View from the Field Cape May Bird Observatory
Hawk Watch, Morning Flight, Sea Watch & the Monarch Monitoring Project

Click on the link above for more information about each research project.

These data are preliminary and should be viewed as such. These data are the property of New Jersey Audubon Society and may only be reproduced or used with specific written permission from NJAS. Contact New Jersey Audubon Society's Center for Research and Education regarding data requests.

Meet CMBO's Fall 2009 Seasonal Staff!

Feed IconSubscribe to this Feed

Saturday, October 13, 2007
Sea Watch Count 10/13/07
posted by Cape Publishing, Inc. | 8:37 PM

Counter: Ken Behrens

Red-throated Loon - 7
Common Loon - 33
Northern Gannet - 116
Great Cormorant - 2
Double-crested Cormorant - 5917
Great Blue Heron - 44
Brant - 638
Canada Goose - 501
Wood Duck - 46
American Wigeon - 1
American Black Duck - 22
Mallard - 3
Northern Pintail - 10
Green-winged Teal - 61
Black Scoter - 103
Surf Scoter - 89
dark-winged scoter - 10
unidentified scoter - 11
Red-breasted Merganser - 2
Laughing Gull - 391
Ring-billed Gull - 28
Herring Gull - 766
Great Black-backed Gull - 95
Forster's Tern - 157
Royal Tern - 25
Monarch - 4047
Brown Pelican - 14
American Oystercatcher - 90
Belted Kingfisher - 2

TOTAL - 9184
Hawk Watch Count 10/13/07
posted by Cape Publishing, Inc. | 6:23 PM
Counter: Jessie Barry

Species            Day's Count    Month Total   Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture                6             21             21
Turkey Vulture              52            183            183
Osprey                      49            787           1453
Bald Eagle                   5             56            139
Northern Harrier            46            301            619

Sharp-shinned Hawk         443           2730           7715
Cooper's Hawk               76            582           1365
Northern Goshawk             0              0              0
Red-shouldered Hawk          1              2              3

Broad-winged Hawk            9            250            401
Red-tailed Hawk              8             20             93
Rough-legged Hawk            0              0              0
Golden Eagle                 0              0              1

American Kestrel            28            955           4287
Merlin                      23            521           1082
Peregrine Falcon             6            946           1139
Unknown                      0              0              1

Total:                     752           7354          18502
------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Flight Count 10/13/07
posted by Cape Publishing, Inc. | 1:06 PM
Morning Flight: 5-10 W wind, clear conditions
Counter: Sam Galick

Northern Flicker- 42
Eastern Phoebe- 1
Red-eyed Vireo- 2
Red-breasted Nuthatch- 55
Ruby-crowned Kinglet- 1
American Robin- 135
American Pipit- 7
Cedar Waxwing- 20
Nashville Warbler- 2
Northern Parula- 6
Cape May Warbler- 8
Black-throated Blue Warbler- 15
Yellow-rumped Warbler- 2254
Black-throated Green Warbler- 2
Palm Warbler- 318
Blackpoll Warbler- 18
American Redstart- 2
Warbler sp.- 4715
Scarlet Tanager- 3
Savannah Sparrow- 3
Dark-eyed Junco- 1
Indigo Bunting- 10
Dickcissel- 2
Bobolink- 7
Eastern Meadowlark- 10
Purple Finch- 31
Pine Siskin- 3
Clay-colored Sparrow- 1

Total Birds: 7674
Friday, October 12, 2007
Monarch Monitoring Project 10/12/07
posted by Bradley Smith | 11:00 PM
Stagnant weather patterns have not allowed many Monarchs to come to Cape May this past week. Hopefully the cold front this weekend will change this.
Unusually warm conditions have promoted one last rush of breeding. Caterpillars can be seen at the Cape May Bird Observatory Northwood Center.
The Monarch weighing program has been going well. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week, project members collect 20 male and 20 female Monarchs, weigh them, and apply a colored tag (a different color each day: Monday, Wednesday, Friday). Project members then try to track down these individuals again and re-weigh them. The Point is to determine whether or not these butterflies are gaining much weight while in Cape May. So far, the results seem to suggest that they very much are.

Census Totals: Monarchs per hour
10-6: 16.27
10-7: 40.68
10-8: 52.80
10-9: 78.00
10-10: 32.00
10-11: 4.29
10-12: 46.07
Monarchs per hour Week 6: 38.55
Monarchs per hour cumulative: 60.34

Below is some video of a Monarch caterpillar at a garden in Cape May Point. Normally, Caterpillars don't leave their milkweed hostplant. However, a "mature" caterpillar will leave to find a location to become a chrysalis, often well hidden and hard to find. The nickname for this is a "walkabout".
video

Sea Watch Count 10/12/07
posted by Cape Publishing, Inc. | 9:47 PM

Counter: Ken Behrens

Red-throated Loon - 3
Common Loon - 36
Northern Gannet - 63
Double-crested Cormorant - 3414
Great Blue Heron - 118
Great Egret - 314
Snowy Egret - 275
Snow Goose - 35
Brant - 1122
Canada Goose - 307
Wood Duck - 1
American Black Duck - 163
Mallard - 9
Northern Pintail - 11
Green-winged Teal - 17
Black Scoter - 1
Surf Scoter - 5
Red-breasted Merganser - 2
Laughing Gull - 157
Ring-billed Gull - 4
Herring Gull - 40
Great Black-backed Gull - 15
Forster's Tern - 114
Royal Tern - 18
Monarch - 153
Little Blue Heron - 5
duck, sp. - 6
American Oystercatcher - 16
Common Tern - 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron - 20
Tricolored Heron - 2
American Golden-Plover - 1

TOTAL - 6295
Hawk Watch Count 10/12/07
posted by Cape Publishing, Inc. | 6:42 PM
Counter: Jessie Barry

Species            Day's Count    Month Total   Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture               11             15             15
Turkey Vulture              21            131            131
Osprey                     171            738           1404
Bald Eagle                   7             51            134
Northern Harrier            25            255            573

Sharp-shinned Hawk         445           2287           7272
Cooper's Hawk               64            506           1289
Northern Goshawk             0              0              0
Red-shouldered Hawk          0              1              2

Broad-winged Hawk            3            241            392
Red-tailed Hawk              2             12             85
Rough-legged Hawk            0              0              0
Golden Eagle                 0              0              1

American Kestrel           435            927           4259
Merlin                     179            498           1059
Peregrine Falcon            24            940           1133
Unknown                      0              0              1

Total:                    1387           6602          17750
------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Flight Count 10/12/07
posted by Cape Publishing, Inc. | 1:39 PM
Morning Flight: 40-45 W wind, clear conditions
Counter: Sam Galick

Yellow-rumped Warbler- 1
Blackpoll Warbler- 3

Total Birds: 4
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Sea Watch Count 10/11/07
posted by Cape Publishing, Inc. | 8:14 PM

Counter: Ken Behrens

Red-throated Loon - 1
Common Loon - 1
Northern Gannet - 87
Double-crested Cormorant - 1077
Great Blue Heron - 9
Brant - 16
Green-winged Teal - 1
Black Scoter - 51
Surf Scoter - 60
unidentified scoter - 8
Laughing Gull - 651
Ring-billed Gull - 1
Herring Gull - 100
Great Black-backed Gull - 31
Forster's Tern - 123
Royal Tern - 4
Monarch - 157
Greater Yellowlegs - 3

TOTAL - 2224
Hawk Watch Count 10/11/07
posted by Cape Publishing, Inc. | 6:00 PM
Counter: Jessie Barry

Species            Day's Count    Month Total   Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture                0              4              4
Turkey Vulture               0            110            110
Osprey                       5            567           1233
Bald Eagle                   7             44            127
Northern Harrier            19            230            548

Sharp-shinned Hawk          46           1842           6827
Cooper's Hawk                8            442           1225
Northern Goshawk             0              0              0
Red-shouldered Hawk          0              1              2

Broad-winged Hawk            0            238            389
Red-tailed Hawk              0             10             83
Rough-legged Hawk            0              0              0
Golden Eagle                 0              0              1

American Kestrel            12            492           3824
Merlin                      52            319            880
Peregrine Falcon            80            916           1109
Unknown                      0              0              1

Total:                     229           5215          16363
------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Flight Count 10/11/07
posted by Cape Publishing, Inc. | 1:27 PM
Morning Flight: 10-15 E wind, cloudy conditions
Counter: Sam Galick

Northern Parula- 1
Black-throated Blue Warbler- 6
Yellow-rumped Warbler- 12
Palm Warbler- 3
Blackpoll Warbler- 1
Warbler sp.- 101
Indigo Bunting- 7
Bobolink- 1
Eastern Meadowlark- 7

Total Birds: 139
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Sea Watch Count 10/10/07
posted by Cape Publishing, Inc. | 9:25 PM

Counter: Ken Behrens


Common Loon - 21
Northern Gannet - 111
Double-crested Cormorant - 5532
Great Blue Heron - 14
Great Egret - 1
Snowy Egret - 7
Brant - 22
American Wigeon - 7
American Black Duck - 1
Green-winged Teal - 11
Common Eider - 1
Black Scoter - 376
Surf Scoter - 520
White-winged Scoter - 1
dark-winged Scoter - 90
unidentified scoter - 190
Red-breasted Merganser - 1
Parasitic Jaeger - 4
Laughing Gull - 674
Ring-billed Gull - 32
Herring Gull - 221
Great Black-backed Gull - 76
Forster's Tern - 369
Royal Tern - 15
Monarch - 12
Brown Pelican - 3
American Oystercatcher - 7
Common Tern - 2
Northern Shoveler - 3

TOTAL - 8312
Hawk Watch Count 10/10/07
posted by Cape Publishing, Inc. | 6:38 PM
Counter: Chris Brown

Species            Day's Count    Month Total   Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture                0              4              4
Turkey Vulture               0            110            110
Osprey                      34            562           1128
Bald Eagle                   5             37            120
Northern Harrier            13            211            529

Sharp-shinned Hawk          91           1796           6781
Cooper's Hawk               38            434           1217
Northern Goshawk             0              0              0
Red-shouldered Hawk          0              1              2

Broad-winged Hawk           25            238            389
Red-tailed Hawk              0             10             83
Rough-legged Hawk            0              0              0
Golden Eagle                 0              0              1

American Kestrel             9            480           3812
Merlin                      62            267            828
Peregrine Falcon           192            836           1029
Unknown                      0              0              1

Total:                     469           4986          16134
------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Flight Count 10/10/07
posted by Cape Publishing, Inc. | 2:26 PM
Morning Flight: 10-15 NW wind, rainy conditions
Counter: Sam Galick
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker- 3
Northern Parula- 4
Black-throated Blue Warbler- 4
Yellow-rumped Warbler- 11
Palm Warbler- 4
"Baypoll" Warbler- 1
Warbler sp.- 1
Indigo Bunting- 7
Purple Finch- 1

Total Birds: 36
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Sea Watch Count 10/9/07
posted by Cape Publishing, Inc. | 11:59 PM

Counter: Chris Brown

Red-throated Loon - 4
Common Loon - 18
Northern Gannet - 30
Double-crested Cormorant - 2649
Great Blue Heron - 25
Snow Goose - 4
Brant - 26
Wood Duck - 1
American Black Duck - 10
Northern Pintail - 20
Green-winged Teal - 67
Greater Scaup - 4
Lesser Scaup - 1
scaup, sp. - 19
Black Scoter - 1811
Surf Scoter - 1643
White-winged Scoter - 1
dark-winged Scoter - 548
Laughing Gull - 177
Great Black-backed Gull - 30
Forster's Tern - 97
Royal Tern - 9
Monarch - 111
Brown Pelican - 3
Blue-winged Teal - 1

TOTAL - 7198
Hawk Watch Count 10/9/07
posted by Cape Publishing, Inc. | 9:54 PM
Counter: Jessie Barry

Species            Day's Count    Month Total   Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture                2              4              4
Turkey Vulture              88            110            110
Osprey                     156            528           1194
Bald Eagle                   9             32            115
Northern Harrier            34            198            516

Sharp-shinned Hawk         436           1705           6690
Cooper's Hawk              133            396           1179
Northern Goshawk             0              0              0
Red-shouldered Hawk          0              1              2

Broad-winged Hawk          115            213            364
Red-tailed Hawk              2             10             83
Rough-legged Hawk            0              0              0
Golden Eagle                 0              0              1

American Kestrel            86            471           3803
Merlin                      20            205            766
Peregrine Falcon           221            644            837
Unknown                      0              0              1

Total:                    1302           4517          15665
------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Flight Count 10/9/07
posted by Cape Publishing, Inc. | 2:10 PM
Morning Flight: 5-10 W wind, clear conditions
Counter: Sam Galick

Red-bellied Woodpecker- 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker- 3
Northern Flicker- 16
Eastern Phoebe- 2
Red-eyed Vireo- 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch- 19
Golden Crowned Kinglet- 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet- 2
American Robin- 17
Cedar Waxwing- 2
Northern Parula- 13
Yellow Warbler- 1
Magnolia Warbler- 2
Black-throated Blue Warbler- 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler- 374
Palm Warbler- 67
Blackpoll Warbler- 9
Bay-breasted Warbler- 1
"Baypoll" Warbler- 6
Black and White Warbler- 5
Northern Waterthrush- 3
Warbler sp.- 272
Scarlet Tanager- 1
Chipping Sparrow- 2
Savannah Sparrow- 10
Dark-eyed Junco- 1
Indigo Bunting- 21
Bobolink- 7
Eastern Meadowlark- 5

Total Birds: 867

Monday, October 8, 2007
Sea Watch Count 10/8/07
posted by Cape Publishing, Inc. | 11:13 PM

Counter: Chris Brown

Red-throated Loon - 2
Common Loon - 7
Northern Gannet - 25
Double-crested Cormorant - 1590
Great Blue Heron - 7
Great Egret - 8
Snowy Egret - 2
Snow Goose - 11
Brant - 26
Canada Goose - 31
Wood Duck - 1
American Wigeon - 16
American Black Duck - 4
Northern Pintail - 4
Green-winged Teal - 423
Greater Scaup - 1
Black Scoter - 1199
Surf Scoter - 757
White-winged Scoter - 4
dark-winged Scoter - 53
Parasitic Jaeger - 1
Laughing Gull - 83
Forster's Tern - 121
Royal Tern - 15
Brown Pelican - 9
Blue-winged Teal - 5

TOTAL - 4405
Hawk Watch Count 10/8/07
posted by Cape Publishing, Inc. | 10:08 PM
Counter: Jessie Barry

Species            Day's Count    Month Total   Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture                2              2              2
Turkey Vulture              22             22             22
Osprey                      65            372           1038
Bald Eagle                   4             23            106
Northern Harrier            16            164            482

Sharp-shinned Hawk         143           1269           6254
Cooper's Hawk               34            263           1046
Northern Goshawk             0              0              0
Red-shouldered Hawk          0              1              2

Broad-winged Hawk           62             98            249
Red-tailed Hawk              1              8             81
Rough-legged Hawk            0              0              0
Golden Eagle                 0              0              1

American Kestrel            41            385           3717
Merlin                      18            185            746
Peregrine Falcon            68            423            616
Unknown                      0              0              1

Total:                     476           3215          14363
------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Flight Count 10/8/07
posted by Cape Publishing, Inc. | 2:36 PM
Morning Flight: 0-5 S wind, clear conditions
Counter: Sam Galick

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker- 10
Northern Flicker- 18
Eastern Phoebe- 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch- 5
Golden Crowned Kinglet- 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet- 24
American Robin- 6
American Pipit- 6
Cedar Waxwing- 13
Northern Parula- 4
Magnolia Warbler- 1
Black-throated Blue Warbler- 10
Yellow-rumped Warbler- 216
Palm Warbler- 12
Blackpoll Warbler- 4
"Baypoll" Warbler- 1
Black and White Warbler- 1
American Redstart- 1
Warbler sp.- 347
Scarlet Tanager- 10
Indigo Bunting- 18
Bobolink- 2
Eastern Meadowlark- 1
Yellow-billed Cuckoo- 1

Total Birds: 713
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Sea Watch Count 10/7/07
posted by Cape Publishing, Inc. | 11:49 PM

Counter: Ken Behrens

Common Loon - 5
Northern Gannet - 56
Double-crested Cormorant - 5172
Great Blue Heron - 19
Great Egret - 1
Brant - 15
Wood Duck - 3
American Wigeon - 11
American Black Duck - 2
Northern Pintail - 7
Green-winged Teal - 9
Black Scoter - 146
Surf Scoter - 104
Parasitic Jaeger - 4
Laughing Gull - 260
Forster's Tern - 264
Monarch - 190
Aythya, sp. - 21
American Oystercatcher - 12
Common Tern - 1
Black Skimmer - 40

TOTAL - 6152
Hawk Watch Count 10/7/07
posted by Cape Publishing, Inc. | 9:58 PM
Counter: Jessie Barry

Species            Day's Count    Month Total   Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture                0              0              0
Turkey Vulture               0              0              0
Osprey                     131            307            973
Bald Eagle                  11             19            102
Northern Harrier           101            148            466

Sharp-shinned Hawk         681           1126           6111
Cooper's Hawk              116            229           1012
Northern Goshawk             0              0              0
Red-shouldered Hawk          1              1              2

Broad-winged Hawk           26             36            187
Red-tailed Hawk              3              7             80
Rough-legged Hawk            0              0              0
Golden Eagle                 0              0              1

American Kestrel           281            344           3676
Merlin                     115            167            728
Peregrine Falcon           136            355            548
Unknown                      0              0              1

Total:                    1602           2739          13887
------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Flight Count 10/7/07
posted by Cape Publishing, Inc. | 2:07 PM
Morning Flight: Strong 15-20 W wind, clear conditions
Counter: Sam Galick

Red-bellied Woodpecker- 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker- 1
Northern Flicker- 16
Eastern Wood-Pewee- 1
Eastern Phoebe- 2
Red-breasted Nuthatch- 2
Golden-crowned Kinglet- 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet- 4
American Robin- 34
Cedar Waxwing- 1
Northern Parula- 33
Magnolia Warbler- 3
Cape May Warbler- 6
Black-throated Blue Warbler- 15
Yellow-rumped Warbler- 77
Black-throated Green Warbler- 4
Pine Warbler- 1
Palm Warbler- 9
Blackpoll Warbler- 26
"Baypoll" Warbler- 2
Black and White Warbler- 5
American Redstart- 3
Northern Waterthrush- 5
Connecticut Warbler- 1
Warbler sp.- 253
Chipping Sparrow- 3
Savannah Sparrow- 2
Blue Grosbeak- 1
Indigo Bunting- 8
Bobolink- 16
Clay-colored Sparrow- 1

Total Birds: 537
Recent Posts
Archives

Disclaimer and Privacy Policy

BirdCapeMay.org © 2007–2009 New Jersey Audubon Society / Cape May Bird Observatory, all rights reserved. All material presented on the CMBO website is subject to U.S. copyright protection by the NJAS/CMBO and its affiliates, and may not be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the NJAS/CMBO.