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge even started, we were standing in the parking lot with the group and a sparrow with white in its tail dropped into the ragweed east of the lot. I told the group, "We'll start officially in a minute, but we have a bird to track down. It's a sparrow with white in the tail, and that means whatever it is, it's good."

It turned out to be a frustratingly shy immature Lark Sparrow with an unusual tail pattern apparently due to molt; the tail pattern resembled a Vesper's, but the face pattern certainly did not. It seemed to be missing some inner tail feathers, reducing the white-cornered tail effect.

Most of the folks on the walk did not get a good look at the sparrow, so the adult Bald Eagle that flew over chasing an Osprey while we waited for the sparrow to reappear was a nice consolation bird. We proceeded out the path leading east from the lot looking intently for the sparrow, and I heard a hard zzzt. While I was processing the sound and continuing to search for the Lark Sparrow, Karl Lukens called out, "Dickcissel! Female Dickcissel," and there it was perched up on the reeds to the right of the trail. We all got great scope looks at this bird, and as we watched, a second Dickcissel "zzzt-ed" overhead. Since I heard this morning of a second Lark Sparrow at a feeder in Cape May, we seem to have a bit of a western invasion going on.

Not exactly an invasion, but 8 Green Herons in one small area east of the east trail seems like a lot. Four Green-winged Teal in the plover pond are the first for fall in Cape May that I've heard of, and the swallow accumulation on and along the dunes was impressive.

The full list for the morning, which included a decent selection of shorebirds and enough juveniles thereof to indicate that the juveniles are solidly "in," is below.


Location: South Cape May Meadows
Observation date: 8/20/07
Notes: CMBO's Monday walk
Number of species: 61
Canada Goose 25
Mute Swan 2
Mallard 30
Green-winged Teal 4
Great Blue Heron 1
Great Egret 8 Herons and egrets increased again - due to rain or???
Snowy Egret 2
Green Heron 8
Black-crowned Night-Heron 1
Glossy Ibis 3
Osprey 4
Bald Eagle 1 adult
Semipalmated Plover 15
Killdeer 1 where'd they all go?
American Oystercatcher 3
Greater Yellowlegs 5
Lesser Yellowlegs 10
Solitary Sandpiper 2 heard only
Spotted Sandpiper 2
Ruddy Turnstone 3
Sanderling 100
Semipalmated Sandpiper 10
Least Sandpiper 30 many juvs
Pectoral Sandpiper 4
Short-billed Dowitcher 10
Laughing Gull 50
Ring-billed Gull 10
Herring Gull 15
Great Black-backed Gull 25
Common Tern 5
Least Tern 20
Black Skimmer 5
Rock Pigeon 5
Mourning Dove 5
Chimney Swift 1
Downy Woodpecker 2
Eastern Kingbird 10
White-eyed Vireo 1 heard
American Crow 1
Purple Martin 50
Tree Swallow 1000
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 10
Bank Swallow 10
Barn Swallow 20
Carolina Wren 1
Northern Mockingbird 2
European Starling 2
Cedar Waxwing 10
Yellow Warbler 10
American Redstart 2 flyovers
Common Yellowthroat 2
Lark Sparrow 1 imm.; weird tail pattern looked like Vesper
Song Sparrow 3
Northern Cardinal 5
Dickcissel 2 1 female, one called elsewhere while we were watching the female
Bobolink 20
Red-winged Blackbird 20
Brown-headed Cowbird 20
House Finch 2
American Goldfinch 10
House Sparrow 20
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Just received a voice mail from Sam Galick who is braving the rainy weather at Brigantine NWR. He reports that the Roseate Spoonbill was putting on quite the show for about 30 or so minuets in gull pond. Anyone who has yet to try for this bird; well, it seems that you still have ample opportunity to add this species to your NJ state list.

Also of note are many species of shorebirds including a Red-necked phalarope (no details about exact location. And a Wilson's phalarope with in the first 1/10 mile of the one way auto loop.

So, anyone wanting to take odds on whether or not Sam will complete the tri-fecta. I'm posting 15:1 odds. Now I'm not a betting man but I've given some good odds.

In all seriousness, now is as great time to be looking for both of the mentioned species. Red phalarope on the other hand, well let's just say that Sam would be having one heck of a day if he did pull off the hat-trick.

I was a little surprised to climb the dike at Higbee this morning and find south winds - it had seemed like the high pressure system that created yesterday's northwesterlies was big and strong enough to persist into today, but it apparently wasn't. There was no morning flight to speak of, just occasional flurries of 1-5 warblers popping out of the woods, flying over the dike, and mostly returning to the woods.

A walk about revealed that a few birds had come in overnight, mostly redstarts, Black-and-white Warblers, Yellow Warblers and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, but a tiny smattering of this's and that's led to a decent list of birds with some quality. What was more interesting, perhaps, was that each encounter with another birder would add a species or two to the morning list for Higbee, if not to ours. Different people were finding scattered migrants at different places and different times, and each would say "it was best at thus-and-such spot," but each thus-and-such spot was a different place!

Our better birds included Worm-eating Warbler and both cuckoos, and our best spot was near the lot in the first field. Paul Guris reported a Blackburnian and, if I remember correctly, a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher back by the pond. Richard Crossley turned up a Golden-winged. Other birders reported Blue-winged, Nashville, Black-throated Green, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Canada. . .there were at least 15 species of Warblers at Higbee, but I doubt any single person found them all.

A quick stop at Bunker Pond at the State Park revealed even fewer shorebirds than yesterday - 2 Stilt S.P., 2 dowitchers, maybe 40 peep, Semi-plover, Spotted S.P. , etc. Which still isn't bad for 15 minutes of checking. Sadly, a one-legged Lesser Yellowlegs remains at the pond, he's been there for a few days.

The list below is just ours for Higbee.


Location: Higbee Beach
Observation date: 8/19/07
Notes: A little bit of the dike, mostly first field. 2nd day after front, wind s, overcast, occ. v. light rain.
Number of species: 46
Great Blue Heron 1
Snowy Egret 5
Osprey 2
Semipalmated Plover 2
Lesser Yellowlegs 5
Solitary Sandpiper 1
Laughing Gull 25
Great Black-backed Gull 5
Mourning Dove 10
Black-billed Cuckoo 1
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
Least Flycatcher 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Eastern Kingbird 50
White-eyed Vireo 2
Blue Jay 1
Purple Martin 10
Tree Swallow 5
Barn Swallow 3
Carolina Chickadee 5
Tufted Titmouse 5
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
Carolina Wren 5
House Wren 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 15
European Starling 2
Cedar Waxwing 25
Yellow Warbler 10
Prairie Warbler 1
Black-and-white Warbler 10
American Redstart 25
Worm-eating Warbler 1
Northern Waterthrush 5
Northern Cardinal 5
Indigo Bunting 1
Bobolink 15
Red-winged Blackbird 20
Common Grackle 5
Brown-headed Cowbird 20
Orchard Oriole 2
Baltimore Oriole 5
House Finch 5
American Goldfinch 10
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)