View from the Cape

Feeder Birds, Primarily

2010-02-08T19:51:00.003-05:00

[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. . .

[Fox Sparrows dig vigorously, and may manage better than other sparrows in snow -especially if bird feeders are augmented with handfuls of seed cast out regularly during snow events. This one paused at length near the feeders on Sunday.]

Riding the Storm

2010-02-08T19:48:00.000-05:00

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.

Jackson Street, Cape May - typical of the conditions in town at present.

CMBO's Northwood Center - two feet of snow and fallen trees block the entrance to the store.

Believe it or not, this was the entrance to the Northwood Center this morning.

CMBO CENTERS CLOSED

2010-02-08T08:45:00.002-05:00

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.

What Would Witmer Think

2010-02-06T16:41:00.010-05:00

[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?

[Cape May birders profit from those who came before - Wilson, Stone (here), Peterson, and more modern giants.]

[White-throated Sparrow this morning. "This large plump sparrow is a regular winter visitant to the Cape region and a more abundant transient in autumn. . .The brilliant coloration of the old males with their black heads, and conspicuous crown stripes is in strong contrast to the duller females and young males. . ." - (ornithologists of Stone's time didn't know the details about the white-striped and tan-striped forms of the whitethroat.)]

[Dark-eyed Junco today, "Slate-colored" Junco to Stone: "'Snowbirds' as they are usually termed, here, always occur in flocks, sometimes by themselves, sometimes mingled with the various winter sparrows and often drifting about with the flights of Myrtle Warblers in windy weather and snow flurries."]

[Song Sparrow today. "The Song Sparrow may be regarded as a regular resident about Cape May, but whether the birds that we find in winter are the same as our summer breeding birds is open to question." (Stone, 1937). Song Sparrow has been as ubiquitous as you'd expect along the bayshore roadsides of late.]

[Brown-headed Cowbird today. "Snow, when heavy enough to cover the ground, disturbs the Cowbird flocks not a little and on March 11, 1934, a number of them were forced to repair to the orchard on Otway Brown's place at Cold Spring and flew down close to the house to feed on the scraps we threw out to them." (Stone, 1937).]

[European Starling today. "The Starling, which man so unwisely introduced from the Old World in 1890. . .has been increasing since its first appearance. . .by consuming the winter food supply it makes it difficult for many of our former winter residents to survive the cold months." (Stone, 1937) ]

[House Sparrow with female Brown-headed Cowbird today. "Those that come to feed on scraps of bread thrown out in our garden for other bird visitors defer to Starlings, Grackles, and Red-wings but they do not leave the field and by watching their opportunity will snatch up a crust form under the very bill of one of the larger birds and fly off with it." ]

[Female House Sparrow. "Even this familiar bird would seem to warrant further study!"]

Razorbills, Rail and Cranes

2010-02-05T13:46:00.003-05:00

[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."

Storm Thoughts

2010-02-05T10:19:00.003-05:00

[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!

[I worry about Carolina Wrens with the weather of late and to come. Their numbers decline after severe winters. This one was along Pierce's Point Road this morning.]

Eagle Correction

2010-02-05T09:38:00.002-05:00

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

Cranes + signs of spring

2010-02-04T14:04:00.002-05:00

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.

CAPE MAY BIRDING HOTLINE - THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4 2010

2010-02-04T12:22:00.001-05:00

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!

Wildwood Eagles + Negative Data

2010-02-04T11:21:00.005-05:00

[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.

Eagle Festival IS CANCELLED; Eastern Phoebe and King Eider

2010-02-03T10:47:00.003-05:00

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.

Ivory Gull Remembered

2010-02-02T11:12:00.002-05:00

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.

Virginia Rail + Fox Sparrows

2010-02-02T09:42:00.004-05:00

[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.

Winter Birding

2010-02-01T06:20:00.008-05:00

[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.

[American Pipit, Cape May County airport on Sunday.]

A check of Cape Island's ponds revealed that almost everything is frozen again, packing the birds that remain onto Lily Lake. A pair of Lesser Scaup had joined the flock, which still contains the male Redhead and Eurasian Wigeons, as well as Hooded Mergansers and all the others.

[Eurasian Wigeon follows an American Wigeon over Lily Lake, from one open patch of water to another.]

At the concrete ship, about 20 Bonaparte's gulls foraged in a roiled Delaware Bay. Some of the best birding I found was at a nice little sheltered patch along Sunset Boulevard, where a melted spot attracted a mixed flock of sparrows including Fox Sparrow (they seemed to be everywhere yesterday), plus Gray Catbird, plenty of Yellow-rumped Warblers, and a decidedly cold looking House Wren. Savannah Sparrows foraged along Stevens Street and Bayshore Road in several spots. The Beanery featured a nice flock of Rusty Blackbirds right along Bayshore Road near the railroad tracks, and I hear Mike Crewe found a Virginia Rail there yesterday as well. There was a small pool of open water at the spot.

[Yellow-rumped Warblers fed on eastern redcedar berries, primarily by hover-gleaning to avoid the snow.]

[Between bouts of foraging, this House Wren along Sunset returned to the same sheltered perch repeatedly and adopted this spread-winged and spread-tailed posture, maximizing exposure to the sun.]

Kathy and Roger Horn found all the regular good ducks at Avalon, including one male Harlequin and good numbers of scoters and Common Eiders.

Karen and Brian Johnson braved the Corbin City impoundments (not recommended without four wheel drive and plenty of common sense when there is snow), where a light morph Rough-legged Hawk seen from the platform made the trip worthwhile.

Lark Sparrow - No + King Eider - Yes

2010-01-30T12:45:00.007-05:00

[A half hour poking around the junction of Shunpike and Route 9 yielded plenty of sparrows, including Field Sparrows, Fox Sparrows, whitethroats, songs, juncoes, Eastern Towhees and Savannahs like this one, but no Lark Sparrow, though it easily could still be there. Click to enlarge all photos.]

Though the Lark Sparrow previously reported was not evident during a short search this morning, the King Eider was at a frigid Poverty Beach. A female Common Goldeneye flew north along the shore, and Great Cormorants are starting to look really spiffy, with the adult birds developing flank patches and white on the cheeks.

[What an immature male King Eider looks like about a mile away, Poverty Beach. Remember, stay outside the Coast Guard property. Get the steeper forehead profile (kind of visible in the photo as the bird sleeps), plus yellow-orange on the bill (looks like it's over the bill), and entirely dark back - neither visible in this photo - to separate from Common and clinch the i.d. ]

Greater White-fronted Goose + Marsh Raptor Survey Results

2010-01-29T10:48:00.003-05:00

Brian Johnson found a Greater White-fronted Goose at Tuckahoe WMA yesterday, on the middle impoundment. Tuckahoe is in northern Cape May County, and is well covered in Bill Boyle's book Birdfinding in New Jersey and Clay and Pat Suttons Birds and Birding in Cape May. With the cold snap (it feels like winter again in a big way!) it is possible that the impoundments will freeze again, and regardless goose flocks move around, so the upshot is check all the goose flocks you see!

Tuckahoe is one of the 15 sites surveyed during CMBO's Winter Marsh Raptor Survey. The first survey of 2010 was January 23, and results from that are now up on View from the Field.

Speaking of winter raptors, a couple of raptor events are coming up. The annual Cumberland County Eagle Festival will be February 6, featuring indoor exhibits and programs at the Mauricetown Fire Hall as well as eagle viewing sites with CMBO Interpretive Naturalists on hand with spotting scopes to point out eagles and other birds.

CMBO's Wintering Hawks, Eagles and Owls Workshop (follow the link and scroll down to view workshop details) February 13-15 will immerse participants in raptor-rich southern NJ over President's Weekend. Megan Crew will be leading this with me, and we'll try to track down good views of many species, including at least one nocturnal session for Eastern Screech-owl and other species.

CAPE MAY BIRDING HOTLINE - THURSDAY JANUARY 28, 2010

2010-01-28T16:36:00.003-05:00

Hotline: Cape May Birding Hotline
To Report: call (609) 884-2736 or email sightingsATbirdcapemayDOTorg
Coverage: Cape May, Cumberland and southern Atlantic Counties, NJ
Compiler: David Lord, Cape May Bird Observatory with additions by Don Freiday

This is the Cape May Birding Hotline, a service of New Jersey Audubon's Cape May Bird Observatory. This week's message was prepared on Thursday, January 28, 2009. Highlights this week include sightings of LARK SPARROW, KING EIDER, COMMON EIDERS, WHITE-WINGED SCOTER, BLUE-WINGED TEAL, TRI-COLORED HERON, EURASIAN WIGEON, SNOWY EGRET, REDHEAD, SHORT-EARED OWL, NORTHERN HARRIER, BALD EAGLE, AMERICAN WOODCOCK, and an announcement about CMBO's coming 3 day Winter Raptor Workshop.

A LARK SPARROW was found at the junction of Shunpike Road and Route 9 (the road leading to the Cape May-Lewes Ferry) in North Cape May on Sunday, January 24, 2010, and was relocated on Tuesday January 26, 2010. Look along Shunpike Road immediately south of Route 9.

An immature male KING EIDER has been noted at the Coast Guard Jetty in Cape May (private beach but viewable at great distance by looking north from Poverty Beach), last reported on Wednesday January 27, 2010.

Over 100 COMMON EIDERS were at Avalon Thursday, January 28, 2010, viewed from the 8th Street Jetty. A sizeable flock of other sea ducks is present there, and 5 WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS were seen flying south.

3 BLUE-WINGED TEAL were observed in the South Cape May Meadows on Saturday January 23, 2010.

A TRI-COLORED HERON was seen at Turkey Point in Cumberland County on Saturday January 23, 2010, in the pond before the last car bridge.

2 drake EURASIAN WIGEONS continue on Lighthouse Pond at Cape May Point State Park, last seen on Sunday, January 24, 2010, along with a drake REDHEAD.

A SNOWY EGRET was seen in the South Cape May Meadows/TNC Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge on Saturday January 23, 2010.

SHORT-EARED OWL sightings include 4 at Turkey Point, 2 at Newport Landing Road, 2 at the end of Ragged Island Road (all in Cumberland County); and one at Jakes Landing Road. These were observed on Saturday January 23, 2010 during CMBO's Winter Marsh Raptor Survey, which also recorded 127 NORTHERN HARRIERS and 38 BALD EAGLES, mostly adults, at 15 sites in southern NJ.

AMERICAN WOODCOCK were noted displaying at Higbee Beach earlier in the week.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

CMBO'S WINTERING HAWKS, EAGLES, AND OWLS workshop, Saturday February 13 to Monday February 15 (President's Weekend), still has a few spaces available. A weekend of raptor watching and learning, the workshop will seek to find many of the 13 diurnal raptors and 8 New Jersey owls possible in southern New Jersey's mosaic of prey-rich habitats. More information is available at www.birdcapemay.org/school.php (scroll down for the workshop list). Preregistration required; call CMBO at (609) 861-0700 x11 to register.

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 Sundays and Mondays. ******

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!

Ducks Flying In

2010-01-28T10:11:00.005-05:00

[At dawn, almost no ducks were in the ocean at the mouth of Towsend's Inlet in Avalon, but as the sun rose they began flying in. These are Common Eiders. Click to enlarge all photos.]

One of the male Harlequins and a couple Long-tailed Ducks comprised the sole occupants of the little ocean cove at the mouth of Townsend's Inlet north of the 8th Street Jetty at Avalon first thing this morning, but ducks poured in from offshore with the sun. Eventually, at least 2 male Harlequins, 107 (!) Common Eiders, 300 dark-winged scoters with about an even mix of Black and Surf, and about 75 Long-tailed Ducks congregated, actively feeding, courting, and flying back in to shore when the tide drifted them out. Numbers and species change here; these were counted/estimated at about 8:15 a.m. 5 White-winged Scoters flew south well offshore, and 15 Common Loons and 5 Red-throated Loons were present. An adult Peregrine, probably a male based on size, briefly harassed the usual Purple Sandpipers, Ruddy Turnstones, Dunlin and Sanderlings.

[Surf Scoters at Avalon this morning. In many ducks, you will notice a sex ratio skewed towards males. Sex ratios are essentially equal at hatching, but females experience higher mortality, mainly because in ducks (except whistling-ducks), only females incubate eggs and tend the young, making them more vulnerable to predators.]

[This male Long-tailed Duck was one of the first ducks to fly in from offshore.]

[Female Long-tailed Duck.]

Hereford Inlet + Alcid Movement to Our North

2010-01-27T14:32:00.005-05:00

[Immature Great Cormorant, from the North Wildwood Sea Wall this morning. Note the massive gray (not orange) bill, white at the base of the bill, and thick neck, all of which separate this species from Double-crested. Click to enlarge all photos.]

Tom Reed sent a message that a substantial alcid movement is occuring to the north of us, with wrecked Dovekies in New York and Massachusetts and over 4000 Razorbills from Montauk on Sunday. Something to think about.

And I was thinking about alcids this morning at Hereford Inlet, though none of the "penguins of the north" appeared. Great Cormorant, Horned Grebes, both loons, Red-breasted Mergansers, and other sea ducks fed near the North Wildwood Seawall, however, and hundreds of Dunlin, Black-bellied Plovers and Sanderling fed on the beach south of the inlet.

[Common Loon, showing its distinctive head shape, with the bumped-forehead look. Almost distincitve; Yellow-billed loon gives a similar look. The loons were catching crabs, bringing them to the surface following long dives.]

[Male Red-breasted Merganser.]

Lark Sparrow and Woodcock

2010-01-27T12:01:00.005-05:00

The Lark Sparrow at the junction of Shunpike and the "Ferry Road" (a.k.a. Route 9) was relocated yesterday by Steve Leitner in bushes on the east side of Shunpike, south of Route 9, near where the new winery field is going in.

Mike Crewe reports that a couple American Woodcock have been displaying at Higbee Beach.

Bonaparte's Gulls are present as expected along the bay from Villas south to Cape May Point, and on the Atlantic side, too. Mike had 25 concentrated at the mouth of the Cape May Canal yesterday, and I had 50 near the Concrete Ship and about 50 more in scattered groups farther north, from the Ferry Terminal north to Miami Beach in the Villas. A few were off North Wildwood this morning, too. None of the fancier hooded gulls have been reported with the bonies recently.

The immature male King Eider at the Coast Guard jetty continues this morning but is a tough chance because of the distance. Intense scoping of the jetty by looking north from Poverty Beach (the north end of the Cape May City beaches) on a day with excellent viewing conditions is the best bet. Do NOT go past the Coast Guard's no trespassing sign.

Storm Hawk, Lark Sparrow, King Eider

2010-01-25T08:03:00.008-05:00

[Immature Northern Goshawk on Mallard, Brigantine NWR yesterday at 4:00 p.m. For anyone who wonders if size is a good field mark on gos. Click to enlarge all photos.]

You could tell weather was on the way yesterday afternoon at Brigantine NWR, with Northern Pintails, Northern Shovelers, Black Ducks and wild Mallards feeding heavily on a marsh flooding with a storm tide under dense gray skies. A / the Northern Goshawk (as I later learned, one has been at Brig for a few days, apparently possibly even since December) made the air a whole lot heavier for one Mallard, then fed on it for over an hour 40 yards off the south dike.

[After feeding for an hour, the gos flew back to the trees, crop distended. Undoubtedly it is now perched under the canopy, waiting for the rain to subside.]

Jim Dowdell detected a Lark Sparrow north of the canal which was later enjoyed by many yesterday. It was at the junction of Shunpike and the "ferry road, " i.e. the road leading to the Cape May-Lewes Ferry.

An elusive distant immature male King Eider is south of the coast guard jetty, viewable by those with good scopes, persistence, and possibly a little imagination from Poverty Beach. Common Eiders, Great Cormorants and Horned Grebe can also be found there.

[Yesterday's Lark Sparrow, photo by Karl Lukens.]

Short-eared Owls, Blue-winged Teal

2010-01-24T06:05:00.002-05:00

[East coast prairie: salt marsh, here at the mouth of the Cohansey, decorated by a perched Short-eared Owl (upper left) during yesterday's raptor survey. Besides the below-mentioned 4 Short-eareds found at Turkey Point, 1 at Jake's Landing, and 2 here at the end of Ragged Island Road, 2 others were at Newport Landing, Cumberland County, observed by Janet Crawford and Tony Klock. Click to enlarge photos.]

[Blue-winged Teal, South Cape May Meadows a.k.a. TNC Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge yesterday. Unusual in winter. Look for the big bill, the lack of a buff horizontal stripe under the tail, and the facial crescent to distinguish these birds from Green-winged Teal.]

Marsh Raptors + Duckage, Herons

2010-01-23T21:02:00.004-05:00

Today was CMBO's Winter Marsh Raptor Survey, with day raptors and owls counted at 15 widely spread points in southern NJ from an hour before sundown until dark. We'll have full results up when available. Northern Harrier is the main species of interest for this annual survey, but everyone loves owls - so far I hear Turkey Point (near Dividing Creek in Cumberland County) had 4 Short-eared Owls and Jake's Landing 1. No word on any Rough-legged Hawks so far.

I was at a lesser known site at the mouth of the Cohansey River, counting from the end of Ragged Island Road. Two Short-eared Owls were present there, one of which spent 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. perched on the same post, making only one short flight the whole time until it disappeared at dark.

More interesting, perhaps, were the 4 pairs of adult Bald Eagles. At sunset, all 8 birds were in view, perched in twos almost shoulder-to-shoulder but with the pairs spread evenly across the vast marsh at the Cohansey's mouth, obviously representing the local breeders. At 5:21, 15 minutes after sunset, what had been pairs abruptly became 4 single birds - one of each pair, probably each female, had departed, most likely to their nests. On the final scan of the evening at 5:31 p.m. (our protocol calls for 360 degree scans every 15 minutes starting an hour before sunset and ending a half hour after), all the eagles had gone home, replaced by four hooting Great-horned Owls, two of which perched clearly visible at the edge of the marsh.

A quick turn at the South Cape May Meadows this morning found the water half open and populated by a selection of waterfowl featuring a (the) female Common Merganser and 3 Blue-winged Teal among Green-winged Teal, Pintails, Shovelers, Gadwall, Hooded Mergansers, etc. The Hidden Valley Bald Eagle pair soared over with vultures, a Red-shouldered, and a Peregrine. I hear later in the day the meadows hosted a Snowy Egret, and that a Tri-colored was at Turkey Point.

CAPE MAY BIRDING HOTLINE - THURSDAY, JANUARY 21 2010

2010-01-22T11:34:00.002-05:00

Birds Mentioned:
Black-Legged Kittiwake
Cackling Goose
Common Crane
Eastern Phoebe
Eurasian Wigeon
Little Blue Heron
Redhead
Rough-Legged Hawk
Short-eared Owl
Snowy Egret
Tri-Colored Heron

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

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, January 21, 2010. Highlights this week include sightings of SANDHILL CRANE, COMMON CRANE, BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE, CACKLING GOOSE, EURASIAN WIGEON, LITTLE BLUE HERON, TRICOLORED HERON, EASTERN PHOEBE, REDHEAD, SNOWY EGRET, ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK, and SHORT-EARED OWL.

Two SANDHILL CRANES were found behind the First Assembly of God Church on the west side of Seashore Road/Broadway in Cape May on Friday, January 15, 2010 and continued there on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Cumberland County flock of cranes was seen at Husted Landing on Tuesday, January 19, 2010, along with a COMMON CRANE and hybrids.

An adult BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE was seen flying out of Townsend's Inlet on Sunday, January 17, 2010.

A CACKLING GOOSE was seen in a field opposite Hidden Valley WMA on New England Road on Saturday January 16, 2010.

2 Male EURASIAN WIGEONS were seen on Lighthouse Pond on Saturday January 16, 2010.

2 LITTLE BLUE HERONS were seen at Two Mile Landing on Saturday, January 16, 2010, along with a TRICOLRED HERON and two SNOWY EGRETS.

An EASTERN PHOEBE was seen at the Rea Farm on Tuesday January 19, 2010.

A drake REDHEAD was still being seen on Lighthouse Pond as of Saturday January 16, 2010.

A dark morph ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK was seen on Glade Road in Cumberland County on Monday, January 18, 2010.

A SHORT-EARED OWL continues to be seen at the end of Jakes Landing Road, last seen on Tuesday, January 19, 2010.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: 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 Sundays and Mondays. ******

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!

State Park Birds

2010-01-21T20:04:00.000-05:00

It suddenly seems to have gone very quiet around Cape May, with not a single text message of bird news being sent for two straight days now. There doesn't seem to have been any news of the two Sandhill Cranes since they were reported flying high to the northwest over Bayshore Road at the beginning of the week. So I thought I better go take a look what was going on! Of course the problem with a migration hotspot is that birds tend to move in response to weather patterns, so if the weather is rather static, so are the birds! Even so, Cape May always has a wealth of birds to enjoy. I took a lunchtime stroll around Cape May Point State Park and along the beachfront, primarily to look for the Snow Buntings, which I still haven't seen this year yet!! My bad luck with them continued, but Karl Lukens reported that the flock was still present yesterday, so no doubt they are out there somewhere. On Bunker Pond, the six Tundra Swans are still easily seen and at least 12 Hooded Mergansers were spread between there and the Plover Ponds. The latter ponds also have four Lesser Scaup in winter residence. The female Common Merganser continues to hang out but can be elusive. Karl told me that yesterday it was on the cut at the extreme east end of the state park, almost bordering the Nature Conservancy property - and it was still there today.

Most enjoyable was an unexpected flash back to the joys of September when I watched five species of raptor soaring round together on a small thermal. Two Turkey Vultures and singles of Black Vulture, Northern Harrier, Red-tailed Hawk and Red-shouldered Hawk all briefly came together over the marsh - a fine sight on a chilly - but sunny - January day. Finally, it was nice to see the ducks spread out and enjoying the full smorgasbord of food available to them as all the ponds are finally completely ice-free for the first time this year.