BirdCapeMay.org

[Male Anhinga, 10:30 a.m. today over Sea Grove Avenue. Photo by Michael O'Brien, click to enlarge.]

A Greater Shearwater fairly close offshore near the Bunker at Cape May Point State Park was present shortly before the Anhinga above was found. The shearwater apparently sat on the water for a while. I wouldn't know, my sunscreen must contain shearwater repellent this year. Anhinga repellent, too. It should be mentioned that Anhingas are darn rare, with 4 records for the county through 1997 per Sibley's The Birds of Cape May. I haven't yet dug through the records to see how many since.

Several Wilson's Storm-petrels danced about in the rips, with a high but uncounted number of terns and plenty of dolphins. The usual good stuff at the State Park continues: several each of chats, Blue Grosbeaks, Orchard Orioles, and Indigo Buntings. A Killdeer with 4 babies lured Fish Crows with a distraction display near the first plover pond, and all the beach nesters mentioned below were well represented, along with 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

The Black Rail at the TNC Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge, a.k.a. the meadows, gets mixed reviews - it was reported as heard calling three times shortly before 8 p.m. last night, but people listening for it this morning, as far as I have been told, came up short.

Finally, a Yellow Warbler's flight note over the state park's parking lot represents, at least for me, the first southbound passerine of fall.

[American Oystercatcher chick and parent, Cape May Point State Park tonight. Digiscoped by Don Freiday, click to enlarge.]

The beach off Cape May Point State Park and the meadows is currently a paradise of beach nesting birds. Besides this American Oystercatcher chick and parent, there are Piping Plovers at every turn, including chicks, and dozens of Least Terns on nests. I watched a Common Tern pair take turns making a scrape, and saw others courtship feeding. The group of Black Skimmers in the colony area was only loafing while I watched, but who knows? Then you have the occasional Sandwich, Black and Roseate Tern sightings, Royal Terns now and then, piles of Common and Forster's Terns nesting elsewhere but trading back and forth to the rips, just a marvelous summer spectacle.

I had a chat with our boat captain the other night, and he was telling of the old tradition, which he partook in when a child, of going to the beach when nesting got under way to collect bucketfuls of eggs for omelets. Boy, they were good, he said. . . a simpler time, but one that had to pass, and did. Here's hoping against storm tides and predators this year at Cape May Point.

"CMBO Cape May Point Walk at the State Park. For this walk there are several target birds and we got all but one. We got several Indigo Buntings, heard and saw fly 2 Willow Flycatchers, heard 3 Chats and got one in the scope, had nice scope views of an adult male Orchard Oriole, but missed the Blue Grosbeak. Good views of the usual terns but no unusual terns or gulls. A little rain shower caught us as we finished."

- Karl, (Steve, Patty, Tom)

In other news, a Sandwich Tern was loafing on the inaccessible walkway over Bunker Pond this afternoon, and a Roseate Tern was seen on the beach between the State Park and the Meadows late this morning.



Location: Cape May Point SP
Observation date: 7/1/09
Notes: CMBO Trip-K,SW,PR,+7.Shwr,70,s2.
Number of species: 48

Canada Goose 5
Mute Swan 4
Mallard 30
Great Egret 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 1
Osprey 2
Piping Plover 1
Killdeer 2
Laughing Gull 30
Herring Gull 3
Great Black-backed Gull 2
Least Tern 10
Common Tern 15
Forster's Tern 25
Rock Pigeon 2
Mourning Dove 5
Chimney Swift 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 1
Willow Flycatcher 2 heard
Eastern Kingbird 1
American Crow 1
Fish Crow 1
Purple Martin 50
Tree Swallow 1
Barn Swallow 5
Carolina Chickadee 4
Tufted Titmouse 1 after walk
Carolina Wren 5
House Wren 1 after walk
American Robin 30
Gray Catbird 1 after walk
Northern Mockingbird 2
European Starling 5
Cedar Waxwing 8
Common Yellowthroat 4
Yellow-breasted Chat 2 /p
Northern Cardinal 5
Indigo Bunting 4
Red-winged Blackbird 10
Common Grackle 20
Brown-headed Cowbird 5
Orchard Oriole 1 /p
House Finch 3
American Goldfinch 2
House Sparrow 5

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

We launched our inaugural Somer's Point Boat Trip last night. The herons were fantastic - there are multiple small rookeries in Great Egg Harbor Bay - and the patens marsh back of Margate held several Salt Marsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows. A single Brown Pelican was roosting on a piling in the bay with gulls and cormorants, and a summering female Surf Scoter floated nearby. The full list is below, with notable observations bolded.

Location: Great Egg Harbor Bay & Inlet
Observation date: 6/30/09
Notes: CMBO Boat Trip out of Somer's Point, about 13 miles round trip. With T Geiger, G Dwyer, S Bamford
Number of species: 37

American Black Duck 2
Surf Scoter 1 female
Brown Pelican 1 imm roosting on pilings
Double-crested Cormorant 5
Great Blue Heron 3
Great Egret 50
Snowy Egret 25
Little Blue Heron 8
Tricolored Heron 5
Black-crowned Night-Heron 25
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 25
Glossy Ibis 75
Osprey 15
Clapper Rail 15
American Oystercatcher 20 at least 2 chicks
Willet 15
Ruddy Turnstone 4
Laughing Gull 300
Herring Gull 100 a few with downy chicks 1/2 size adults
Great Black-backed Gull 50
Least Tern 10
Common Tern 50
Forster's Tern 50
Black Skimmer 350
Rock Pigeon 10
Mourning Dove 5
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Fish Crow 5
Purple Martin 10
Barn Swallow 20
Common Yellowthroat 1
Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow 5 Maybe more, Lone Cedar and Pork Island
Seaside Sparrow 20
Song Sparrow 2
Red-winged Blackbird 10
Boat-tailed Grackle 30
House Sparrow 20

There was both great weather and great birding at the State Park this evening. Highlights included two Sandwich Terns that were picked by Bob Fogg as they flew over us near the 2nd Plover Pond around 6:30pm and continued east over the Meadows. Soon after, I picked up on a distant Cory's Shearwater heading out of the bay. A Wilson's Storm-Petrel appeared around the same time, feeding in the "rips" in the company of a large mixed flock of terns and Laughing Gulls. Other birds noted offshore included a couple of Brown Pelicans and a Northern Gannet.

Closer to sundown, a Black Tern appeared just offshore and eventually landed on the beach with a flock of Common Terns. This bird was an immature, not at all like the adult bird from yesterday. Also on the beach was an increased number of Lesser Black-backed Gulls- at least eight, and quite likely more. There had been, at most, three or four LesserBacks in the area for the past month, so it will be interesting to see if more continue to appear.

In the migrant department, two Semipalmated Plovers made a brief visit, and a Semipalmated Sandpiper stayed for a while longer in the Plover Ponds. I briefly glimpsed a possible White-rumped Sandpiper as it zipped by. Piping Plovers were easy to see and hear this evening.

The beach between the State Park and the Meadows is crawling with Least Terns, and interestingly, a number of Common Terns have taken up residence here, along with a small group of Black Skimmers. While it is a bit late in the breeding season, the Commons were actively engaging in courtship behavior, and a couple of pairs were even copulating. Will they try to nest there? Stay tuned.


Location: Cape May Point SP
Observation date: 6/30/09
Number of species: 61

Canada Goose 25
Mute Swan 9
Wood Duck 1
Gadwall 2
American Black Duck x Mallard (hybrid) 1
Mallard 12
Cory's Shearwater 1
Wilson's Storm-Petrel 1
Northern Gannet 1
Brown Pelican 2
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Great Egret 1
Snowy Egret 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron 1
Glossy Ibis 4
Turkey Vulture 1
Osprey 3
Semipalmated Plover 2
Piping Plover 6
Killdeer 2
American Oystercatcher 8
Semipalmated Sandpiper 1
Laughing Gull 300
Ring-billed Gull 4
Herring Gull 50
Lesser Black-backed Gull 8
Great Black-backed Gull 80
Least Tern 130
Black Tern 1
Common Tern 90
Forster's Tern 80
Royal Tern 8
Sandwich Tern 2
Black Skimmer 20
Rock Pigeon 4
Mourning Dove 6
Chimney Swift 5
Willow Flycatcher 1
Eastern Kingbird 2
Fish Crow 3
Purple Martin 40
Tree Swallow 4
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 4
Barn Swallow 8
Carolina Wren 1
American Robin 3
Gray Catbird 1
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling 6
Cedar Waxwing 1
Yellow Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Song Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 2
Indigo Bunting 1
Red-winged Blackbird 10
Common Grackle 6
Brown-headed Cowbird 2
Orchard Oriole 1
House Finch 2
House Sparrow 6

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org

[This Black Tern appeared amid throngs of Forster's and Common Terns at Bunker Pond at Cape May Point State Park Monday evening. Photo by Don Freiday, click to enlarge. The terns have been roosting and bathing at Bunker Pond as well as the Plover Ponds.]

Captain Dave Githens of the Osprey sent the following report from a back bay boat cruise: "Today (Monday) we sighted an adult white ibis near the Sunset Lake heronry. It was flying away from the rookery toward the west. I can not say that it was in the heron nesting area but it looked like it came from there. "

The Sunset Lake heronry is on a dredge spoil mound covered with shrubs and small trees on the northwest side of Sunset Lake. Sunset Lake is viewed from New Jersey Avenue in Wildwood. Unfortunately the heronry is quite distant for land viewing but this bird (perhaps the same one as was in Cape May over the weekend) could easily appear elsewhere, such as Ocean Drive, Shellbay Landing or Stone Harbor/Nummy Island. The Osprey does regular back-bay trips that cover this area, for more info call David Githens at 609.898.3500.

Let's put this slightly differently: the Black Rail at the meadows saw a whole bunch of people looking for it again this morning, including a few giving each other high-fives...

CMBO's Monday Meadows walk did not "officially" see the rail, although we certainly heard it well enough from five feet away. I noticed it sometimes trebles its kee's: keekeekeekerr, and somtimes shortens it to just keekerr. Participants who lingered at the spot, which is at the north end of the west path, did see the bird.

Three Yellow-billed Cuckoos showed themselves nicely along the west path, and the Least Bittern, almost an afterthought with all these rare birds around, was glimpsed. Tern numbers were up and included a Gull-billed. We had a Black-bellied Plover and I hear Semipalmated Plover, Least Sandpiper, and Lesser Yellowlegs were also detected this morning. An adult male Blue Grosbeak sang from the wires west of the parking lot, and a chat and White-eyed Vireo were singing from the scrub-shrub west of the west path. The full list from this morning is below, and with today's northwest winds I wonder what else will show up. One bird we oddly did NOT detect was Chimney Swift, can't really explain that one.

Yesterday morning I paddled the back bays behind Wildwood in my kayak, primarily near Taylor's Sound. I saw a newly fledged juvenile Yellow-crowned Night-Heron out on its own. Forster's Terns were nesting, or re-nesting after the flood, on piles of wrack up on the marsh, some Laughing Gulls there have chicks that survived the flooding, and in the heron rookery west of Sunset Lake I noticed two Herring Gulls that I believe have found a way to avoid having their nest flooded: they appear to be nesting on top of a tangle of vines and vegetation up in a tree. Bizarre to see them sitting there.

Location: South Cape May Meadows
Observation date: 6/29/09
Notes: CMBO Monday Meadows Walk. Clicked Common & Forster's; Dave Lord clicked Lagu, Janet Crawford clicked RWBB
Number of species: 58

Canada Goose 50
Mute Swan 30
Gadwall 5
Mallard 50
Least Bittern 1
Great Egret 5
Snowy Egret 5
Black-crowned Night-Heron 2
Glossy Ibis 5
Black Vulture 1
Turkey Vulture 5
Osprey 10
Black Rail 1
Black-bellied Plover 1
Piping Plover 5
Killdeer 1
American Oystercatcher 6
Laughing Gull 147
Herring Gull 30
Lesser Black-backed Gull 1
Great Black-backed Gull 50
Least Tern 100
Gull-billed Tern 2
Common Tern 40
Forster's Tern 138
Royal Tern 1
Black Skimmer 1
Rock Pigeon 5
Mourning Dove 10
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 3
Willow Flycatcher 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
White-eyed Vireo 1
Fish Crow 25
Purple Martin 50
Tree Swallow 5
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 2
Barn Swallow 25
Carolina Wren 5
House Wren 1
Marsh Wren 4
American Robin 25
Gray Catbird 1
Northern Mockingbird 2
European Starling 5
Cedar Waxwing 5
Common Yellowthroat 6
Yellow-breasted Chat 1
Field Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 8
Blue Grosbeak 1
Indigo Bunting 1
Red-winged Blackbird 42
Common Grackle 60
Brown-headed Cowbird 2
House Finch 5
American Goldfinch 5
House Sparrow 20