BirdCapeMay.org

Birds were not exactly pouring by the Avalon Seawatch this afternoon, but enough was happening to pique any birder's interest. Ken Behrens picked out a distant adult light morph Parasitic Jaeger pursuing gulls, way out beyond the number 6 buoy, and cormorants passed in their typically disorganized fashion. Both Black and Surf Scoters appeared in small groups, and Ken (the official counter), Gail Dwyer, Hilary Cresko (CMBO's Seawatch interpreter) and I talked about these species in sillouette. Blacks have thin necks, so their head stands out from the neck, as well as steep foreheads. Surfs have thick necks and sloping foreheads. Ken noted that some people say there is a difference in the wingbeat, but I agree with his assessment - there really isn't. At least not much.

An adult Great Cormorant came past dwarfing the Double-crested Cormorant it was with - Greats weigh almost twice as much as Double-crested, though they are only a few inches longer.

Other species seen from the seawatch this afternoon included Royal, Forster's and Caspian Terns, Common Loons, Northern Gannets, Green-winged Teal, and Peregrine Falcon.

This morning my first Dark-eyed Juncoes of the fall graced the thicket east of the Nature Center of Cape May, and with them was an immature White-crowned Sparrow, White-throated Sparrows, and many Golden-crowned Kinglets.

This message was just emailed to me from Karl and Judy Lukens, re: the CMBO Beanery walk this morning.


"Good numbers of Yellow-rumps, Palms, and Savannah Sparrows! on a chilly (39 degrees at the start) morning."

SPECIES SEEN ~ CMBO TRIP

10/13/2007 ~ in Beanery ~ New Jersey Checklist ~ 50 seen

Double-crested Cormorant 20
Great Blue Heron 1
Great Egret 4
Snowy Egret 3
Canada Goose 50
Turkey Vulture 5
Osprey 1
Northern Harrier 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk 3
Cooper's Hawk 1
Broad-winged Hawk 2
American Kestrel 1
American Herring Gull 1
Rock Pigeon 5
Mourning Dove 10
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Downy Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker 10
Eastern Phoebe 1
Tree Swallow 5
Golden-crowned Kinglet 3
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Carolina Wren 5
Gray Catbird 2
Northern Mockingbird 1
American Robin 15
Carolina Chickadee 5
Tufted Titmouse 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
Blue Jay 10
American Crow 20
European Starling 30
House Sparrow 5
Northern Parula 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler 50
Black-throated Green Warbler 3
Palm Warbler 30
Blackpoll Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 2
Savannah Sparrow 75
Song Sparrow 3
Swamp Sparrow 5
White-throated Sparrow 5
Northern Cardinal 5
Blue Grosbeak 1
Indigo Bunting 4
Red-winged Blackbird 10
Eastern Meadowlark 10
Common Grackle 5
Brown-headed Cowbird 5

An Anhinga soared over the Cape May Hawk Watch Platform on Thursday, spotted by "swing" counter Chris Brown. . .the male Calliope Hummingbird has not been seen since last Saturday, October 6. . . 4 species of geese came over the Hawkwatch this evening. . . and tonight there is going to be a hek of a landbird flight, followed by another hek of a flight, this one hawks, during the day tomorrow. There's the news in brief.

About the geese: a really fun little mixed group of Canadas and Snows came over the Hawkwatch late this afternoon, about 40 birds in all - "Geese celebrating diversity," I joked. When they reached Cape May Point, the flock split along color lines, with the Snows continuing southward towards Delaware and the Canadas turning westward seemingly looking for a place to set down.

Later, two sets of "Canadas" came along roughly the same track as the snows had, but in separate groups. I was eyeing the smaller group, five birds, with some degree of interest when Jessie Barry said, "Those are small geese." I agreed, "They are small geese," and with very short necks and long wings, too, I was thinking. Five Cackling Geese, probably a family group of the Richardson's race, flying characteristically apart from the Canadas migrating nearby. Chris Brown snapped some pictures, hopefully I'll be able to post them here soon.

The fourth goose species of the afternoon, and the third Branta, came in the form of Atlantic Brant flying eastward past the bunker, over the ocean.

In other news. . . I heard that Ken Behrens at the Avalon Seawatch spotted two Yellow-billed Cuckoos and a Connecticut Warbler flying in off the ocean this morning. Dick Walton reports that "A cold front passage on 10/13 brought a fresh push of monarchs through Cape May. Migrants should continue throughout the weekend." And ducks seemed to have increased today in Cape May. In fact, everything did - consider the following list from a half-hour's observation, 4:45-5:15 at the Hawkwatch platform:


Location: Cape May Point SP
Observation date: 10/12/07
Number of species: 48
Snow Goose 10
Brant 25
Cackling Goose 5
Canada Goose 50
Mute Swan 1
Wood Duck 3
Gadwall 5
American Wigeon 10
American Black Duck 2
Mallard 25
Blue-winged Teal 5
Northern Shoveler 15
Northern Pintail 2
Green-winged Teal 25
Double-crested Cormorant 20
Great Blue Heron 10
Great Egret 3
Snowy Egret 10
Little Blue Heron 2
Black Vulture 10
Turkey Vulture 20
Osprey 10
Bald Eagle 1
Northern Harrier 5
Sharp-shinned Hawk 10
Cooper's Hawk 5
Red-tailed Hawk 1
American Kestrel 5
Merlin 15
Killdeer 1
Greater Yellowlegs 5
Lesser Yellowlegs 20
Pectoral Sandpiper 2
Stilt Sandpiper 1
Laughing Gull 50
Herring Gull 5
Great Black-backed Gull 10
Mourning Dove 5
Carolina Wren 1
European Starling 20
Cedar Waxwing 5
Yellow-rumped Warbler 10
Palm Warbler 5
White-crowned Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 1
Red-winged Blackbird 25
House Finch 5
House Sparrow 50

Common or King? King or Common? I didn't really have time to look closely first thing this morning, while leading a group of beginning birders, but I went back later and found the [now] 100% Common Eider we observed near the Bunker at Cape May Point during CMBO's "Bird Walk for All People." This walk is great for all birders but especially beginners, and wasn't the place to scrutinize a somewhat distant eider for forehead slope and exact shape and structure of the bill. Better to get close-ups of egrets and watch fly-by Peregrines, both of which were readily available at the state park. As was a nice mix of ducks, including a female Northern Pintail and a few wigeon in breeding plumage. Cormorants flew steadily past, and a few groups of scoters went by offshore. Common Loons also migrated over land and sea, and several lingered on the ocean off the state park.

Later in the day all attempts to enumerate the shorebirds at Stone Harbor were put to flight, literally, as an adult Bald Eagle came over the free bridge at low tide and sent 11 Marbled Godwits and higher numbers of oystercatchers, "Western" Willets, Western Sandpipers, Black-bellied Plovers, Dunlin, yellowlegs, and who knows what else to wing. All made worthwhile, however, by the two Caspian Terns which mobbed the eagle (an adult) right over the bridge, right over our heads, and northward, out of sight. An accumulation of about 70 Brant in the inlet made it seem somehow wintry, an effect enhanced by cloudy skies, cold wind, and falling temperatures. Tide is really important at this site - at high tide, little will be found from the free bridge, so you're better off checking Nummy Island.

Yesterday I got my first bird's eye view of the Cape May Rips, the area of rough water off Cape May Point so attractive to birds, birders, fish, and fishermen. While on a boat fishing out there with Mike Fritz and other friends, we saw at least 3 different Parasitic Jaegers, including an adult light morph which leisurely paralleled our boat as we cruised at 30 knots. It was easy to see why birds are attracted to the rips - bluefish were thick, pushing baitfish to the surface.

With all this food in the water, and winds bringing cool water and migrating birds, thoughts now should turn to the Avalon Seawatch. Results from the seawatch, and the Cape May Hawkwatch and Morning Flight, can be found on this web site under View from the Field - check it out.

Well as things go, yesterday was a nice day to be a bird watcher; despite the heat. I heard that there was a pretty nice hawk flight and that sea watch is starting to pick up as well. Keep the sea watch in mind as it should only get better as the days pass. Soon we will be witness to tens of thousands of scoter (both Black and Surf) in addition to Double-crested cormorants. Not to mention the other ducks/sea birds which migrate past the south Jersey coast.

My birding yesterday morning was quite nice. We walked Cape May Point with some friends again. And, like the birds, these friends do have to migrate back to there own "territories." We wish them well in there travels and look forward to their return in the spring. I have no bird list to share at this point due to the fact that it seems the eBird sever is down and will not let me log onto my account. Once I am able to get my data input to the system I'll edit the list at the bottom of this post for those who would like to see what was around Cape May Point on Monday morning.

Do not despair though, I have a great story to tell. It just so happens at the end of the day as I was wrapping up the store stuff, Sheila and Marleen were getting ready to head out the door. All of a sudden Sheila said that it seemed that some one had left some thing on my truck. Taking a closer look this is what we saw.....
My truck is on the left, can you tell what this bird is? Ok, I gave it away in my title, your right. A young (male?) Peregrine falcon was sitting on the back of my truck! Only in Cape May. For those wondering it is a "Tundra." Or as is stated by some on the hawk watch platform, "typical tundra." But that's not the whole story.

We tried to snap photos as best we could. I was using one of our demo spotting scopes to do a little impromptu digi-scoping but that was not working as I could tell that all the photos were coming out blurry. So we decided to open the door a bit to remove the "glass" factor. Quietly and very slowly we opened the door so as to not scare away the bird. Then, a car drove by.....
And the bird didn't seem to care. So, I figured that I'd try and step out on the front deck to get a few closer and hopefully better digi-scope pics. I did eventually come up with one decent digi-pic......
After a little while longer, Marleen and Shelia were needing to get to their car to get home but didn't want to push the peregrine. After another vehicle drove by, a large RV, it was apparent that this bird was simply fine where "he" was and had no real intentions of moving until ready. So we headed down, I went with them to see if I could get a few better pics. As it turned out, the bird let us approach very closely......
Soon enough, another car came down E. Lake Drive and the peregrine decided that it had enough and flew off. It didn't go too far though, as it flew across Lighthouse Ave. and landed on a Purple martin/House sparrow house. Interestingly after the bird flew I noticed that it left it's calling card in the form of a large scratch on my topper, left by the hallux presumably, when the bird launched into flight.
So, there you have it. The story of the day the peregrine came to visit CMBO's Northwood Center.

Keep in mind that a cold front it supposed to be moving through our area with a reinforcing front to be moving through over the weekend. High temps. are supposed to be in the mid to upper 60's over the weekend. What October is supposed to feel like! Make sure and keep checking in on the birding forecast to see what the weather is doing. Get out birding this weekend and see what's around. We (CMBO and the peregrines) hope to see you down here in Cape May!

Monday's walk at the Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge drew quite a crowd, of both people and birds. The Refuge, a.k.a. the South Cape May Meadows, gets better and better for sparrows as the ragweed seeds mature, and since Sunday night White-throated Sparrows and Savannah Sparrows were flying overhead in decent numbers, it follows that some of each of these species wound up in the Meadows. Savannah Sparrows have present for quite a while, but the scope-posing white-throat presented the first good view of this species I've had this fall, though I've been hearing them since late September. A Dickcissel also called overhead.

The Meadows are still very dry, so shorebirds were limited to Killdeer. We did track down at least two Marsh Wrens, though these were elusive and not seen by all. The offshore action compensated, with at least two adult light morph Parasitic Jaegers close enough they could be readily found with binoculars, especially when they picked out a gull to pursue and drove it high into the air, well above the horizon.

Raptors included several Peregrines, both flying and perched, plus the usual small ones - Merlin, Kestrel, Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks. The group also observed a kettle of 30+ Broad-wingeds. This same kettle wandered over to the Point and apparently appeared and reappeared, plus or minus members, for much of the light-wind morning. 70 species overall, not bad for a two-hour outing on a summer-like autumn day. The full list follows.


Location: South Cape May Meadows
Observation date: 10/8/07
Notes: CMBO's Monday morning meadows walk
Number of species: 70
Canada Goose 25
Mute Swan 5
Wood Duck 3 flyovers, landed at state park
Gadwall 5
American Wigeon 10
American Black Duck 2 first in a long while in the meadows
Mallard 25
Northern Shoveler 20
Northern Pintail 1
Green-winged Teal 5
Black Scoter 20
Northern Gannet 2
Double-crested Cormorant 50
Great Blue Heron 5
Great Egret 2
Snowy Egret 7
Black Vulture 10
Turkey Vulture 25
Osprey 10
Northern Harrier 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk 5
Cooper's Hawk 2
Broad-winged Hawk 35
Red-tailed Hawk 1
American Kestrel 5
Merlin 5
Peregrine Falcon 3
Killdeer 5
Lesser Yellowlegs 5
Laughing Gull 50
Ring-billed Gull 10
Herring Gull 30
Great Black-backed Gull 75
Royal Tern 10
Black Skimmer 20
Parasitic Jaeger 2 2 adults light
Rock Pigeon 10
Mourning Dove 10
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Northern Flicker 20
Eastern Phoebe 1
Blue Jay 5
American Crow 10
Fish Crow 5
Tree Swallow 30
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
Carolina Wren 5
Marsh Wren 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
American Robin 20
European Starling 40
Cedar Waxwing 5
Black-throated Blue Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 50
Palm Warbler 10
Blackpoll Warbler 5
American Redstart 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Savannah Sparrow 20
Song Sparrow 1
Swamp Sparrow 5
White-throated Sparrow 5
Northern Cardinal 1
Indigo Bunting 2
Dickcissel 1
Red-winged Blackbird 50
Eastern Meadowlark 2
House Finch 10
American Goldfinch 5
House Sparrow 20

You know it's going to be a good trip when the first Snow Geese of the fall (for me anyway) fly over, an adult Bald Eagle circles in the distance, and a Peregrine Falcon rockets overhead - all before you leave the parking area!

We tried something a little different yesterday afternoon, a tour of Glades Wildlife Refuge near Turkey Point in Cumberland County by motorboat-towed skiff. This was the brainchild of the folks at Beaver Dam Boat Rentals.

The Glades, owned by Natural Lands Trust, is a large complex of woods, salt marsh, ponds and channels, most of which is inaccessible except by boat. The rich habitat is marvelous for shorebirds, and as the tide went down, exposing mudflats, we encountered the expected October species: many Greater Yellowlegs, a few Lesser Yellowlegs, and varying numbers of Black-bellied Plovers, Semi-palmated Plovers, dowitchers (mostly Short-billed but there were a few Long-billeds), and Dunlin, another first of the fall for me.

We often feature the Glades/Turkey Point area on raptor expeditions, and with good reason. In two hours on the boat, we saw at least 4 different Bald Eagles, 3 different Peregrines, multiple Northern Harriers, Sharp-shinned Hawk, and Cooper's Hawk.

I asked participants if this was a "keeper," and they said definitely, so expect to see more "Tours of the Glades" run by CMBO in the future.

The message and list below was sent to me from George Myers, re: the CMBO Villas WMA walk. If you have never been to this location, it's a must bird (in my opinion). And, the CMBO walk is a great way to learn the lay of the land.

"The morning's birding was quite slow and few migrants were observed, although I would have liked to have been there later in the day after reading the reports from the afternoon!"

Highlights:
2 Sharp-shinned Hawks
1 Osprey
3 Cooper's Hawks
2 Merlin
1 American Kestrel
1 Red-tailed Hawk
2 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers
6 Eastern Phoebes
10+ Palm Warblers
5+ Yellow-rumped Warblers
2 Blackpoll Warblers
1 Red-eyed Vireo
1 Northern Waterthrush
1 Bobolink
3 White-breasted Nuthatches
2 Indigo Buntings
2 Brown Thrashers

Mark Garland remarked that the north wind and strong flight we had at Cape May today is supposed to happen on sixty degree days. Well it wasn't sixty, it was 87 Fahrenheit and folks were looking for a shady spot from which they could still watch the show.

The stars were peregrines, many of which flew low enough that the crowd could clearly see the pale forehead and thin mustache on many of the juveniles, hallmarks of tundra birds. Jessie Barry told me the Peregrine total for the day was about 150, though she hadn't counted it up yet, including 50 in a single hour. During that hour, it almost seemed the p-birds were coming in flocks. All the other expected raptors were well represented, including a few Bald Eagles and Merlins aplenty.

In late afternoon a cloud wall approached and the wind abruptly shifted to east-northeast and strengthened significantly, apparently signally the arrival of the "back-door" high coming out of the northeast. The flight slowed significantly as soon as the weather changed, though happily it didn't stop and a little cool air at that point was welcome.

A juvenile White-crowned Sparrow fed with the House Sparrow flock in front of the platform, and though the Dickcissel was not seen, it was at least heard.

Chuck and Mary Jane Slugg sent me the list from Saturday's 3:00 p.m. Hawks, Trails and Beach walk. It gives a good sense of what species are around at the state park at this time of year, as well as evidence of a decent hawk flight yesterday, too. CMBO has one or more guided bird walks every day in fall - check one out!


Location: Cape May Point SP
Observation date: 10/6/07
Number of species: 46
Canada Goose 50
Mute Swan 15
Gadwall 6
American Wigeon 4
Mallard 20
Blue-winged Teal 15
Northern Shoveler 12
Northern Pintail 2
Green-winged Teal 6
Great Blue Heron 4
Great Egret 6
Snowy Egret 3
Turkey Vulture 20
Osprey 6
Northern Harrier 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk 5
Cooper's Hawk 5
American Kestrel 1
Merlin 6
Peregrine Falcon 10
Killdeer 1
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Laughing Gull 5
Ring-billed Gull 30
Herring Gull 50
Great Black-backed Gull 100
Forster's Tern 1
Royal Tern 2
Black Skimmer 1
Rock Pigeon 20
Mourning Dove 10
Downy Woodpecker 1
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
Red-eyed Vireo 1
Blue Jay 6
American Crow 15
Fish Crow 2
Carolina Chickadee 2
Gray Catbird 3
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling 15
Palm Warbler 2
Savannah Sparrow 2
Northern Cardinal 5
Red-winged Blackbird 6

I just got word that CMBO's Advanced Birding by Ear workshop (part of the Cape May School of Birding), led by Michael O'Brien and Louise Zemaitis, enjoyed a nice nocturnal flight of mostly warblers over Cape May City, including several Cape Mays, Blackpolls, Northern Parulas, Black-throated Blue, yellow-rumps, Palms, Indigo Buntings, and also enjoyed a diurnal morning flight that included those species plus bobolinks and others. This on southwest winds, at least they were southwest where I was, on Delaware Bay 10 miles north of the point. Winds at the point are now out of the north and a good hawk flight is developing.

A leading theory for why Cape May is so good for fall migrants is that birds are pushed by prevailing winds to the coast, and follow the coast south to the point. But Cape May has two "coasts," the Atlantic Coast to the east, and Delaware Bay to the west. I've had great nocturnal flights along the bay the past several early mornings - on east and/or calm winds. [Remember, east means FROM the east]. This morning the wind had a westerly component, and things were pretty thin along the bay. From 5:30 to 6:30 a.m., I counted only 33 nocturnal notes of any kind, representing probably 25 or less birds. By contrast, the preceding three days I was hearing 100-350 notes per hour. The upshot may be that on east winds, some birds are funneled down the bay side. Interesting stuff!